Every year, some of us remember the importance of June the 6th. That’s the day, 72 years ago, that 73,000 of America’s young men stormed Normandy, France, making up almost half of the 156,000 troops which landed on French soil, to take back Europe from NAZI Germany.
As a country, we lost 2,500 young men that day, casualties of the largest amphibious invasion in history. But those 2,500 soldiers weren’t simply forgotten; they represented each and every American alive on that day.
Although they were fighting to free Europe of the clutches of the tyrannical NAZI regime, they were also fighting for something much more precious to us as Americans… they were fighting for freedom.
Historians have dubbed that generation with the moniker “The Greatest Generation.” When you look at what they accomplished and how the country pulled together to accomplish it, that’s not too surprising.
There has been no other time in our history, when the United States pulled together for a single purpose, like it did in World War II. You really can’t even say that about the Revolutionary War, as there were many who were opposed to it.
But while that war brought our country to new heights of patriotism and accomplishment, it also started us on the road to decline and moral decay. Sadly, one of the things that always accompanies war is a lowering of moral standards. That was no different in the time of the Greatest Generation.
The current moral decline of the United States of America actually started in that time. While it may seem as if the Americans of that day were bigger than life, they felt an urgency caused by the realization that they might die any day. This urgency was responded to by drinking, smoking and extra-marital sex. Many lived for the day, because they weren’t sure if the next day, they would die.
Hollywood had their part in that as well; as always, showing the glamorous side of war. Part of that was including a love interest in all those war movies. Being Hollywood, love became sex; and while they didn’t show it as clearly back then, as they do today; everyone knew how to read the signs.
But even amongst the debauchery of the day, there was much nobility and bravery. Countless people dug down deep within themselves and found the strength to do what they had to do; both overseas fighting the war and here at home keeping the home fires burning. The courage displayed by that generation in facing adversary was something we could all learn from.
Video first seen on Net Stoopid.
Sadly, there seems to be little of that courage left coursing through America’s blood. Our young people don’t have the courage to face someone who is speaking something they don’t like, let alone the bullets of an enemy. Instead, they cry for “safe spaces” where they can be assured that nobody will say anything that might cause them any emotional turmoil. Apparently, forcing someone to think about their beliefs and justify them is too much of an emotional strain for today’s youth.
As a country, we have taken some huge steps backwards since that day, all in the name of “progress.”
Whereas they fought for freedom in that time, today people fight for something free. Where they fought for principle, today people fight for entitlements.
Rather than blacks and whites coming together to defeat a common enemy, today’s blacks are being told that whites are their common enemy and that they should therefore kill the whites.
World War II brought this country together in a way that has never happened before or since. The common goal of defeating the Axis powers gave us national purpose.
Later, national purpose was invested in things like putting a man on the moon and standing strong against the aggression of the Soviet Union. Yet today, we have lost our national purpose. No longer are we pulling together, but rather we are being pulled apart.
I remember asking myself the question, shortly before 9-11, whether the United States could ever pull together, like we did in World War II, to accomplish such a major goal once again. Then, on that fateful day, the Twin Towers came down and the nation pulled together in support of New York City and the War Against Terror.
But sadly, that unity has not lasted; it has fallen apart once again.
In the last seven years, we’ve seen more division in this country than has existed anytime since the Civil War. No longer is the national attention focused on defeating the radical Muslim terrorist enemy, but instead our political leadership is inviting them in to take up residence. We have blacks against whites, poor against rich, women against men and the LGBT community against those who are straight.
Is it fair to blame all this on Barack Obama? Yes, I would have to say it is. While he has not been the only one causing division, he has definitely been the most influential. He has been the most divisive president in the history of the United States, bringing to the forefront each and every phony war he could, to turn one group of Americans against another and destroy what unity we had.
He has also been instrumental in turning the tables on the War on Terror. Where we were actively pursuing radical Muslim terrorism under President Bush, Obama has all but outlawed the use of that term. He refuses to acknowledge that the possibility of Muslim terrorism exists and instead talks about right-wing terrorism, something that is totally fabricated in his mind.
