Posts Tagged ‘united nations’
One of the greatest quotes I’ve heard spoken in my lifetime came from General Colin Powell arguing for the approval of Resolution 1441 to the members of the U.N. Security Council:
I’m very pleased to be here as the secretary of state of a relatively new country on the face of the Earth, but I think I can take some credit sitting here as being the representative of the oldest democracy that is assembled here around this table. Proud of that.
source: The Weekly Standard
Proud of that.
It was beautiful because General Powell gave proper respect to the long and proud histories of all the other nations of the UNSC, but there was also a bit of a zinger along with it – oh by the way, we may be the youngest of nations assembled here, but we were also the blueprint and inspiration for every modern democracy that’s followed.
After the defeat of the Nazis and after the Soviets lost the Cold War, there is not an honest historian alive who could argue that the United States of America is anything other than the greatest civilization of the last two-and-a-half centuries and America continues to be the greatest living civilization on the face of the Earth. When I think of that fact, it sometimes leads me to think back on history and ponder the fates of all the other great civilizations in history.
I want to share a scene from Swing Vote, a movie that was quite enjoyable, even though it flew under most people’s radar.
Let’s watch together a scene from that movie when the schoolchildren were asked to offer their essays on “Why It’s Important to Vote.”
All the world’s great civilizations have followed the same path. From bondage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy back to bondage. If we are to be the exception to history, then we must break the cycle, for those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. – Molly Johnson, Swing Vote
The topic was why it’s important to vote, but Molly also gave us a much wider view of history relating to the pitfalls of a democracy with an electorate that’s increasing comprised of low-information voters.
Just because we are Americans, should we imagine we’re somehow immune to the same cycle that befell every other great civilization? America is the great civilization of our time, but I wonder at what stage of this great civilization we’re in now.
In my mind, it was the founding fathers who had it right in declaring that every person is born with inalienable rights granted by God and that the government’s sole and only purpose should be to prevent the infringement of those inalienable rights by one person upon another.
Now that we’ve seen an electorate that has voted not just once, but twice for an administration which believes it is the government that should be the Almighty Provider, doling out the rights and prosperity of what it considers its subjects So I ask you, what stage do you think the world’s greatest civilization is currently in:
Loading ...
The appearances and the perks, the golfing and the vacays, the adulation and the accolades, it’s clear that Barack Obama relishes his role as Celebrity-in-Chief, but how has the Obama presidency worked out for the rest of us?
The two most important components Obama campaigned on when it came to health care reform – promising that there would be a public option and assuring America there would be no individual mandate – does anyone remember Obama fighting to ensure those promises became reality? The answer is no, because he didn’t. He didn’t even put up a fight.
Obamacare was passed without a single Republican vote, meaning Obama’s party had complete and total control over that 13,000-page monstrosity of a bill and yet where was the leader of the Democrat party during the whole process? Nowhere.
When it comes to a piece of legislation that controls one-sixth of our economy, if your party is in full control of Congress and you can’t even get your own party to make good on the two most important points you campaigned on, you are worthless as a president, absolutely worthless.
It was the same with the three-quarter-trillion-dollar stimulus bill, Obama was more than happy to leave it up to the Democrat-controlled Congress to put in the actual work of working out the details, content just to show up for the photo op as he signed the bill into law.
When it comes to attending fundraisers, no president can match Obama, it’s not even close. When it comes to tending to the economy however, well, we all know how that’s gone.
When world leaders meet at the U.N. and Benjamin Netanyahu would like to discuss with the president the fact that ONE Iranian nuclear bomb could wipe out his entire nation, Obama’s too busy sitting on the couch acting as “eye candy” for the women on The View.
The analogies between this failed presidency and the failed presidency of Jimmy Carter are many – gasoline prices doubling while the government forces green energy on a market that won’t bear it, an American ambassador assassinated (first since Carter), a false hope for diplomatic solutions in dealing with jihadists who value death over life, yet for all economic malaise and loss of American stature that happened under Carter’s watch, one thing can be said in his defense, at least that president was engaged.
In the first executive role of his life, it turns out that our current president doesn’t really care about making time for meetings with this cabinet or meetings with his jobs council or showing up for his daily intelligence briefings. As a matter of fact, Barack Obama doesn’t really seem to really enjoy his role as the chief executive (you know, that whole “managing” part of being our nation’s manager). Instead, he’d much rather be hobnobbing with Hollywood stars at $50,000 a plate fundraisers, racking up record time on the golf course and singing slow jams on late night TV.
