SO HERE I GO....
I supported and defended Mitt Romney against every attack the left threw his way. For the longest time, I held the belief Romney would've been a great president, had he won in 2012. The Trump campaign and Presidency brought to light the actual character of Romney in, quite honestly, a manner I couldn't have comprehended 8 years go. I've learned over the last decade (holy cow, it doesn't seem like that long) or so, what he really stands for and supports. At the very least, I feel like my understanding of those things has become more substantive and I'm confident in my perception as to WHO HE REALLY IS.
I can't resist introspectively re-assessing my old and current views, relative to one another. When doing so, it's obvious my current view of Mitt Romney is almost the complete opposite of views I had years ago. The drastic changes to my views and opinions for a man I supported so willfully and eagerly, because I TRULY believed him to be honest and sincere, is SHOCKING. I now believe his true motives for leading our country were soooo INSINCERE and I feel betrayed. I'm sure others feel this same feeling, for similar or different reasons. Even though I felt and still feel slighted, being introspective about these things has, I believe, made me more empathetic for those that may STILL not be all aboard the Trump train like most of us.Secondly, it also made me not only think deeply about those I previously supported, but also those I had not. It forced me to come to difficult realizations about my own belief system and I sometimes found that hard to swallow. Changing strong beliefs sucks. It's uncomfortable and hard to accept (the left's reaction to 2016 is destructively batshit crazy, and although similar at their core to what I felt during my introspection, they ramped it up 1000x that, so don't get it twisted lol).
One of the most challenging things is trying to truly comprehend the layers upon layers of corruption we've learned over the last 3-4 years. But maybe most importantly, by doing so, I've come to realize just how corrupt our government had become before President Trump, how long it had been that way, and how truly blessed we are that President Trump is leading our great nation. We fought to bring him to power and he has fought every second of every day since, to be the beacon of righteousness and hope we placed upon his shoulders, together. He is indebted to us, "WE THE PEOPLE", and we are just as indebted to him.
The 2016 and 2020 elections will go down in American history as being similar in significance to our country's founding and the revolution(s) that lead to the birth and rise of the greatest country to have ever existed. Both revolutions involve/involved corruption of a tyrannous and unbridled power/government, a few powerful heroes willing to risk their wealth and freedom for the good of those less fortunate, and a common people's faith in shared ideologies. Ideologies, for which, worldly possessions cannot sway or influence.
ONLY IF...
A powerful few, a passionate and unified force of a less-powerful many, become indebted and bonded to each other by a shared future imagined by both, where one cannot become its' ideal self without the ideal and equal existence of other...
ONLY THEN...
It becomes possible for a revolution to dismantle corruption and create a new more virtuous nation...
OR
It becomes possible for a revolution to reclaim a nation and its' founding ideals that were rightfully earned, especially when they have been stolen in bad faith.
WE ARE ALIVE AND EXPERIENCING SOMETHING SPECIAL...
A group of people will never have the opportunity we have. Maybe a moment, such as this does occur again, but it's realistic to believe that moment might not occur for another 100 or 200 years!! The last time our country has been in a situation closest to the one we are living in now, took place at the time our NATION WAS FOUNDED!! The Civil War, WWI, WWII, etc. were all incredibly important, so please let that be clear, but the last opportunity that WE THE PEOPLE had such extreme power and strength to fight an EVIL within, and preserve what rightfully belongs to us, took place almost 250+ years ago!!
OUR BATTLE IS MODERN. OUR WORLD HAS NATURALLY TRANSFORMED. THE SAME GREED AND EVIL REMAINS.
BUT, WHAT ELSE REMAINS? CONSIDER...