Apparently in Obama’s world view, patriots who are willing to defend their country are more dangerous than radicals who are trying to destroy countries.
Liberalism has destroyed the moral fiber of this country, and they are now on the road to destroying the country itself. The list of things that liberals have demanded of our society, all in the name of some twisted idea of “fairness” could ultimately be out undoing. It is certain that their demands have made life more dangerous for many, as they push to further their agenda.
There is something inherently wrong about causing the majority of society to suffer for a minority. That is especially true when the minority is extremely small and mentally imbalanced.
Yet apparently the only way that the political left can find what they consider to be fair, is to make people suffer. They must make the majority suffer, so that the minority can have what they want; even if what they want is destructive to society as a whole.
Where is Our Country Going?
Could we once again pull together and become the great nation that we once were? Is it possible for another “Greatest Generation” to rise up and set this nation back on track? Can we throw off oppression as we once did and set our course once again by the Constitution?
We are living in a time which demands greatness. It demands people who will stand against injustice committed in the name of fairness. Who will be willing to be ridiculed by the PC police, in order to make a difference. People who care more about integrity, than they care about popularity. Those who have the moral fiber to shout from the rooftops that “This is wrong” and get others to see things as they do.
Our country’s history is filled with such people. The Revolutionary war was fought because of such people. We stormed the Normandy Beaches because of people of like character. Together, we declared “Better dead than red” against the rise of the Soviet Union. We, or rather, those who came before us had that moral fiber; it’s time that we found ours.
Conservatives are still the majority in this country, outnumbering liberals by 3 to 2. But you would never know it by looking at what’s going on in the media or the public square. It is the voice of the liberals that is being heard, not the voice of the “silent majority.” It is time for that to change.
Unless we rise up and make our voice be heard in the halls of power and the public places across this land, we may soon find that we no longer have a voice. As in Orwell’s 1984, the voice of those who stand against a tyrannical system may very well be silenced.
I don’t know about you, but I won’t go down quietly. The Founding Fathers swore their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to this country; can we do any less? Are we willing to lay down our lives, or only to lay down? Are we willing to give up what fortunes we have, or only a mere pittance? Do we even care about our honor anymore?
If this country is ever going to be great again, if it is ever going to have another Greatest Generation, it will be because people say “enough is enough” and take a stand.
It won’t start in Washington, but in the grass roots. But the fire in those grass roots will spread and it will eventually get to Washington, if we but fan the flame.
This article has been written by Bill White for Survivopedia.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings
https://www.army.mil/d-day/
PEnny | June 7, 2016
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Bill,
You have just said what I have said to many in the past 20 plus years!
Why doesn’t this younger generation feel they owe this country respect and honor those who have lost their lives, limbs and families. so they can be free today!
I am the widow of a Vietnam Nam vet who died before 1 yr after he retire Do! 39 yrs old, father of 4 all under the age of 16!
The daughter of a WW1 Vet and sister of 4 brothers all deceased 3 gave 20 yrs or more one 9 yrs.
Today’s youth just don’t seem to feel any obligation to this beautiful free country we live in. I don’t think our president has tried to encourage the love and respect of our country. I read he is jublinent of Rahsmadan, yet our uniformed men and women shouldn’t have a chaplain to pray with them or counsel them! Something is wrong and our baby boomers better wake up and realize the life they have today is because their forefathers, fathers etc fought for their freedom. No it idnT free but now days a lot think it is.
God Bless. You sndGod Bless America
Todd Milner | June 7, 2016
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Way too simplistic. SO tired of hearing Obama as being the cause of all our ills. Does not address the militirasation of the police forces and the degradations of citizen privacy which crashed down upon us almost as the towers themselves were falling. Does not address how corporations/the haves have bent the minds of almost half this nation into supporting the haves taking from their supporters. Does not address the failure to teach civics anymore. I’ a veteran who says this piece does nothing but support the hate that corporations/conservatives have promoted to take peoples eyes off the real balls and that have culminated in a buffoon such as Trump to be the conservative presidential candidate! Time to stop doing the easy hate thing and start doing the harder critical reasoning/thinking for onesself. To get outside your self supporting “news” system and start reading more broadly and challenging items. In short, Think for yourself.
oldshooter | June 8, 2016
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I think the real “road to ruin” actually began with the Hippy Generation’s teaching that emotions are more important than reasoning, and that the most important thing in life is feeling good. This has led to the raising of an incredibly self-centered couple of generations of kids, who believe two fundamentally anti-social things.
