tag:www.thedonovan.com,2010://1/tag:www.thedonovan.com,2008://1.9427- 2010-01-21T15:58:06Z We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2010 Movable Type 4.12 tag:www.thedonovan.com,2008://1.9427 2008-07-04T18:07:51Z 2008-07-04T20:00:07Z

Kat http://themiddleground.blogspot.com
But the thing that always gets me, every time I hear it, all year round?  It's that simple phrase from the national anthem:

O'er the ramparts we watched,
were so gallantly streaming

Everybody has that certain something that makes them choke up, a certain even that seems the defining moment in our lives or when everything comes together and finally makes sense.  It was a Tuesday morning.  Total destruction was all around.  A group of firemen raised the stars and stripes in an iconic image that everybody knows when they see it, who it was and when it was.

Then more men and women hung a giant  flag from an adjacent building.  More men and women hung a flag from the Pentagon. 

It finally made sense. 

Over the ramparts we watched
Were so gallantly streaming

So, when some journalist writes an idiotic article and says he's not "patriotic", you know he's never looked in the right places for the right reasons.  When some politician's wife says that her husband's candidacy for president was the first time she felt proud of her country, you think she must have amnesia.

Because I remember that on July 2nd 1776, the first men signed the Declaration of Independence, in essence, signed their death warrants.  Two days later, the remaining men signed the declaration as well, pledging their lives and fortunes to birth a new nation. 

And, I remember, that millions of American citizens have died to make and keep men free since that day.

I remember, on a Tuesday morning, how people ran from the fire while others ran towards it.  How a nation came together.  How people from all over the United States rushed to give blood for the expected casualties, collected supplies, left their jobs and drove thousands of miles to go to New York or DC.  I remember they worked tirelessly, day and night, looking for any survivors. 

I remember the flag, o'er the ramparts we watched, was so gallantly streaming. 

So, when somebody starts talking some anti-American, anti-patriotic baloney, you know that the reason they can say what they think is because they live here in the land of the free.  They can only believe what they do because they have closed their eyes and willfully ignored those moments or, worse, found them wanting.  Such demands for perfection beyond and above what we know about this country and its people will likely go eternally unanswered and unsatisfied. 

Who, then, is lacking? 

America, or these poor folks?

Remember, today, when you see the flag flying, we really have seen it streaming "o'er the ramparts we watched"?  It was a sad day, but a glorious sight.
]]> tag:www.thedonovan.com,2008://1.9427-comment:75021 Bill Smith
We DIDN'T have a great military -- by contemporary standards -- when we defeated the greatest empire the world had ever seen -- twice. But we DID have a great Nation. A really pissed off Great Nation.]]> 2008-07-05T00:58:08Z 2008-07-05T00:58:08Z tag:www.thedonovan.com,2008://1.9427-comment:75020 XBradTC http://xbradtc.wordpress.com ]]> 2008-07-04T23:34:29Z 2008-07-04T23:34:29Z tag:www.thedonovan.com,2008://1.9427-comment:75018 kat-missouri http://themiddleground.blogspot.com ]]> 2008-07-04T22:04:36Z 2008-07-04T22:04:36Z tag:www.thedonovan.com,2008://1.9427-comment:75016 XBradTC http://xbradtc.wordpress.com One of my bugbears is that when I openly display my patriotism, by flying our nation's flag, or by singing loudly (but poorly) our nation's anthem, they assume that patriotism equals militarism. Not in my book.
We tend to remember the military episodes in our nation's history because they are easy to point to' large, memorable events that many of our citizens took part in.
But so much of the patriotism in our nation is expressed in small, but wonderful ways. People who coach Little Leauge because they think it is important to be involved in the lives of our youth; folks who take the time to serve with groups like Meals on Wheels because taking care of our own isn't just a military thing, it really is the American Way.
It isn't because we have a great military that we have a great nation.
It is because we have a great nation that we have a great military.
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