Last Saturday, 11 August, as Mitt Romney announced Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan as his running mate, many eyes began to focus on the subject of Medicare. Long considered a “third rail” in political circles, both parties decided they could make hay on the subject. For the past two years, the Democrats have said that a plan put forth by Congressman Ryan would ultimately toss grannies everywhere off a cliff. There was a commercial that showed exactly that. The Republicans said that it would save Medicare.

     The fact is that Medicare, as it exists now, is unsustainable. Medicare, signed into law by Lyndon B Johnson in 1965, today provides health insurance for 48 million Americans. As time went by, life expectancy increased, causing a burden on the program. Now, the “Baby Boomers” are beginning to turn 65, the age most people become qualified for Medicare. This means an increasing number of recipients and a dwindling workforce. In 1965, there was 4.6 workers per Medicare beneficiary. Today, that ratio is 3.3 workers per person collecting benefits. By 2030, the number of workers supporting each beneficiary will drop to 2.2. This, along with the increase in life expectancy, leads to the insolvency of the program. Something HAS to be done.

     Last year Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, was signed into law, with definite ramifications for Medicare. Buried in the pages of the law, which Nancy Pelosi stupidly said,” We have to pass the bill so we can find out what’s in it”, was one of the provisions for paying for the law. Obamacare actually stripped, according to the Congressional Budget Office, $716 billion out of Medicare to provide funding for the bureaucracy that is Obamacare, most of which goes to fund programs having nothing to do with seniors. Much of the remainder cames from a reduction of reimbursements to the providers. Starting in 2013, reimbursement to providers, the doctors, hospitals and service facilities, will be about 33%, then falling from there to an ultimate rate of 6%. Remember when the President told everyone that, if you liked your doctor, you could keep him? Well, this is one of the reasons that statement isn’t true. How many doctors will remain in practice when they get $6 on a $100 statement. Medicare recipients will have a hard time getting access to medical attention. If you find that hard to believe, look at the doctors who no longer accept Medicaid, due to the same reason.

     The proposal put forth by Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, although evolving, goes a different direction. For those 55 and above, there will be NO changes. They have promised that on their first day, they will repeal Obamacare, a law that around 65% of Americans don’t like (that’s before all the tax increases take effect). The $716 billion would be returned to the Medicare program. For those people under 55 who like Medicare the way it is, nothing changes. You can opt to stay with the Medicare program. It may, however,  be more advantageous to go with other programs designed to prolong the life of Medicare. According to the Heritage Foundation, there are several things that can be done to that end. The Romney-Ryan plan, slightly different from the plan Paul Ryan proposed and was passed through the House of Representatives, is fluid enough to encompass many of the things approved by Heritage.

     Obama is campaigning that Romney and Ryan will end Medicare as we know it. The truth is that Obamacare already does that! In addition to the theft of the funding for Medicare, Obamacare has 160 provisions affecting Medicare. As Heritage’s Alyene Senger wrote,” With a raid on Medicare of this magnitude, President Obama’s assertion that his new law is protecting seniors and Medicare is astonishing. The truth is Obamacare does the opposite.”

     As Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan further define their plans for health care and Medicare, I’m sure that more seniors will come to realize that their plan is the better of those on the table. After all, when it comes to their health, seniors aren’t stupid!

During the last few weeks, America’s attention has been split between the Olympics and the back  and forth war of the SuperPACs. Now, realizing that a large part of the population won’t start bringing politics onto their personal radars until after the conventions, many things go unnoticed, especially with a completely complicit Lame Stream Media. However, many things still are able to part the curtain, thus exposing the man working the controls behind the scenes.

Yesterday, during a campaign speech in Detroit, the Obama agenda was exposed for all to see. He began speaking about the bail-out of the auto industry to the crowd. He held General (Government) Motors as a shining example of how well the bail-out worked for everyone. Then, Obama went on to say that, since the government take-over of the auto industry went so well, he wanted to do the same for the rest of the manufacturing industries.

