For all I know, things might have begun sliding the very first time some slack-jawed teenager struck a pose and struck a chord on an imaginary guitar.  There was a time, after all, when most American kids were actually given music lessons and learned how to play an actual instrument, and even saved up their allowance to buy sheet music. 

Whenever the slide began, in the months since Obama was crowned, we’ve slid faster and further than I would have dreamed possible.  Obama keeps huffing and puffing and the federal government just keeps expanding like a gigantic balloon.  It’s only a matter of time until it blows up in all our faces. 

Not in my wildest nightmares would I have imagined that an American president would travel to countries we’ve bled and died to defend, and apologize for our arrogance.  Neither would I have ever expected that the same man who casually dismissed our special relationship with England would curtsy to a Saudi prince; refer to a blood-thirsty Muslim cleric, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the Supreme Leader; and butter up a Russian tyrant who cut his eye teeth working for the barbaric KGB. 

After all that, I wasn’t the least bit surprised when Obama joined Hugo Chavez and the Castro brothers in demanding that Honduras allow dictator-wannabe Manuel Zelaya back in the country to resume his assault on democracy. 

Obama’s groupies in and out of the media used to cry “Foul!” during the campaign whenever people would question the character of a man whose intimate circle included a corrupt Chicago lobbyist, an unrepentant domestic terrorist, a racist minister and a spouse who announced that America was a mean country.  It seems that in the past several months, his circle has grown in size, but unfortunately not in character. 

The President’s good friend, Al Gore, who stands to clean up, thanks to the Cap and Trade bill, has long campaigned for the greening of America.  How long will it take people to wake up to the fact that his major concern is the greening of Al Gore?  For good measure, the greedy oaf recently compared the battle over global warming to the war against the Nazis.  And, to think, some folks thought PETA was over the top when they compared a chicken farm to Auschwitz. 

Speaking of Nazis and Auschwitz reminds me that I wish Israel, a haven for many of those who survived the concentration camps, would stop referring to portions of their country as settlements.  Israel was attacked by its Arab enemies, fought back and won.  Part of what the Israelis won was turf.  It’s how just about every country on earth wound up having its present dimensions.  Referring to the land as settlements makes it sound like they’re only borrowing it until the rightful owners come by and pick it up.  You might as well call California, Texas and Arizona settlements.  Well, come to think of it, I guess La Raza does. 

As hard as it is to accept, there’s no getting around the fact that Al Franken is a U.S. Senator.  On the upside, just as people used to say that any boy could grow up to be president, now people can say that any comedian who’s smug, obnoxious and not the least bit funny, can grow up to be a senator.  That being the case, I guess it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine that Sen. Franken might one day be joined by the likes of Bill Maher and David Letterman. 

It is appropriate, though, that Franken represents Minnesota.  Its state bird, after all, is the loon. 

Before signing off, I found myself wondering the other day why it is, now that Afghanistan is Obama’s war, I don’t hear the Democrats or their lap dogs in the media referring to it as a quagmire, pointing out that the Taliban didn’t attack us on 9/11, and demanding that President Obama announce his exit strategy?

They started a war. My ancestor, Francis Lightfoot Lee was one of those men. They started the revolution that birthed this nation. 

Now we are engaged at a crossroads of history, testing whether the leaders of this nation so conceived and dedicated, still hold those same truths and ideals to be self-evident. 

Iranian citizens have taken to the streets of their cities in the pursuit of freedom and liberty. They sought, and deserved, their own revolution. The Iranian government murdered and persecuted them for it. Our government voted present. 

Manuel Zelaya attempted to trample the Honduran Constitution and follow in the footsteps of his communist brother: Hugo Chavez. In the face of such tyranny, the Honduran people rose up in a revolution of their own and sent their  King George packing. Within hours, the same US government that dared not meddle in the affairs of the Iranians, sponsored a United Nations Resolution condemning the Honduran people for resisting the spread of communism. 

We will meet in the next few days to drink beer, eat hotdogs and enjoy multitudes of pyrotechnic displays reminiscent of the rockets red glare and the attack on Fort McHenry. 

Let us also take a moment to remember Neda and all those who are suffering in the quest for freedom. The Honduran Congress had the might of its military to deal with a would be dictator. Would the situation in Iran be different today if her citizens were armed as we Americans are under the Second Amendment? Would the Iranian Basij Militiaman who murdered Neda have ridden so confidently into that crowd if he knew that he faced a citizenry able to defend itself? 

I have the freedom today to write this article because on April 19, 1775 a handful of armed farmers and merchants stood and held their ground against the greatest super power on the planet. When the Minutemen stood at Concord’s North Bridge and fired the shot heard around the world, they forever changed the course of history. 

That moment brought the audacity of hope to the people of  Honduras and it should be cherished by Americans. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this on this 4th of July weekend. 

But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate this weekend, we cannot hallow our history if we don’t remember the true meaning of our country’s birth: Revolution. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

The Saul Alinskys and the William Ayers of the world will mourn the loss of  Manuel Zelaya and all that he represents, but those of us that are proud of our American heritage will pass on the Dreams of Our Fathers to our children this weekend and every day to come for the rest of our lives. We here highly resolve that all of those who have given their lives for the preservation of freedom shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall continue on in freedom, and that the government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.