This was extracted from a recently received e-mail: THIS SAYS IT ALL!!!!! Broken Arrow, Oklahoma School officials remove "God Bless America" signs from schools in fear that someone might be offended. Channel 12 News in Long Island, New York, orders flags removed from the newsroom and red, white, and blue ribbons removed from the lapels of reporters. Why? Management did not want to appear biased and felt that our nations flag might give the appearance that "they lean one way or another". Berkeley, California bans U.S. Flags from being displayed on city fire trucks because they didn't want to offend anyone in the community. In an "act of tolerance" the head of the public library at Florida Gulf Coast University ordered all "Proud to be an American" signs removed so as to not offend international students. I, for one, am quite disturbed by these actions of so-called American citizens; and I am tired of this nation worrying about whether or not we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Americans. However, the dust from the attacks had barely settled in New York and Washington D.C. when the "politically correct" crowd began complaining about the possibility that our patriotism was offending others. I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a grudge against anyone who is seeking a better life by coming to America. In fact, our country's population is almost entirely comprised of descendants of immigrants; however, there are a few things that those who have recently come to our country, and apparently some native Americans, need to understand.

First of all, it is not our responsibility to continually try not to offend you in any way. This idea of America being a multi-cultural community has served only to dilute our sovereignty and our national identity. As Americans, we have our own culture, our own society, our own language, and our own lifestyle. This culture, called the "American Way" has been developed over centuries of struggles, trials, and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom. Our forefathers fought, bled, and died at places such as Bunker Hill, Antietam, San Juan, Iwo Jima, Normandy, Korea, Vietnam, We speak English, not Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society - learn our language! "In God We Trust" is our national motto. This is not some off-the-wall, Christian, Right Wing, political slogan - it is our national motto. It is engraved in stone in the House of Representatives in our Capitol and it is printed on our currency. We adopted this motto because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation; and this is clearly documented throughout our history. If it is appropriate for our motto to be inscribed in the halls of our highest level of Government, then it is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. God is in our pledge, our National Anthem, nearly every patriotic song, and in our founding documents. We honor His birth, death, and resurrection as holidays, and we turn to Him in prayer in times of crisis. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture and we are proud to have Him. We are proud of our heritage and those who have so honorably defended our freedoms. We celebrate Independence Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Flag Day. We have parades, picnics, and barbecues where we proudly wave our flag. As an American, I have the right to wave my flag, sing my national anthem, quote my national motto, and cite my pledge whenever and wherever I choose. If the Stars and Stripes offend you, or you don't like Uncle Sam, then you should seriously consider a move to another part of this planet. The American culture is our way of life, our heritage, and we are proud of it. We are happy with our culture and have no desire to change, and we really don't care how you did things where you came from. We are Americans, like it or not, this is our country, our land, and our lifestyle. Our First Amendment gives every citizen the right to express his opinion about our government, culture, or society, and we will allow you every opportunity to do so. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about our flag, our pledge, our national motto, or our way of life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great American freedom, the right to leave. Barry Loudermilk

-- Steve McClendon (ke6bjd@yahoo.com), October 17, 2001

Answers

Amen!!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), October 17, 2001.

BINGO!!!!! Thank You.

-- Pat Connolly (FLGUDMUSIC@aol.com), October 18, 2001.

This is an elaborated form of the old expression, "America-- love it or leave it." It's just as mistaken as that was.

The author in using "we" throughout the piece certainly speaks for some Americans. The Ku Klux Klan, for example would feel right at home with these declarations. Blacks of course, would not. Similar language, replacing Germany for America, was probably also uttered by good Nazis in the 1930's.

As the author suggests, I _am_ looking for opportunities to leave the United States. Leaving is of course easier said than done, since work permits are not given freely in other countries. Emigration is exactly what Hitler encouraged Jews in Germany to do before WW II.

Thanks for such a clear statement of position, Barry and Steve.

-- neil r (nmruggles@earthlink.net), October 18, 2001.

Neil:

With all due respect, It appears you may have missed the forest for the trees. Would the article be more palatable if the last sentence was removed?

-- Steve McClendon (ke6bjd@yahoo.com), October 19, 2001.

Niel, you might want to consider moving to New Zealand. It's English-speaking, relatively uncrowded, "clean and green", and they generally like Americans. There are web-based questionaires at NZ Immigration that will tell you if you qualify under their points system.

-- Barb Knox (barbara-knox@iname.com), October 19, 2001.