First, the take-over did so well? In 2009, the Big Three, GM, Chrysler and Ford, there in bad shape. They were hurting. Sales were down and the whole industry was said to be in jeopardy of going bankrupt. The Obama administration offered a bail-out and General Motors and Chrysler accepted the taxpayer money to avoid bankruptcy. Ford, to their credit, declined to participate. Once General (now Government) Motors and Chrysler succumbed to the take-over, the Obama administration rammed the two companies through bankruptcy anyway. Government Motors was broken up and sold separately to other countries. Chrysler was finally sold off to Fiat, at around a $35 billion dollar loss. As of June, Fiat owns 61.9% of Chrysler. Government Motors, Obama’s shining example, still owes the American taxpayer around $25 billion dollars. So, I question whether this is a victory at all. Ford went on to increase its sales, mainly because the American people rallied around a company that went on without our tax money.

Now, on to my main concern regarding Obama’s statement, his proposed nationalization of industry in America. I think this is another example where his agenda is revealed. He is so anti-capitalism, in order to further control the economy, he wants to take over manufacturing. With government control of industry, corporations would not be able to complain about America having the highest corporate tax rate. Under government control, companies wouldn’t be able to move out of the country to find more lenient tax rates. Under government control, Obama could demand hiring of more people, with no regard to whether the business makes a profit or not. In fact, under government control, why would anybody expect a company to make money? How efficient is any government-run entity, such as the United States Postal Service or Amtrak?

Nationalization is usually the second thing to happen in a Socialistic environment. The first, of course, is the media and the government already controls the Lame Stream Media. The Socialists took over the companies in Russia. The Socialists took over companies in Cuba. The main word associated with socialism is control. Without central control, there can be no socialism. Nationalization of industry, under Obama, would destroy the economy. It has been forecast that China’s economy would become the number 1 in 2018. Just this year alone, China has increased its manufacturing base by 18% and grown its economy by $2 trillion. Government take-over of American manufacturing would only hasten Chinese prominence.

     A few days ago, after the President of Chick-Fil-A Dan Cathy announced that he supported marriage as being between a man and a woman, Rahm Emanuel stated that he wanted a ban on Chick-Fil-A in Chicago, Illinois. Although that sounds a bit petty on the part of the Mayor of Chicago, in reality it is very telling. In a press conference, Rahm Emanuel stated, “Chick-Fil-A values are not Chicago values.”

     Way to weigh in on the values question, Rahm, but perhaps your target is a little off. I’m sure he is aware that since 2001, there have been over 5000 deaths by gun fire in Chicago ( before you jump on the gun control wagon, remember Chicago already has one of the toughest anti-gun laws in the country). During that same time, in Afghanistan, we lost some 2000 US heroes in a combat zone. The victims in Chicago are due to an increase of 38% in the murder rate in the city for just the first six months of 2012. So far this year, there have been over 300 deaths ruled a homicide in Chicago. This is four times the murder rate of New York City and double that of Los Angeles.

     To combat this terrible trend, the city agreed in mid-June to employ an outside company, Ceasefire. Their philosophy on the murder spree is that it’s primarily gang activity and that it is learned behavior. Working with those at risk prior to the violence starting is their goal. Apparently, that’s going to take a while, as there were 27 deaths in July.

     About a week ago, Rahm decided to hedge his bets by meeting with Louis Farrakhan to perhaps use the  Friends of Islam to curb the violence. Now, I’ve heard some excerpts of speeches by Farrakhan and it seems to me there’s a huge amount of hate contained in those speeches. They appear to me to incite violence as opposed to curbing any violence. That’s just my opinion, however.

     So, when Rahm makes the statement, “Chick-Fil-A values are not Chicago values”, I have to wonder. Since Chick-Fil-A is an openly Christian company, employing Christian principles in its operation, maybe what Rahm is actually saying is that Christian values have no place in Chicago as long as he rules. With all that is going wrong in Chicago, with all the deaths there, maybe those Christian values SHOULD have a place in Chicago.

     First, let me say that Washington, DC has always leaked information like a sieve. It is a city populated by a bunch of egotistical, pseudo-important people who love nothing more than to show everyone around them just how important they are. One of those people gets a briefing on classified information and shortly thereafter, they are telling someone else and so forth. Eventually, that person is weeded out and are excluded from further briefings. It has happened for years.

     However, this administration has a huge problem keeping the security in their National Security. After the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, it was released that Seal Team 6 was the unit responsible. Shortly after that, the Pakistani doctor that helped in locating bin Laden was arrested by the Pakistani government because of information leaked. Most recently, the House and Senate Intelligence Committees discussed the leak of information surrounding the Stuxnet virus and the penetration of an al Qaeda cell in Yemen.

