QUESTIONS ABOUT AMERICA – THE LAND OF DAVY CROCKETT

by Don Bendell

Years ago, Uncle Sam turned into Big Brother, but now it is no longer Big Brother: It has become Big Smother. We are smothered by taxes, strangled by regulations, and suffocated by the leadership of a multi-headed, beady-eyed dragon, which has been castrated and had its heart removed. I wore a Green Beret and fought for the principles of freedom and justice, the very foundation upon which our nation was built, and now two of my sons also wear Green Berets and serve for those same principles, but none of us fought for the burden of intrusion or for federal regulations filled with esoteric legalese. Our government is supposed to simply be a convenience for Americans to help administrate each of us, as we practice and celebrate our individual freedoms. It is not our employer, supervisor, principal, nor should it ever be our warden. We must run the government, and not allow the government to run us. But Fellow Citizen, Neighbor, my Friend, run us it has through the elected representatives we sent to Washington, most of who are obviously hell-bent for election to feather their own nests and are morally-challenged and leadership-deprived.

I ask you? Whatever happened to Congressional leaders like Davy Crockett? Davy’s motto was, “Make sure you’re right, then go ahead.” Today’s Congressional credo is, “Make sure it is politically-expedient and politically-correct, then go ahead, unless the polls change overnight.” We are, “One nation under God,” but many of our pseudo-leaders think our motto is “One nation under the thumb of Beltway lawyers, lobbyists, and legislators.” No thanks. I actually prefer being “under God” and my own free will. That is why God gave me that free will, as well as a brain and two hands. Washington did not do that for me, but I am very surprised they have not demanded the amputation and immediate mailing in of three or four of my fingers. And before you tell me “There is no God,” I tell you, “God does not believe in atheists, so therefore atheists do no exist.”

And regarding the Global War on Terrorism, specifically Iraq and Afghanistan; if you must get into a fight, any fight, you win, period. Any other scenario is surrender. Try any rose-colored glasses you choose, but there is simply no other way to paint that picture. Pull out and we, the United States of America, have been defeated by a bunch of heathens who beat women at whim, decapitate prisoners, don’t use toilet tissue, and kill innocents, but then cleverly manipulate our own naïve media to portray themselves as the victims, so that our plastic Hollywood geniuses or some greedy left-wing industrialists will try to hold hands and be their friends (By the way, Superstar, make sure it is the right hand you hold). If we pull out and simply give up because it is too tough, then we will have become a nation of cowards. Want to pass that on to the grandkids? I sure won’t. No matter how hard we wish, we have only two choices: We can either fight the fanatical jihadists here on our soil, or we can fight them in some other countries overseas, but we must fight them and defeat them, because they will not stop attacking and killing us until we do. We cannot appease them, reason with them, or coexist with them. That is totally against their religious dictums, and they believe killing us gets them into paradise easily. We must win, or we will perish. There is no other way. The foundation of Dar el Islam, the Nation of Islam, is to spread Islam worldwide and borders do not count, and the pre-seventh century mindset of al-Qaida is to destroy all Christians and Jews. When will our congressional leaders, and the world, realize that; regardless of the reasons, we invaded the two countries of Iraq and Afghanistan, fought, and won. Now, we are the occupying army, and we can do whatever the hell we choose to do, including putting down insurgencies with swift, powerful force? When will we realize we cannot be every country’s buddy? Friend, this ain’t rocket science. We are occupying Iraq, and if we do not like the sandal-dragging of those we allowed to be put into power by free elections, which we set up and monitored, then we remove them and say, “Nice try, but not good enough. Try again, but If your new government does not act swiftly and in the best interests of the United States, then we will remove that one and try again, or if you would rather, we will simply take over your entire country and run it the way we want. What is your choice?” What are we afraid of: That some angry Muslims in foreign countries will protest and burn our flag and burn our President in effigy? Hell, they will do that anyway even if we buy everyone an ice cream cone and an I-pod.

The nay-sayers claim it is all about oil: So? With Iran it most certainly is about oil, for Iran controls no ports and has no oil itself, and simply must rely on the conquest of its neighbors to become a major oil power. Look at the price-gouging the free world endures at the hands of the Mideast oil mullahs, our pals. Why wouldn’t Iran want a big piece of that or even total control? But we are the occupying force, so why don’t we simply take over the oil industry in Iraq? Seriously, why not? Oil prices would come down significantly. We would effectively control the price of oil worldwide, not some sultans with 20 wives each, five Bentleys, and three private jets, while I am shaking my head and paying over one hundred bucks to fill the tank of my Chevy one-ton pickup. One hundred bucks! When I was a younger man I bought cars for a hundred bucks. How many $ 100 gas refills do we want to go through before we pull our collective heads out of our gas tanks and act aggressively for our own self-preservation? Shall we wait until the cost of filling a gas tank buys some sultan in Saudi Arabia or Yemen another ruby to put in one of their rings, or should we wait until the mullahs in Iran depose and replace those pampered oil barons of our supposed Muslim allies? What will the cost of filling your tank be then? When will the price-line be crossed before Americans finally say, “Enough! Now you’ve pushed the envelope too far!” Or shall we just keep handing them jars of petroleum jelly?

My question for our leaders is simple: When will you do what you were elected to do? When will you start doing the job we hired you for? We hired you, and we will fire you and kick your sorry butts to the curb if you cannot do the job, just like in the real world where the rest of us live. We must insist on leaders who take a firm hold on the reins of government, not grabbing onto the saddle-horn and just hanging on for the ride, as it gets bigger, stronger, wilder, and more out of control.

The last four letters of “American” are “I can,” not “I can’t.” We can do anything we set our minds to, and we can spin this horse around by simply controlling the bit. We can make this all work out smoothly for America. We simply need leaders who act more like Davy Crockett than Davy Crackpot or Davy Cricket, and the rest of us have the power to vote to either put them there or remove them when they start their incessant nonsensical chirping. Recently, phone calls and emails killed the unpopular amnesty bill and even overloaded and shut down the Congressional phone system, and we can still take charge and force other needed changes. Americans have free will, because we still are one nation under God. Let’s make sure it stays that way. It only takes the common sense and courage of a man who wore a coonskin cap. A man who had what is called the pioneering spirit of America. We all have it but most have kept it hidden away under layers of apathy, self-absorption, and anxiety. We simply need to pull it out now and use it, or if we wait a little bit longer, someday a scarf-wearing fanatic will yank it out and cut it off with a scimitar. The choice is ours.

Don Bendell, 60, is an author of 24 books with over 1,500,00 copies in print worldwide. A 1995 inductee into the International Karate Hall of Fame, he and his wife also own karate schools in Colorado. A 60% disabled vet, Don served as an officer in 4 Special Forces Groups, including a 1968-1969 tour on an A-team in Vietnam as well as in the Top Secret Phoenix Program and has two sons who are Green Beret sergeants. He has appeared on FOX NEWS LIVE and many national radio shows and his editorials have been published all over the world. You can write him at don@donbendell.com.