I. THE SHARED IDEOLOGIES AND BELIEFS IN AN IDEAL EXISTENCE WE KNOW CAN NEVER BE ACHIEVED, EXCEPT IN THEIR EXISTENCE LIVING ON, WITHIN THAT BELIEF. THOSE THAT OPPOSE THE 'AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE' CAN NEVER AND WILL NEVER COMPREHEND THIS IDEA. THE ULTIMATE GOAL IS, IN FACT, PRESERVING THE BELIEF. BUT THE BELIEF, ITSELF, IS WHAT BRINGS TO LIFE THE GOAL AND DESIRE TO PRESERVE IT. JUST AS A TRUE REVOLUTION REQUIRES MUTUAL INDEBTEDNESS AND TRUST, AN OXYMORON ONLY OVERCOME BY VIRTUE AND FAITH.
II. AMERICA WAS AND IS A SPECTACULARLY SPECIAL NATION.
- NEVER BEFORE AND NEVER AGAIN HAS A NATION BEEN FOUNDED UPON A "BELIEF" SO UNIQUE THAT IT'S NEVER ONCE BEEN REPLICATED
III. OFTEN OVERLOOKED IS THE FACT THAT AMERICA HAS BORDERS, LAWS, BIRTH CERTIFICATES, ETC. BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT MAKES IT UNIQUE.
- THINK ABOUT WHAT "BEING AMERICAN" MEANS TO YOU. THIS IS IMPORTANT.
- WE ARE AMERICANS BECAUSE WE "FEEL" AND "BELIEVE" THAT WE ARE "AMERICAN", BUT IN A MANNER THAT OTHER NATIONS CANNOT POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND.
IV. LIBERALS AND ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA FROM NON-AMERICANS FROWN UPON THE BELIEF THAT AMERICANS CAN TRULY BE AMERICAN AND THE "GOOD PEOPLE" WE THINK WE ARE, IF WE ALSO HOLD A BELIEF THAT "AMERICA IS BETTER".
- ON THE SURFACE, THIS DOES SEEM SOMEWHAT REASONABLE AND RATIONAL. AMERICANS SHOULD BE BETTER AND BELIEVING THEMSELVES BETTER THAN OTHERS SEEMS HYPOCRITICAL.
- BUT IS THAT REALLY TRUE???
V. AN UNRELENTING FAITH IS WHAT PROVIDES AMERICANS WITH THE WILL TO SUCCEED. WITH THIS FAITH, AMERICAN PATRIOTS ARE BROUGHT INTO EXISTENCE; BUT ONLY IF:
- THE IDEALS, BELIEFS, AND PATRIOTISM SHARED BY A LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE ARE SO VIRTUOUS THAT THOSE LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE REFUSE TO BOW TO THE CONSTANT FOE OF EVIL THAT WILL ALLOWS EXIST.
- THE SELF-EVIDENT TRUTHS PROVIDE GUIDANCE, HUMILITY, AND A PATH TO A GREATER DIVINE, WHERE THE VIRTUOUS WILL ALWAYS DEFEAT EVIL.
- HOWEVER, THE SELF-EVIDENT TRUTHS ARE ONLY SELF-EVIDENT TO THOSE THAT POSSESS THEM; THIS MEANS THEIR EXISTENCE RELIES UPON A PEOPLE WILLING TO SACRIFICE THEMSELVES FOR THE GREATER EXISTENCE OF HUMANITY, REGARDLESS OF COST AND REGARDLESS OF REWARD. OUR FOUNDERS KNEW THIS.
VI. A MORE PERFECT UNION WAS FORMED, WHERE ITS' PEOPLE WOULD BE BORN IN AN INHERENTLY VIRTUOUS SOCIETY. THE CONSTITUTION IS THE MOST IMPRESSIVE DOCUMENT TO EXIST. ALL PRIOR HUMAN HISTORY WAS EXAMINED, WITH THE BEST ASPECTS OF HUMAN HISTORY BEING BROUGHT TO LIFE WITHIN IT, SYNONYMOUS WITH THE BIRTH OF OUR NATION.
SO, WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN!?
I'll keep my final thought to myself. It's probably not important. Something so simple can't mean all that much...right??
ONE thought
ONE belief
ONE movement
ONE people
ONE family
AND
ONE GLORIOUS NATION UNDER GOD
Actually...it means EVERYTHING.