     Over a month ago, Attorney General Eric Holder named two special councils to investigate the leaks. One of them is a contributor to the Obama campaign, so I’m sure he’s fair (NOT). The other is a long time friend of Holder’s, so no conflict of interest there either. After all, it’s not like Holder has been held in contempt of Congress for withholding evidence. No, wait, he has, hasn’t he? The house of Representatives and the Republican Presidential candidate both want an independent council to investigate the issue.

     The pentagon has claimed it wasn’t them. President Obama is offended that anyone would consider that anyone in the White House would leak the information. The bottom line is that this is an election year and the administration is in a tough race. Obama can’t run on his record on the economy, because the economy is worse now than when he took office.  Jobs isn’t an issue with him, unless you are talking about his own ( he hasn’t met with his Jobs Council in over six months). National Defense is a loser for him as his only goal so far is to completely gut the military.To hear Obama’s cheerleaders (ie, the lame stream media), foreign policy is his strong point. One of the few things these leaks achieve, is to make him look like a great world leader. To the uninformed, these revelations make Obama look strong.

     The fact that is lost on the administration is that leaking information can cost lives, and may have already. Is there any surprise that several months after the identification of Seal Team 6, that  several of them were killed by an anti-air missile as their helicopter was en route to aid fellow service members embroiled in a firefight? How about the Pakistani doctor that identified bin Laden prior to the raid. Do you think his stay in prison has been enjoyable. A strong leader might have gone to his aid, but this administration abandoned him! How would you like to have been the American or the Israeli programmers who created either Flame or Stuxnet?

     This past Monday, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), member of the Senate Intelligence Committee said,”I think the White House has to understand that some of this is coming from their ranks.” Then she said that she doesn’t believe for a minute that Obama comes out and speaks of it. That was, of course, before she got “Bookered” and walked it back some. On the other hand, if a high-ranking liberal Democrat says something like this about the administration, you have to wonder.

     The long and the short of it is, I don’t believe the two investigators on the case will find anything, I don’t think the leaker will be discovered or will stop and I fear the leaks will result in more bloodshed. You have to wonder how much bloodshed and suffering the administration figures Obama’s re-election is worth.

     Yesterday, 12 July, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a directive which cripples the American work ethic. The official policy directive guts the basic work requirement which was the bedrock of the welfare reform act of 1996. With this policy, the Obama Administration has ended welfare reform as we know it.

     The welfare reform law of 1996, under Clinton, replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children for a new program, Temporary Assistance for Needy families (TANF) and established the requirement that adult who were capable, either go to work or prepare for work to receive welfare assistance. During the period between 1995 and 1996, Congress passed the bill a total of three times and, in 1996, an election year, Clinton signed the bill into law the third time.

     The welfare reform law was a great success. It was the only welfare program, of over 70, which promoted greater self-reliance and was responsible for removing almost 3 million families from welfare rolls into the work force. The child poverty rate fell and single-parent employment rose. With the law in effect, in order to receive welfare payments, an able-bodied adult had to either work a minimum of 20-30 hours per week or go to some sort of training for work.

     With yesterday’s policy directive by the HHS changes all that. The Obama administration wants to waive the work requirements, making it easier to get welfare payments. Evidently, the Obama administration has given up on efforts to create jobs and desires to expand the nation’s welfare rolls. Of course, by doing this, some of those jobs now filled by welfare recipients who no longer are required to work for their money can be filled by people who actually want to work. Those people leaving the work force for the welfare rolls will no longer be included in the work force. Both these things will result in the unemployment rate to fall. The plus side for Obama will be more people relying on government for their existence.

     Before you quit your jobs, there may be a problem for Obama. When the law was written by Congress in 1996, they didn’t want some future HHS bureaucrat to waive the work requirements from the law. Although waivers are discussed in the law, they are limited as to certain parts of the law, none of them concerning the work requirements. In fact, in a review of the law in 2001, the non-partisan Congressional Research Service clarified there was no authority to waive the work requirement or any other major requirement in the law.

     I’m sure that this directive will be argued back and forth between the administration and Congress, who again has been bypassed by Obama. There will be advertisements by Obama blaming everyone who disagrees with him on this issue for not caring about the needy. When all this starts, keep in mind some of the things the liberal progressives wanted to declare as work were such things as hula dancing, attending Weight Watchers and, my personal favorite, bed rest. The reality of the directive is a swelling of  the welfare rolls, which Obama has already grown more than any other President, and there’s no way to pay for it.