1) they think that “feeling good” is the appropriate yardstick by which their motivation and behavior should be measured, and,
2) they believe that their obligation to their fellow Americans ends with the expression of good wishes for them.
Obviously, if it would make them feel bad to engage in other behavior, such as altruistic behavior, especially if it imposes any cost to themselves, then they can’t be expected to engage in that kind of “helping” behavior. Sometimes doing the right thing takes balls, because it will be emotionally costly to you at the time. But those who haven’t learned to “do the right thing” in those thousands of little things in daily life, are not going to rise to the occasion and behave well in a crisis either.
I wrote about this at greater length elsewhere, but the bottom line is that, if we want to grow a new generation of kids who are likely to put the welfare of others ahead of their own (something that is necessary for America to thrive), or rise to the occasion and behave heroically in times of crisis, then we will have to start by teaching them to act according to good principles with all the little things in daily life. The guys who behave well as adults are the same ones who refused to cheat on exams when they were kids, even if the other kids did it, or who helped out with projects (at school or home) when they would rather be doing something else, or who as young adults, come in early to work, even on bad weather days, because they feel it is their obligation. They are the same people who stop to help others at the roadside, even though it will make them late for work, because they learned as kids, that the PRINCIPLE involved was the appropriate yardstick to measure their motivation and behavior, rather than whether or not it was convenient for them. They are the guys who learned as kids that, as Hondo put it (in the novel, not the later John Wayne movie), “A man should always do what he thinks he ought to.” I don’t know if this is still the case, but “back in the day” West Point Cadets used to swear they would “not lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate among them, those who do.” Until we can raise another crop of kids guided by principles like that, rather than by their feelings, we cannot expect to see another “Great Generation” like the one we fielded in WWII.
Scott Todd | September 9, 2016
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Nope- began looooong before that, back to the “Progressive” era, Woodrow Wilson and even earlier. The Progressives created a 100 year plan to change America and unfortunately they succeeded.
oldshooter | June 7, 2016
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When he was Mayor of NYC, Rudy Giuliani demonstrated that the way to reduce major crimes (rape and murder) was to start by focusing on more common minor crimes (vandalism and spitting on the sidewalk), and thereby make ALL crime unacceptable. What worked at the level of a city also works at the level of the individual.
When we focus only on the heroic deeds of certain individuals in combat or life-threatening disaster situations, we tend to miss the underlying reasons for their heroism altogether. The fact is, those same individuals typically engage in very minor acts of honor and integrity on a daily basis, but no one notices. Ask any military “Hero” about the actions for which he was awarded special honors, and he will almost invariably be a little bewildered by the accolades and tell you he was “just doing his job.” And he was – he was just doing his job the way he saw it, the way he ALWAYS does it, day in and day out, in thousands of minor situations with no obvious danger, except possibly to his own sense of honor and integrity. Ask his comrades what he was like, and they will tell you that he was always someone “who had your back,” someone you could trust to do the right thing, no matter the consequences. And therein lies the message: Heroes are not forged in combat or danger, but in thousands of everyday actions that are guided by their sense of personal honor. Every day, in every way, they do what they think is right, even if it cause them problems with their boss, with their neighbors, etc. And when they are suddenly faced with a very dangerous situation, they STILL do what they think is right, because that is what they always do – they are, in their eyes, “just doing their job” as they see it. So the development of Men who will behave well, even heroically, in dangerous situations, doesn’t come from special training in handling danger, but rather from “special” training in behaving honorably, beginning when they are children. What we need is not to raise a nation of men waiting for a chance to act like heroes, but rather a nation of Men who learned at their parents knee, that they should always “do the right thing,” regardless of the personal cost. The guy who will behave like a hero under enemy fire, is the same one who will always help, and stand by, his friends, even when it is unpopular, the one who gives back the extra change the cashier gave him by accident, the one who doesn’t cheat on his taxes (even if he thinks they are unfair), the one who shows up at work early, even on bad weather days, or the kid who took a “C” because he wouldn’t cheat on his final exam like all the other kids did. Those are the people who act honorably all the time, over time it has become “who they are,” and when they suddenly find themselves in a dangerous situation, they just continue to act honorably, despite the danger, because it is “who they are” – they are honorable men. Those people aren’t created in the moment of danger, they are created in the thousands of very small, but honorable actions every day. And that is why they all say they were “just doing their job.”
