Column for Feb. 7, 2008

Are there any Patriots left? Not if you are a Giant or love the U.S.

I was doubly dismayed at watching the Super Bowl on Sunday night. Not only did the New England Patriots blow a perfect season, I saw some corollaries that just saddened me. The New York Giants did not win The Super Bowl. The Patriots lost the game. There is a difference. The Patriots did not come in with their "A game". They seemed to be just going through the motions of game play except for a brief period in the fourth quarter. They were a much better team than they exhibited on the field.

I see a close parallel in today's culture. True American patriots are not coming to the game field with their best efforts. True patriots are not making the plays needed to secure victory. The effort just is not there. As a result, their opponents in the political realm are excelling and may very well win. For the record, I do not consider a former Muslim who currently attends a cultic "Christian" congregation and has a middle name of Hussein or the wife of a disgraced former President, both of which are admitted socialists by actions if not by name, to be patriots. I consider them to be the enemy.

I also do not consider liberally minded men who pretend to be conservatives to be patriots, either. When I see men running for the Republican Party's nomination for President who author bills that squash freedom of speech, oppose tax cuts, do not oppose gun bans, support amnesty for illegal aliens, desire to treat our war time enemies better than we treat our own soldiers, support increased spending and large government, and have just recently somewhat come to grips with some core conservative principles, I do not see patriots.

I may be biased, and I admit it wholeheartedly when it comes to this subject. One reason that I do not consider Mitt Romney, John McCain, and Mike Huckabee to be patriots in the truest sense of the word is because I have been studying a lot lately about the American Revolutionary War, the Declaration of Independence, and the U.S. Constitution. As a matter of fact, I have been teaching on the subject on a weekly basis for months. I have done extensive reading behind people like John Adams, John Locke, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Roger Sherman, and a host of others. The courage of men who "mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor" are far from those we have today. Basically, the true patriots of today, if there are any left, have failed to show up on the game field.

I can not, in all good conscience, vote for most of the men who are running for President this year. I would rather be stabbed to death with a plastic fork than vote for either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. If anyone truly believes that they would be good for this nation, then they must not have ever studied economics, the founding documents of this nation, and have no idea why we are a republic, not a democracy, nor a socialist nation. I have a hard time believing that anyone would purposely choose socialism over liberty.

I have an equally hard time voting for John McCain, who is certainly not a conservative. I have seen so many errant decisions on his part that I have a hard time discerning any vestiges of conservatism left in the man. Mitt Romney, though very articulate, is still a relative newcomer to conservatism. Quite honestly, I have misgivings about his loyalties, as well. Though Mike Huckabee is an evangelical Christian and ordained Baptist minister, I still dislike some of his soft stances on a few areas. Though I do not question his loyalty to God, I do question his loyalty to our form of government.

Even my first choice for President, Ron Paul, has some areas with which I strongly disagree. The more I study the U.S. government, our national heritage, and our founding documents, the more I am willing to overlook some areas of disagreement in order to cast a vote for a return to those values. He is certainly the only candidate espousing these same values and standing by them.

Alas, there are not more patriots in this nation that will vote as I will. This year, I refuse to hold my nose and cast yet another vote for the lesser of two evils. Then again, it may be the evil of two lessers. I don't know. What I do know is that just as I saw the New England Patriots blow a perfect football season, fail to show up to play their best, and allowed their opponents to take advantage of their weaknesses, I am seeing the exact same thing in our nation and have for years. Good, strong patriots seem to be in short supply, both in politics and in football.