     Today’s ruling by the Supreme Court has fired up a lot of people, and for good reason. The court’s verdict was that Obamacare would not work as a mandate, but would as a tax. Or, I should say, the majority said this. The four who dissented, Scalia, Alito, Thomas and Kennedy, wrote that nothing in the Affordable Care Act was constitutional. Chief Justice Roberts, writing for the majority, even said that it was not the job of the Supreme Court to protect people from legislation, but to rule on legislation’s constitutionality. Those on the left are elated by the ruling and those on the right are anything from saddened to NEAR rebellion.

     The ruling today effectively authorized the largest tax increase in the history of the United States. Let me remind everyone there was a candidate campaigning for President in 2008 promising there was categorically NO way he would increase taxes on those in the middle class.That candidate was Barack Obama. With today’s ruling, Joe Miller’s cry, “He lies!” became a fact. Campaigning for the act, he said this was not a tax and would, ultimately, result in lower health care costs. With today’s ruling, it has been revealed that he lied! Of course, the government, pleading before the court that the mandate was, in fact, a tax, should have been a tip-off. Amazing how they change their tune to fit their circumstances. The truth is that Obama, as well as his vassals (Pelosi, Reid, the Lame Stream Media, AARP, et al) lied to the citizens of the United States.

     For those of you out there celebrating Obamacare’s great victory, let me remind you. Your healthcare insurance is NOT free, but will be more expensive.. The doctor you like going to, may NOT be in business next year. The wait in the Emergency Department will NOT be any less. Of course, if you are one of the illegals Obama just allowed free reign, that may not be true, but for those of you who are legal citizens, sorry, those are the facts.Add in the fact that your tax burden just increased hugely, to the tune of about $1.76 trillion, and the betrayal should begin to be felt. If you don’t have any insurance, the ruling today says it’s okay for the government to tax you $77, or 2% of your income. That’s just to start, as it will increase dramatically. If you don’t have a job, your chances just got worse, because of this ruling. As a small business owner, I know I’ll be hiring less people, if I have to pay for my employee’s insurance. Of course, this is a major goal of Obamacare; the enslavement of more citizens to government aid!

     This being said, let’s not declare Lady Liberty dead yet. She’s alive, though not well.This ruling is a clarion call to those of us who desire freedom! I understand that John Boehner has been true to his word, for once, and a repeal vote has been scheduled for July 11 in the House. Make sure you let your Representative how you feel and tell them to vote FOR repeal. All of them are up for re-election, unless they’ve chosen not to run again, so let them know if they don’t vote for repeal, you won’t vote for them! Next, it will have to go to the Senate, where we don’t have a majority. The majority of seats up for re-election in the Senate are Democratic and many of them are in tight races. Tell yor Senator to bring it up for a vote, and again, if they don’t vote FOR repeal, they don’t get your vote. How many congresspeople are going to vote against repeal of a massive tax increase on everone in a tight election year? The latest polls I’ve seen have shown 62% of the people wanted some or all of Obamacare struck down. They can’t ignore the numbers if we all become active in this agenda.

     The secret is, this November, we need to get out to vote. We need to get our friends and neighbors out to vote. We need to vote against every person with an ideology of liberalism, progressivism, socialism or Marxism. Vote Obama out of his job. Vote Pelosi out of her job. Today’s ruling means they can effectively tax anything. They can even require you to buy a Chevy Volt or be taxed in punishment. This November, vote for Liberty against Tyranny. It may be your last chance!

The Supreme Court has had a couple of months to study the legal aspects of Obamacare and will soon render its opinions on the case. The verdict could be announced anytime between now and 28 June, the close of this session of the court. Summed up, there are three verdicts that could come down. First, the court could uphold all aspects of the act, leaving Americans to be attacked by the hugest power grab by the government in the history of the country. Second, the individual mandate portion of the act could be struck down, leaving the rest of the act intact. Lastly, the whole act could be ruled unconstitutional.

But, no matter what the outcome of the Supreme Court case, what comes next for Americans. The last poll I saw said that approximately 62% of Americans are somewhat or completely against Obamacare. That being said, I think that healthcare reform is necessary. I am completely against a widespread government takeover of a sixth of the country’s economy, however. There are several things that can be done to actually affect healthcare reform.