Just like Rudy Giuliani’s emphasis on controlling minor day-to-day crimes, it is the focus on relatively minor day-to-day personal actions, that ultimately gets reflected in big events and heroic actions. So if you want to be a hero, or if you want to raise kids who will be heroes, what you need to do is start focusing on seemingly minor day-to-day actions you take, and start doing the right thing – every time. Then when you are suddenly thrust into a lousy and dangerous situation, you too, will “just do your job” and end up a hero, and probably find it bewildering. In the meantime, you will just be someone of whom others would say, “Oh him? Yeah, you can always count on him.”
Richard E. Schallert | June 7, 2016
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LBJ once said (1965): “We’re the richest country in the world; we can do whatever we want to do!” That attitude marked a BIG change in our national culture. And our “great” business world has accentuated that attitude by constantly telling us that “We can have it all and RIGHT NOW!” So we buy endless amounts of STUFF, mostly on credit (well-supplied by the credit card companies) and run up enormous amounts of debt, personally and nationally. Next time we have a war, let’s slap a 25% surtax on our income tax and find out how really “patriotic” Americans are.
This attitude extends from our very spoiled children to our very irresponsible Congress that simply cannot and will not say “No1” to all the special interest groups constantly asking for subsidies (e.g., Iowa corn farmers) or business people asking for government projects in their Districts to build military planes, ships, bases, etc. We are too wealthy for our own good!!!
Ron h | June 7, 2016
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Bill, thank you for stating publically what I have been saying for several years. Prior to WW II America was largly a rural country. God fearing and hard working with a good moral character for the most part. In WW II our rural country G,I”s were introduced to everything from sex to indecent language. Women were taught to work like men at men’s jobs, thru necessity. FDR introduced us to a popular style of socialism started by Woodrow Wilson. After the war women wanted to keep their new found freedom & jobs to the detriment of the family. Along with it came Hollywood an permissible sex. Men cowered to the women’s lib movement instead of crushing it. Our pastors preached tolerance instead of the Bible and some still do. Politicians look upon the public treasury and public office as a personal bank account an a life long job with extenuating benefits if removed from office. The government has taken control of everything from minimum wage to the language used in public school text books.
Want to restore America? Abolish government funding of public schools – make them private schools as they once were. Put MEN to work and place the women back in the home, homeschooling the children. Require every pastor to read the Bible thru at least once every year and then test them. Eliminate credit card company’s. Restore the Boy Scouts of America to a God fearing organization. Reinstate the Civilian Conservation Corps. for those that are unproductive in other avenues of employment.
I could go on but for the sake of others I will stop here.
THANKS for the article. It is long over due.
Todd Johnson | June 8, 2016
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You are right on here. There are only 2 things that will fix this problem. Revolution. Or Educating ourselves on the constitution. I am 100% positive that supporting, defending, abiding by the constitution, will solve EVERY problem we face as states and central government.
Krisanne Hall is a constitutional attorney that knows and understands the constitution better than anyone i have heard to date. I hold meetings once a month sharing her videos and information. Then apply action by sharing the info and putting together teams for multiple purposes. Here are the videos that we share. Go to youtube, search, The Greatest Threats To Liberty & The Simple Solution, & Constitutional role and duty of the state and federal government. You wont be disappointed. Those are the 2 choices we have. We can choose to educate, or our children and grandchildren will be forced to do the other. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Todd Johnson
6519256054
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