Proud to be an American? Yes I am! And I thank God every day!

Few things make my blood boil more than when I hear a thankless foreigner of one of the many countries that America has protected from the horrors of war and the conquest of an evil empire, slander with disdain the United States of America. These, uneducated individuals show their complete ignorance of world history and the place America has played in keeping them free from the bondage of an aggressor who at the very least would require them to learn a new language.

I am proud to be an American! If there is ever a time when pride is an acceptable thing it is when declaring that pride to live in the greatest country god has ever given to man, the United States of America. My ancestors are from England, Ireland and Scotland. I also have ancestors of Cherokee Indian decent, but I am first and foremost and American! I am not some type of hyphenated English-Irish-Scottish-Cherokee Indian-American, I am a full-blooded American and although there are many wonderful countries throughout the world with similar ideals none is more blessed with freedom and the hand of Divine Providence than America and I proudly call it my home!

The United States of America is the leader in the world for new technology, Medical advancement (and yes, we DO have the BEST health care system in the world regardless of what some with a warped sense of understanding may think). We have defended the sovereignty of more nations than any other country in the world. We don’t conquer a country and then take its land; Iraq, Japan, Germany and the countries of the former Soviet Union are flying their own flags not the US flag.

The world leader in foreign aid is The United States of America. We also are the highest in charitable giving in the world. There are times when I, like many Americans, get so frustrated with ungrateful recipients of American charity that I would like to tell them to drink their oil and eat their sand. But we are too caring and too generous to make such as statement even when our face is being slapped and our hand is being bitten.

It is bad enough when a foreigner slams America but it is even more repugnant when an American who has reaped all the benefits of living in this great land tries to destroy it from the inside out. People like Michael Moore remind me of the hideous creature in the movie Alien that gestates inside the human body and then rips its way out destroying the body in the process. (Sorry for the graphic reference). People like this ungrateful loser receive all the benefits from a free capitalist country and then turn around and slam the capitalism and freedom that gave him the ability to profit from his American hatred! Is this not the epidemy of ignorance? Don’t you just wish we could send him to work in one of the sweat shops in China for a week and then see if he appreciates America? I know that many of you would want to give him a one-way ticket to China and truthfully I am one of you!

I recently re-read a wonderful Cover Story article printed in USA Today in 2002 by William J. Bennett called A Nation Worth Defending. He wrote about the lack of education of world and American history for our youth. He quoted the following statistics from a survey conducted by Americans for Victory Over Terrorism (AVOT), “Moreover, of the 55 highest-ranked colleges and universities in the nation, not a single one requires students to take a course in American history in order to graduate. Only three require a course in Western civilization. This is cause for alarm, but it should not come as a surprise. The recently released National Assessment of Education Progress reveals that 57% of high school Students are "below basic" in their knowledge of history. Just 18% of fourth-graders, 17% of eighth-graders, and 11% of 12th-graders score at the "proficient" level, the one at which the National Assessment Governing Board, the administrators of the tests, says all students should perform.”

He continued with more alarming statistics; “This historical ignorance is not merely of academic concern. It has real-world consequences. Returning to the AVOT poll, more than 70% of college students disagree--and 34% strongly disagree--that the values of the U.S. are superior to those of other countries. More than one-third disagree with the claim that, "Despite its flaws, the United States is the best country in the world." Eighty percent reject the claim that Western civilization, with its unparalleled achievements and human flourishing, is superior to Arab civilization. In what was perhaps the most-striking finding, one-third said that they would evade a military draft in the war on terrorism; another third would refuse to serve abroad; and just one-third would willingly go fight overseas.” I, like Mr. Bennett, believe that this lack of patriotism stems from a lack of education about America and our great history of the defense of humanity. Our children need to be educated with the truth about America, it is the greatest nation on the earth and any honest historian can state the facts that America has done more for the advancement of freedom and the sovereignty of individual nations than any other country in the world. Again, if there is an instance when pride is a good thing it is in being proud to be an American. Yes I am! And I thank God every day!

Mr. Bennett's article can be found online at: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/is_2690_131/ai_94384312/