Since one of the supposed purposes of Obamacare was to make healthcare and insurance affordable (it is in the name, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), something should be done to that end. Anytime you have a single option available to you, you give up any affordability. Single-payer was always the end result desired by Obamacare. The administration wanted to do away with insurance companies. Instead, regulations need to be removed to allow for individuals and companies can go across state borders to find more affordable insurance.The more competition in the pricing of insurance policies available, the lower the prices will be to insure yourself or your family. That is capitalism and, contrary to the opinions of the administration, capitalism does work! If the insurance rates in the state in which I reside are higher than the one two states to the east, if people get there policies from that state, it won’t be long before my state takes notice that they are losing customers and those insurance companies start lowering their prices in an effort to regain their customers.

Something else, not ever touched in Obamacare, is tort reform. A major expense of healthcare is lawsuits for malpractice and the resulting malpractice insurance. I see commercials for law offices hunting former patients for massive class-action lawsuits everyday. I have nothing against a patient who has been wronged by a doctor or a hospital getting what they deserve. Heaven knows, I’ve heard of some very strong cases. However, there needs to be some changes made. In the long run, it will save everyone money, because, let’s face it, the expense of those cases just get passed on to us, doesn’t it?

Medicare, as well as the state-run Medicaid, are full of fraud. That shouldn’t come as any huge shock to you. If you were to look in any real news source, you’d see an article or two concerning someone defrauding one or both of them for huge amounts of money. I’ve seen estimates that showed billions of dollars lost to healthcare fraud. Do you need a motorized wheelchair, here’s how to get one at no cost to you. You’ve seen the advertisement. Guess what; you’re picking up the cost of that wheelchair. If you need a motorized wheelchair, fine. I’ve no problem with it. If you’re too lazy to walk ten feet, sorry, I really object to paying for your motorized wheelchair.

These are but a few examples of things that need looking into. There are plenty of others. The thing is,no matter what the verdict of the Supreme Court on Obamacare, Congress has work to do. If Obamacare is upheld, we need to get involved to let our congresspeople know we want the whole thing repealed! If the individual mandate is struck or the entire act is ruled unconstitutional, we need to require them to start over in a rational manner. We can’t just walk away and do nothing. We need to act for real healthcare reform.

     This morning, President Obama announced a new evolution; he announced that the federal government would no longer do its job of protecting our nation’s borders. He dictated that the Department of Homeland Security would not deport illegals between the ages of 18 and 30 years old who have been here at least five years and have committed no felonies. I deliberately use the term illegal because that is how they got here, illegally. Crossing the border without prior approval and with no intention of doing what other immigrants have done to gain citizenship is a crime, hence illegal. The announcement goes farther though. Not only are they, the illegals, not going to be deported, they are also going to be granted work visas. This is bad news for those of us who are at least aware that the US Constitution exists. The administration unilaterally changed how it enforces law. It wasn’t even done through the over-used method of Executive Order.

     Article IV, Section 4 of the United States Constitution guarantees the role of the federal government to provide border security to the various border states. It is their job to prevent border incursions and to insure a republican form of government for the states. They clearly have no intention to fulfill their duty in this regard. In fact, they are doing everything possible to hamper it, including preventing the states from doing the job on their own. We have the debacle of “Fast and Furious” on the southern borders in which a  US Border Guard was killed, while, simultaneously, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano decries the border as being the safest it has ever been. Perhaps she and Eric Holder, Attorney General should ask those living near the border how safe they feel.

     This administration just arbitrarily shifted policy, disregarding the law. In 2010, during the time that the Democrats controlled both the House of Representatives and the Senate, brought a piece of legislation to a vote. It was called the Dream Act, standing for Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act. It was passed in the House, but public outcry reached the Senate prior to its vote, and it failed to pass there.  The opinion of We the People intimidated the Senators and kept them from voting for the legislation. Today, the major portions of this bill that failed to pass, was enacted by decree!

     So, now the federal government will not deport those illegals,18-30 years old who committed the crime of illegally crossing the border. Should a state, such as Arizona, detain an illegal, they will have to maintain them indefinitely, because they won’t move up the line for deportation. The state will be called racist by those in the administration, and probably sued by a corrupt Department of Justice. And don’t even think of checking the state voting rolls for those who may be trying to vote without being a citizen, like Florida is trying to do. You’ll be called a racist and sued by the Department of Justice.

