To the joy of some (NCOR) and the disappointment of others (Mom and Dad), I am announcing that this is my last article as an Eagle columnist. While I may often be a cold-hearted conservative who vehemently disagrees with hippies and femi-Nazis, I don't listen to Ann Coulter or George Bush for my beliefs about politics.
To call America a perfect country would be a lie. In a country with a GDP of over $12 trillion, millions can barely afford food and housing, let alone health care. I think that people need to work hard if they want to succeed. However, we are not a nation of Scrooges. It is our moral duty as decent human beings to help those less fortunate than themselves. It can be done, while also ensuring accountability and responsibility.
We pride ourselves on having free public education, along with some of the best colleges and universities in the world. Yet only 25 percent of us can name more than one of the rights guaranteed to us in the First Amendment. Meanwhile, everyone knows about Paris Hilton's latest idiotic act or the results of last week's "American Idol." We blame the media for focusing too much on moronic stories, but they wouldn't do it if the audience weren't there.
We live in a country that is considered a beacon for democracy, yet the nearly 600,000 people within our nation's capital lack voting representation in Congress. Sure, the founding fathers wanted our federal seat of government to be impartial, but I don't think they ever anticipated over half a million people calling it home. We should give most of the District back to Maryland and Virginia, and make D.C. itself only the areas where the federal government conducts business. It makes us look extremely hypocritical to call for increased democracy in the world when people don't have it in our own backyard.
We pride ourselves on equality, but we base jobs and college admissions on skin color. Didn't Martin Luther King Jr. want us to be judged "not by the color of [our] skin, but by the content of [our] character?" People should know that they succeeded based on their merits, not because they filled a quota. Diversity should not be forced just for the sake of diversity.
We were founded by mostly Christian founders, and Christian ideas have greatly influenced our nation, but we do everything we can to hide that fact. I'm not saying that school should begin with a church service, but a group of students shouldn't have to petition the Supreme Court to have a Bible study after school. And by the way, since when did anyone have a "Holiday Tree?" I guess I'll put my "People Visiting a Baby in a Manger" scene next to it.
We worry about dying from cell phone radiation, mad cow disease and bird flu when we are living longer and healthier than mankind ever has before. We fearfully step onto planes when over 40,000 people die in car crashes every year. You want something to worry about? Almost 20 percent of Americans believe that the Twin Towers were brought down by a controlled explosion, and over 10 percent are unconvinced that the moon landing wasn't faked.
We live in a nation of immigrants, but we run the risk of losing our cultural identity. When our families first came over from Ireland, Germany, China and everywhere else, they came here, worked hard and learned how to speak English. If you want to be a citizen, learn our language. We're not asking you to abandon your culture, but we are asking you to respect ours.
We live in a country where over one million people have died to preserve the freedoms that we hold dear. Millions of soldiers have fought to make sure that our flag still flies highly and proudly, only to see protesters burn it and call our servicemen murderers. If you hate our country that much, no one's forcing you to stay here.
I said earlier that it would be a lie to call America a perfect country. However, there is nowhere else that I would rather live. America, despite all her shortcomings, is still the best country on Earth. We are great not because of our Constitution, our institutions or our leaders, but because of our people. In the words of President Reagan, "No people who have ever lived on this earth have fought harder, paid a higher price for freedom or done more to advance the dignity of man than . those Americans living in this land today."
Caleb Enerson is a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs
and a conservative columnist for The Eagle.
