America is a dreamer. We are a country that was founded on a dream, a dream that had existed within man since his first conceptions of government. It was a dream of self-rule, of personal freedoms, of the right for every human being to pursue happiness in their existence and of the simple, basic belief that all men were created equal. The concept that every man was created equal and that we all had the right to pursue happiness had never before been considered in any other form of government.

America has always been the gambler. We have always been a country with the courage to defy the odds. We first rolled those proverbial dice when thirteen separate colonies united to form an alliance to each other, a union, which went to war and then defeated at that time the most powerful nation on this earth to gain our freedoms and our right to self-government.

America is a doer, a shaker, with a long and storied history of achieving the impossible. Even when the odds were against us or while others believed that what we were trying to do was not viable. We have realized the impossible dreams of men since the winning our own Revolution to the completion of the Trans-Continental Railroad, to the digging of the Panama Canal and then ever onward and upward in sending men to the Moon. The mere fact that America still exists when so many have tried to undo Her Glory is a remarkable achievement unto itself.

America is a country of immigrants; people who came from foreign lands to start a new life, to build a new home, to raise American families who could worship within the religions of their choice. They came to carve out a life in a land of unlimited opportunities and personal freedoms that they could not find in the countries of their birth. While these new citizens remained proud of their heritage they were even prouder to be called Americans.   

America is a builder and a transformer. These new Americans swept across our broad continent as they cultivated the land, tamed the mighty rivers, and crossed the highest mountains to build cities and towns and civilize a wilderness while facing many hardships and incalculable perils. In doing so America built the tallest skyscrapers, endless miles of tracks for our railroads, the largest, fastest fleet of ships, innumerable factories and mills, enormous ranches, small efficient farms, schools, churches and courthouses, the most intricate highway system on earth, and the safest airline system in the skies. While once we led the World in manufacturing we were also their 'Bread Basket' as our hard work and abundance produced more than we needed.

America is the caregiver, the Samaritan. We have given aid and comfort to all in their time of need. No matter friend or foe we come to the aid and rescue of our fellow human beings in a time of disaster. Be it an earthquake, flood or hurricane, a time of war or desolation and starvation, America has always been there to ease the pain, end the hunger, to stop the dying and to rebuild.

America is a warrior. But we do not worship war. We conduct war to defend ourselves, to liberate and to end evil. In World Wars One and Two we were the last to enter the conflicts as we came to the aid of those who were being invaded and killed. In South Korea and Vietnam we were there to stop aggressive Communist invaders. In Desert Storm we went to the aid of Kuwait when it was attacked without reason by Iraq. In Afghanistan today we are after the terrorists of 9-11. In Iraq we have ended the murderous rule a tyrant to liberate a country and to help insure our own safety. We have suffered casualties in Peace Missions all over the world while trying to stabilize regions in conflict. And yet wherever Americans have fought and died, when the war was over, the fighting done, we have helped to rebuild the nations torn under by the conflict and sent our troops home. 

America is the self-healer. In times of economic strife and depression we have forged our way forward, suffered through the adversity and regained our own footing. In times of natural disasters it is our fellow Americans who come to the aid of their countrymen. When there is an injustice we correct it, such as the evil institution of slavery which once cast its dark shadow over our land. In the history of man every race, every ethnic group, every major religion has been burdened at one time by the heavy, unjust shackles of enslavement. This institution had already been firmly embedded within in our country, fed by foreign slave traders, by the time America won its Independence. America went to war within itself to purge this inequality from our shores. In no other instance in the history of slavery has a government abolished this unlawful practice before without a slave revolt or a foreign invasion.

America is a survivor. For many years following our Independence our small country struggled to forge an identity and a rightful place among the Nations of the World. When so many other countries, even many of today, have failed in their struggles to remain solvent, America's radiance has been the shining light of Democracy and Freedom for over two hundred and thirty years. This struggle for our survival is a constant endeavor; only our enemies change as we move forever forward in the pursuit of maintaining our liberties.

America is religious. In God We Trust. Let no man tell you different. Without Divine Guidance and without our beliefs in Him we could not or would not exist. God's Law is the basis of our laws. He is our moral Guide. He is our Light. He is our Reason for being.

Every generation of Americans has faced adversity, conflict, social change and economic struggles. There have always been distracters, naysayers, doom merchants and critics. Yet this American dream lives on. America has always been a problem solver. Today the problems may seem insurmountable to our present generation, but none more so than the problems of the past had seemed to our forefathers. The terrorists' threat, the flood of illegal immigration, the security of our borders, the nukes of Iran and North Korea, the state of our present social security program, the exportation of our job market along with a falling economy, the continued disintegration of our family structure and the ebbing worship of our God in our society are just problems. And problems have solutions.

Our Founding Fathers were more than just, "Rich, white men who didn't want to pay their taxes." They were visionary leaders: wealthy, established, educated gentlemen of position who risked all on a chance for you and I to realize the American dream. In our Constitution and Bill Of Rights they foresaw the problems of the future. They understood that nothing stays the same, that with time and progress our country would grow and change and thus so would our problems and our perils. They were wise enough to know that in our time, like in their own, future Americans may need a new Revolution to restore the balance of equality in our country, and to breathe new life into the pursuit of our Freedoms and our Liberties. So they provided a means for that Revolution to us. As Fathers are wont to do, they protected us as they insured that our Revolution, unlike their own, would be bloodless and pain free. They provided us with the means of our revolution by giving each and every one of us the right to vote. Our Revolution comes on Election Day. On that day Americans have the right and the means to change our government. We do not have to pick up musket and powder, ball and shot. We do not have to kiss our families goodbye never knowing if we will ever see them again. We do not have to go hungry and freeze in our own Valley Forge or face death with a determined enemy. All we have to do is vote.

If you don't like the choices on the ballot then you will have to do more and start earlier to get the people you want on that ballot. But vote. Tired of the same old rhetoric following the same old party line, then you have to get active and change the party line. How? By your vote, show that party that their line needs new meaning, new goals, and new hope for all of us. But vote. Because if you don't cast your vote you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. So vote Democratic, Republican and or other, but vote.

The American Dream lives on, there is nothing a united people cannot do. There are no problems the People of the United States cannot solve. It is time for a Revolution. It is time to elect leaders who are doers and shakers. It is time to solve our problems. VOTE!

God Bless America

God Bless You All

Semper Fi,

Mike

"Copyright 2006.  Michael E. Tank   All rights reserved. No part of this document may be copied, faxed, electronically transmitted, or in any other manner duplicated without express written permission of the author."