Steadfastness as a virtue

This is the word that represents all that is right with America, and much of the rest of the world.

In the Marines, some joked that one did not need to be good looking or a rocket scientist to aim in and pull the trigger. One just needed to be steadfast.

In American politics today, one often should be a good looking media TV person or a good writing media master to aim in and pull the political trigger. One does not need to be steadfast. One might try the advocacy role as a better idea than steadfastness when advancing one’s career hopes.

America is different from most of the world. We are the New World. Most of us were just born here and culturally educated here and think things are always this way. The best line I have heard is that we give as much thought to breathing air as we do to our freedom. Thanks to the Marines, I have lived overseas, and recognize that we are different, and better off than much of the rest of the world. The difference is one of experience and exposure. Ideas that many fellow citizens think are “self evident” are in fact earned and defended rights and ways of life. The barbarians are not everywhere, but those fellow humans who do not have what we have are. And they will do everything possible to get it for themselves.

Let’s be practical. After all, academic pie-in-the-sky idealistic talk is one thing; how does it affect me is another. Enemies to the American way of life are both foreign and domestic. Domestic first. Between the native born anarchists and even the well-intentioned secular progressives, they seek control of we the people. They are on the losing side of history because we are steadfast, and vote. Until we are tricked into making them king or pontiff, they can compete like all others for our votes. Our foreign enemies are in the eye of the beholder. I define them as those that threaten our family’s existence. Old world ideals, problems, and even caliphates dim compared to the New World. Practical application seems easy to this citizen. “Don’t tread on me”.

The New World here is a Western Culture, with all the benefits resulting. Between our legal system, our women’s rights, our public health benefits; in general we are all living like the old royalty of europe and asia, but more healthy and warm in the winter. And we have an expectation of a job, if we are willing to work hard.

To keep this going, one must be steadfast. America is steadfast.