Basically, a free write...

I must, at the very least, post once a week, and I have been derelict in my duties.

One of my professors for grad school had the occasion to ask our class the following in a discussion forum : "Now that the Great American Experiment has proven to be a dismal failure, what financial systems and forms of government would you recommend for a new 'ideal society'."

I have the theme from Glory, one of favorite movies, on itunes, and the song just came up on shuffle. That seems to be when the impact of a song hits me the hardest, when it plays at a random time. The best part about the song, composed by James Horner, is that it elicits a feeling inside to do better; a longing to rise. As Americans, we are fortunate to have the ability to better our station in life. Alexis de Tocqueville provides the perfect quote to accompany the song, he writes: "When both the privileges and the disqualifications of class have been abolished and men have shattered the bonds which once held them immobile, the idea of progress comes naturally into each man's mind; the desire to rise swells in every heart at once..." America's dominance on the world stage is said to be ending. From Germany to Venezuela, capitalism and the tenants of democracy have been decried as a failed experiment. At these times, we need to remember the words of those who have helped make this country what it is today. President Lincoln said:

At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.

It is important to remember in times of uncertainty and strife that this, too, shall pass. No terrorist organization or foreign army could hope to muster the strength needed to conquer the United States, or our ideals. I don't think my professor was wrong in his assertion, I know he was. The destruction of what the United States of America stands for can only come from within, and the seeds of doubt placed by supposed intellectuals is a poison that requires early detection. I was exceedingly proud of my classmates for rejecting the professors opinion. He was not asking a question, he was stating a conclusion from a warped frame of mind.

I remain hopeful that the end of the semester will bring about a mea culpa from this professor. That he will confess his true intention of merely eliciting thought and discussion, that he doesn't really trumpet the end of the American Experiment.

I'll leave all my readers (I think my hit count is about to reach double digits!) with my favorite Lincoln quote:

Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition, whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other ambition so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem. How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition, is yet to be developed.