Aselin

I have a deep, almost sappy, reverence for all things patriotic. I tear at the Star Spangled Banner - every time. I choke up to the point that I haven’t been able to finish the Pledge of Allegiance at a cub scout den meeting. After a trip abroad as a teen I unabashedly kissed the ground upon my return.

We are tremendously blessed to live under this inspired republic. Yet somehow, as a nation we’ve devolved into a collective historical mediocrity. It’s completely acceptable to not know even basic facts about not only the origins of our political system, but also current affairs. As many people excuse their pathetically low history IQ against their Pop Culture IQ the footings of our political systems are coming unseated.

Remembering back to 9/11, I had an MRI scheduled for that day. It was a surreal experience to lay isolated inside the tube as the radiologist tech gave me a blow by blow of the towers falling. It was a day when the repercussions of evil was shoved in our faces. Driving around town days, even weeks after the horrors of that day, I would look at the faces of other drivers, complete strangers, and well up with emotion at how much I cared about them because they were fellow Americans and we were going through this together... one nation, under God, indivisible.

I truly could not have conceived we would be holding the public discussions of the past few days. Stunningly, we are considering being a nation that prosecutes people for their ideas. From the Homeland Security report naming ex-military soldiers as potential terrorists, to the administrations threats to try our family friend Jay Bybee for his legal service to the Bush administration during the early stages of the War on Terror, somehow we’re being dragged into a punitive retrospection the likes of which our nation has ever seen.

This week President Obama has completely retracted his position on retro-litigation. Nancy Pelosi stated she was never briefed on actual use of ‘enhanced’ interrogation techniques and the moveon.org crowd is out for blood. All this talk about government sanctioned torture would make one think we were barbarians.

So if I get this straight, and follow Pelosi and Obama’s lead, it’s now the thing to do to subscribe to revisionist history, and look back ONLY if you disagreed with the previous administration. Looking forward is for pansies.

While I’m confident they’re not listening, here’s what I would say if they were:

Please stop diluting the word torture. Torture is not a technique that many of our elite servicemen willingly undergo as part of their training, as in the case of water boarding. Torture is never recovering the remains of a loved one who was obliterated as the towers fell.

Illegal activity is not legally advising the President of the United States, at his request, on methods for extracting information from known terrorists. Illegal activity is BEING a terrorist.

Finally, the role of government, especially the federal government is to protect its people. Meeting with the Castros, Chavez and Ahmadinijab while simultaneously disrespecting our allies is a curious way to go about that task. For all the comparisons you’ve made to Abraham Lincoln Mr. Obama, you certainly seem less than concerned about preserving the Union. This week you’ve been all about appeasing your radical supporters. Uniter my butt.

As we face our tomorrows I will still have trouble finishing the Pledge and I will still tear up at the National Anthem. I just pray that those emotions will be because of, not “in memory of.”