     The administration has wanted amnesty for illegals ever since they came into office. Last year, in front of La Raza members, Obama said he wanted amnesty. He also implied that he wanted to go around Congress in his effort to get amnesty for illegals. Today, he did!  This is just the first step. First it is the young, then, under misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment, the parents and then everyone will get amnesty. The question will be whether it can all be accomplished in time to grant them all citizenship and voting rights, whereupon they will all be handed pre-marked Democrat ballots this November.

     In the meantime, with all the illegals getting non-amnesty amnesty today, you can rest assured of one thing. Since they will all be granted work visas, they will be able to work, then send their money back to their families back home. The thing to keep in mind, they will be working, sanctioned by the administration, and the American citizens will not. In other words, Obama is favoring ILLEGALS over AMERICANS! Remember that in November!

The last couple of weeks have taken a huge toll on patriotism. Just prior to Memorial Day, there was a liberal talk-show host declaring he was uncomfortable  calling those who fell in battle defending our rights heroes. Then you have some teen in Houston refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance because he was tired from jogging to school. Now, over the weekend, there was news from Coney Island that a principal cancelled Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless The USA” from her graduation ceremony for kindergarteners. She said she was going to use Justin Bieber’s “Baby” instead. She banned Greenwood’s song because it was not ‘age-appropriate’, but a song about teen love is? These are just a few examples that made the news recently. It makes me wonder about what happened to patriotism.

When I was growing up, back in the 50’s and 60’s, if you were to walk down the streets, you’d see houses with flags unfurled. Every holiday, like Memorial Day, July 4th or Veterans Day gave us a parade. Bands played “America, The Beautiful” or “My Country Tis Of Thee” as they made their way down the street. The flag would follow and people watching became quiet, stood and either covered their heart with their right hand or, if they were in uniform, they saluted. Later, upon joining the Boy Scouts of America, I proudly became part of the parades. In school, we stood each day facing the flag in the classroom and said the Pledge of Allegiance. We didn’t have any problem with the line “One Nation, Under God”. We weren’t just reciting words without knowing the meaning. Our parents told us. We knew the flag was more than just a piece of cloth. I remember, as a scout, I saw the janitor taking down the flag at my junior high school in the afternoon and wadding it up. Several of my friends and I, members of the same troop, went to the principal and asked permission to raise, lower and fold the flag each day, which we did until we had all gone to different schools. Other scouts took our places when we left.

Today, I live in a different city, in a different state, but , I imagine the story is the same everywhere. On the street where I live, there are perhaps ten flags flying in front of houses, including mine, out of about 75 homes. The county school board to the north of us just decided to forgo requiring students to say the Pledge of Allegiance. People at functions pay no attention to the flag as the national anthem is played. They continue with their conversations. Only a few, it seems, know what to do to show the proper respect.

What is to blame for the change? I know it didn’t happen overnight. It was a gradual occurrence over the past couple of generations. I doubt it is a regional situation, as the three examples above are in different parts of the country. Could it be peer pressure?

I believe that the importance of patriotism has been downgraded. Pride in being an American has been replaced with an over-emphasis of self-worth. Being a part of this great nation has taken a back seat those asking, “What’s in it for me”. The problem is that we’ve allowed it to happen. I include myself in this.

As I’ve mentioned earlier, when the school board voted against requiring the Pledge of Allegiance, I didn’t do anything about it, because I didn’t have any kids young enough to attend and I live in a different county anyway.  I’ve done nothing to further knowledge of flag etiquette, besides teaching my children (no grandkids yet). I should find an outlet to educate those with a desire to learn.

So, is patriotism dead? The answer is a resounding NO! It is in a battle with complacency and we need to become more active in the battle. There are plenty of people who are proud to be an American in this country. We are not even a minority, we just need to take a stand. One step that can be done was put together by the Heritage Foundation, a group read of the Declaration of Independence on the Fourth of July. When was the last time you read the document that declared our freedom? Heritage is asking Patriots to gather their families together and read the Declaration. Discuss it among yourselves and explain it to those who are young. If we all just take a stand, we can turn this trend around and start to regain our country.