Brad Turner
The echoes of freedom
By Brad Turner
As I sit here and take a moment of pause to reflect on June 6th, 1944, I do so with mixed emotions that is the day. D-Day was perhaps our military's finest hour when our country needed them the most. Our brave men who came together under a flag of unity and died for people who did not speak their language or perhaps did not share their beliefs. I was moved by the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan as the brutality and ultimate sacrifice was played out before my eyes.
I realized at that moment that those men on those boats knew they were not going home. They knew this was going to be their final hour on Earth, yet still made a decision which still echoes in our country today. These men paid the ultimate sacrifice for the cause of liberty, so not only America, but others could taste what it meant to be free.
As quickly as I was struck by their sacrifice and the noble cause they died for I was jolted back to reality by the current situation which faces our great country today. We are in another war, both involving ideology and battle, here at home and abroad. I challenged myself with the question of would D-Day have happened if leaders like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi were leading the country those many years ago? Would we have had the fortitude to continue when the times were rough? Would we have done what it takes to win the battle at all costs, to get our boys home but not at the expense of victory?
Sadly, I came to the conclusion that this would not be the case. Let me make this very clear, this column is not about the war in Iraq, rather the mentality of our countrymen on the left. I challenge not their patriotism, but their resolve, not their intelligence, but their ideas. I challenge their vision for a better America.
My friends, we are in the very war we saw fought bravely those many years ago, but the weapons are not guns or tanks, they are ideas and undermining. It is not Fascism or Nazism that is our enemy now, but radical Islam and those who by their very resistance refuse to acknowledge its existence. Until proven otherwise, radical Islam realizes it has an unwilling, or possibly willing partner in liberalism.
During the Democratic debates most of the debate centered on the war in Iraq, yet none of it centered on the idea that was driving the resistance. Radical Islam MUST be met head on and defeated. We have now heard the chilling accounts of the plot to blow up JFK Airport, and make the casualties from 9/11 exist on a much smaller scale. You cannot defeat this movement with your head in the sand, or by playing a Monday morning quarterback role saying what is being done wrong, without offering any real solutions to the issue.
The danger we are threatened with in this country is the premise of liberalism. The idea that all men are civil and will sit down to discuss differences is faulty and unrealistic. You cannot dialogue with a religion who believes that there is no such thing as an innocent life, and believe all opposing views should be treated as the enemy. You do not dialogue with individuals who cut off people's heads on camera. We have witnessed first hand the danger of radical Islam in Europe, from the Muslim riots in France to the tragic bombings in Britain and Spain. This is what multi-culturalism has given Europe..........is this what liberalism wants to give to America?
2008 is rapidly approaching as the most critical election in the last 50 years. I firmly believe that the next leader of the United States will have to deal with a massive push of radical Islam into the United States and formulate a plan to defeat the enemy. Witness the effort now of Al-Qaeda and other extremist organizations, what will they do when they have an administration who believe we need to be more sensitive in our war against them? The results will be deadly, and sadly a rally cry to other radical groups on a global scale.
My friends, our D-Day is now. It is time for us to make a charge not on Normandy Beach, but on Washington, DC. They need to know that more of us our rushing the shoreline and climbing the mountain. Their attempts to brush off our ideas of reform will not stand. Our elected leaders need to see our resistance to their stance on illegal immigration, the national security threat it represents and allowing our country to no longer be a melting pot. A melting pot allows all the ingredients to blend together to form something of greatness. The melting pot they see is not the melting pot our Founding Fathers desired those 221 years ago. Their melting pot has spilled over and it is time to clean up the kitchen.
Friends, the time of waiting for real leadership is over. We can not afford to misstep in 2008. It is time for a real leader to emerge who recognizes the threat and will deal with it by any means necessary. When Benjamin Franklin was asked by someone standing by outside of the hall where our country was born what he had given them, the reply was "A Republic if you can keep it."
Will we honor our fallen heroes and keep our Republic? The choice is yours. Let's prepare for battle.