Hear hear! Well said and amazingly well written.
I have to say, I experienced something similar earlier in my life.
When I was a teenager I was exposed to the Abortion fight for the first time. As a Christian I was, by faith alone, opposed to Abortion. I had otherwise been nominally leftist as most teenagers are, but only because it was just the accepted norm, and because it seemed, on the surface, to be compatible with Christianity.
However, the furious invective leveled against Pro Life people opened my eyes. I attended some of the Late 80's and early 90's Pro Life events and participated in a few peaceful and passive demonstrations. These were covered by the local lefty news media.
To see my own face pass by the camera on the news that evening and to hear myself and those other peaceful, loving Christians be described as some kind of mad extremists who hated women shocked me to my core and made me reassess everything I believed in politically. I KNEW they were lying, because I had been there. They were lying about me and lying about everything I believed in.
At that point I had to ask myself: WHAT ELSE have they lied to me about?
My dad, already a conservative, turned me on to Rush Limbaugh, who was still relatively new on the National Radio scene at that time. As Rush spoke and as I thought about my experiences I realized: They had lied to me about almost everything. My entire worldview came crumbling down and I realized that I could no longer be a part of that "nominal leftism" that I had so readily followed, thinking it was the"good way". I KNEW it was a lie now, and there was no going back.
So has it also been for me and the "Neo-Conservatism" of George Bush and Mitt Romney. I realized that it was nothing more than just leftism with a conservative coat of paint, only pushed for the benefit of those pushing it and for the enrichment of the elites. Like others I too defended Mitt against the scurrilous attacks of the left, and like you I have been shocked and appalled at his brazen betrayal and weak mewling about how is faith informed his willingness to betray Trump over the flimsiest of false charges.
I know now that standing for God, for America, for family, for each other, and for the Constitution of the United States is the only way forward. the Trump way is the way. We can take back America from these evil usurpers who would seek to turn us into another corrupted European style oligarchy. Now is the time, and we Americans are the ones to do it.
God Bless you all, I will always be proud to have been a part of this movement to Make America Great Again.
You're stumbling through a dark place and into the light.
What is a "nation"? The word "nation" comes from the same root word that "neonatal" and "prenatal" comes from -- BIRTH. What makes a nation a nation is shared BIRTH.
I grew up believing the America was a set of ideas. If that is true, then people who no longer believe those ideas are no longer American. American citizenship isn't conferred upon people simply because they think like us -- it is because they are born among us.
What SHOULD be happening in America is the following:
This is what makes a nation a nation -- what children are taught by their parents even before they come out of the womb.
If we want to keep America, we must redouble our efforts to teach our own children the American ideas and inculcate in their minds an allegiance to these ideas, a willingness to fight and if need be, DIE, for these ideas.
The assault on the American family is indeed an assault upon America itself. It is a strike at the jugular -- the one area that if struck will cause near instant death, in less than one generation!
Our real enemies are not some imagined group of terrorists in a faraway place who threaten to torture, maim or kill us. The real enemy, the only enemy that has power to destroy America, is among ourselves, people who are trying to convince us not to form families, not to raise children with American ideas, etc...
I voted for Romney too. Of course, I heard negative things about him on the news, but I didn't pay it too much attention. After all, the news says the same thing about every conservative. In fact, if Romney had been MAGA, they'd have still said all the same things about him (maybe worse). That's why it was like the boy who cried wolf. Republicans knew better than to listen to them.
However, now I know just how crooked Romney is. I don't regret being skeptical of everything the media says, but I also now know to be skeptical of Republicans too.
Very well stated. We have to remember that N.A.F.T.A. was meticulously crafted by Congress. I remember the discussions. They went on and on.
Good write-up!
Honestly, I didn't expect much response AT ALL. Thank you all for the time of yours that you were kind enough to let me borrow!!
My sometimes incoherent rambling are highlighted a bit too much for my liking, but I didn't bother cleaning it up much. My apologies for the formatting and areas where my thoughts were poorly stated ? I sincerely appreciate the response I've received!!