By Nick Dial

When I was a child, my favorite holiday was the Fourth of July.  Sparklers burned, flags waved, and all was good in the world. Today, the nation is stuck in a malaise. Somehow along the way we have lost the meaning  of what a privilege it is to be an American. Of all the nations in the entire world, truly the few and the proud can call themselves American. We are a nation that stands for more than just self interest. We stand for that moral question of what every human being longs for…freedom. The freedom to self govern our live as we choose, and to only call on the government for things that are necessary, such as national defense.

Our youth today seem to have no concept of such views. They never lost touch because they were never connected in the first place. Today’s generation is a reflection of a society that judges success by the fruits of materialistic objects. The flashy car, the mini mansion, the fancy clothes, all in the name of keeping up with what pop culture deems as success in today’s fast paced world. What are we to expect? Our government is acting as if the parents went away for the weekend and left the credit card behind for the kids to find. Everything is charge it now, with little consideration for the long term implications of what such careless behavior will bring. What will our future generations do when they are a product of being reliant on big government and have no understanding of what it means to be self reliant? It wasn’t that long ago when the fruits of success were measured in sweat after a full day of honest work in a field and when the rain came down to compliment your hard work, it all came together and paid off.

As  the father with a young daughterl, I take our nation’s future seriously. I want her to inherit a safe United States. I have never been in combat, but I have seen what we can do to one another right here at home. As a police officer, I have seen horrible things in our own streets. I am aware of the kill or be killed ways of the world. Myself and others who have served, can testify, evil is real. We have seen it firsthand with our own eyes. What I want to do is share some awareness with you. We live very busy safe lives as Americans. We are very much involved in pop culture, gossip magazines, and tabloid media. We get advice from Hollywood actors about topics 0n they have no expertise or understanding . We have become a nation of superficial obsession. All these things are possible because we have always had a strong deterrence to anyone wanting to do us harm. A strong military is the foundation of freedom and safety. Without that, we have nothing. There would be no job security, no guarantees, and no pursuit of happiness. No one knows this better then the men and women of the 1940’s, who lived in the shadow of the Third Reich. If you get a chance, ask a WWII vet how they feel. Ask them how it was to endure food and material rations for the war effort with no sure outcome of a winner and the knowledge if we lost the war, we lost our way of life with it.

The problem is while we are encased in this “safe” nation of ours, the world outside our borders is preparing for conflict. Mexico is on the verge of collapse and is losing a war with drug cartels. I have dealt with this as a Police Officer and have tried to give warn of its implications. Iran has made threat after threat and will soon have a nuclear weapon  along with the means to deliver it. North Korea has test launched ballistic missiles that are capable of hitting our west coast. Russia and Putin are extremely anti – west, and becoming a world power again. They hold a monopoly on the oil reserves in that part of the world and are becoming very wealthy. They have paid monies to Kyrgyzstan not to allow us to continue using Air bases to serve the Afghanistan region. Russia has stated that they will match every NATO ship in numbers. Russia has supplied Iran Nuclear technologies and surface to air missiles to defend against the United States or Israel. Russia is also touring their navy in South America and is renewing Cold War ties with Cuba and Venezuela ; both anti-American. Russia has threatened preemptive nuclear strikes against Poland and has caused Obama to back down from missile defense. Russia has also announced they are building 70 more nuclear weapons. China is  a rising power that already  rivals us. There is a storm rising and we cannot continue to back shelf these issues until they come full circle. We owe it to our children and their children’s children.  It’s time to stop with the petty party pandering and get back to what it truly is to be an American –  proud, free, and self reliant.