© Brad Turner
As I sit here and take a moment of pause to reflect on June 6th, 1944, I do so with mixed emotions that is the day. D-Day was perhaps our military's finest hour when our country needed them the most. Our brave men who came together under a flag of unity and died for people who did not speak their language or perhaps did not share their beliefs. I was moved by the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan as the brutality and ultimate sacrifice was played out before my eyes.
I realized at that moment that those men on those boats knew they were not going home. They knew this was going to be their final hour on Earth, yet still made a decision which still echoes in our country today. These men paid the ultimate sacrifice for the cause of liberty, so not only America, but others could taste what it meant to be free.
As quickly as I was struck by their sacrifice and the noble cause they died for I was jolted back to reality by the current situation which faces our great country today. We are in another war, both involving ideology and battle, here at home and abroad. I challenged myself with the question of would D-Day have happened if leaders like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi were leading the country those many years ago? Would we have had the fortitude to continue when the times were rough? Would we have done what it takes to win the battle at all costs, to get our boys home but not at the expense of victory?
Sadly, I came to the conclusion that this would not be the case. Let me make this very clear, this column is not about the war in Iraq, rather the mentality of our countrymen on the left. I challenge not their patriotism, but their resolve, not their intelligence, but their ideas. I challenge their vision for a better America.
My friends, we are in the very war we saw fought bravely those many years ago, but the weapons are not guns or tanks, they are ideas and undermining. It is not Fascism or Nazism that is our enemy now, but radical Islam and those who by their very resistance refuse to acknowledge its existence. Until proven otherwise, radical Islam realizes it has an unwilling, or possibly willing partner in liberalism.
During the Democratic debates most of the debate centered on the war in Iraq, yet none of it centered on the idea that was driving the resistance. Radical Islam MUST be met head on and defeated. We have now heard the chilling accounts of the plot to blow up JFK Airport, and make the casualties from 9/11 exist on a much smaller scale. You cannot defeat this movement with your head in the sand, or by playing a Monday morning quarterback role saying what is being done wrong, without offering any real solutions to the issue.
The danger we are threatened with in this country is the premise of liberalism. The idea that all men are civil and will sit down to discuss differences is faulty and unrealistic. You cannot dialogue with a religion who believes that there is no such thing as an innocent life, and believe all opposing views should be treated as the enemy. You do not dialogue with individuals who cut off people's heads on camera. We have witnessed first hand the danger of radical Islam in Europe, from the Muslim riots in France to the tragic bombings in Britain and Spain. This is what multi-culturalism has given Europe..........is this what liberalism wants to give to America?
2008 is rapidly approaching as the most critical election in the last 50 years. I firmly believe that the next leader of the United States will have to deal with a massive push of radical Islam into the United States and formulate a plan to defeat the enemy. Witness the effort now of Al-Qaeda and other extremist organizations, what will they do when they have an administration who believe we need to be more sensitive in our war against them? The results will be deadly, and sadly a rally cry to other radical groups on a global scale.
My friends, our D-Day is now. It is time for us to make a charge not on Normandy Beach, but on Washington, DC. They need to know that more of us our rushing the shoreline and climbing the mountain. Their attempts to brush off our ideas of reform will not stand. Our elected leaders need to see our resistance to their stance on illegal immigration, the national security threat it represents and allowing our country to no longer be a melting pot. A melting pot allows all the ingredients to blend together to form something of greatness. The melting pot they see is not the melting pot our Founding Fathers desired those 221 years ago. Their melting pot has spilled over and it is time to clean up the kitchen.
Friends, the time of waiting for real leadership is over. We can not afford to misstep in 2008. It is time for a real leader to emerge who recognizes the threat and will deal with it by any means necessary. When Benjamin Franklin was asked by someone standing by outside of the hall where our country was born what he had given them, the reply was "A Republic if you can keep it."
Will we honor our fallen heroes and keep our Republic? The choice is yours. Let's prepare for battle.
© Brad Turner
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