The truth is, Barack Obama likes everything about being president except for the actual work of being president.
“Nationalism” – it has become such a dirty word in the present day vocabulary. It’s no longer cool to take pride in your country, people have been trained to think of nationalism as the equivalent the rise of the left-wing socialist totalitarian state in Germany in the 1930s or the brainwashed hordes living bleak, grey lives under Soviet totalitrianism, but if we were to slam a big shot of heroin and sing to ourselves some John Lennon lyrics and “imagine there’s no countries”, the potential reality of a world with all borders and all the countries erased is a far, far scarier prospect than anything the Nazis tried to perpetrate on this world.
The antithesis of world full of 187 governments working in their own self-interests, the specter of a one-world government headed by an all-powerful world governing body, a world were all sovereignty is given away for some sort of United Nations world government where central bureaucrats control the lives of every living human being on the face of the earth, that is the greatest possible evil you can ever imagine.
In my book, nationalism is a wonderful sense of pride you carry for your own people, a pride that transcends race, culture, ethnicity or creed, a pride that simply means we feel blessed to have been born into this nation or to have made the choice to immigrate to this nation and call this nation our own.
I had the following discussion with a humanist friend on Facebook. My friend believes American exceptionalism and American pride in doing something great in the name of the nation should be abandoned for an amorphous sense of pride in human collectivism. The conversation centered on Obama’s de-funding of NASA and the abandonment of new ambitions for NASA’s furthering our exploration into space:
J.G. Are you pro space exploration?
Mike Cornelison Yeah, and was very sad to see out of 3/4 trillion in “stimulus” spending, this administration couldn’t spare a dime for NASA.
J.G. I love nasa, but there is a time to spend and a time to save. You would have critisized him for spending money on nasa if he had!
Mike Cornelison Not true. I was sitting there thinking these exact thoughts, “All this money to throw around on pork spending projects and not a dime for NASA.” You know the term, Bucket List, the stuff you vow to do before you kick the bucket, well I have one thing on there I have absolutely no control over, but I want to see man walk on Mars before I die. That’s become more and more remote now thanks to Obama’s priorities. And you know why I think he had money for everything under the sun, but not NASA? Because NASA gives us something that WE can be proud of as AMERICANS. He would rather share those accomplishments with the global community. We’re shutting down the Space Shuttle, have no plans for any American achievements and now if we want to get out into space, we have to hitch a ride with the Euros or the Commies.
CHANGE.
J.G. Its Obama’s fault that “you think” man wont walk on mars before you die……now ive heard everything. I dont even know what to say to that. I would imagine that if it was that big of a deal to you, that the fact that a human bieng did infact set foot on the red planet, we as HUMANS would celebrate as one. Not because it was an american…unless ofcourse its just never going to be as impressive otherwise.
Mike Cornelison I would wish it would be an American, hell yes, just the same as you take special pride in seeing your own family do great things, yes, I would much rather it be an American.
I love humanity just the same as anyone else, but I will take pride first in my family and in a very close second, I will take pride in the accomplishments of my nation, which I do believe is the greatest country ever to grace God’s green Earth. It would have been very nice to see a multi-national mission land on the moon, but coming up on 50 years later, the fact that the only people who have ever stepped on the surface of the moon are Americans, that’s one-hundred times as spectacular of an achievement as a multinational mission in my book. Greatest human achievement ever, brought to you by the greatest nation in the history of the world – the United States of America.
And to be an American and to think of our friends the Brits, to see our greatest friends disrespected by Obama’s return of the bust of Churchill, that was one of the great disgraces of this current president and his entire presidency, because our two nations stand shoulder to shoulder and there is no nation on Earth who we hold a closer kinship with.
I saw this video from Anton Lorien and I felt swelled with pride, that we could be so blessed as to share the world with a country as noble and great as Great Britain.
What a great video. Don’t ever let the globalists lie to you, national pride is a beautiful and awesome thing. Nationalism keeps at bay the threat of a one world totalitarian state. Take pride in your nation and your nation’s sovereignty wherever you are!
I’m sure there are times when, as the mullah-appointed figurehead of a nation of 75 million, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad must surely consider himself one of the greatest men to have ever lived.
Must be a real harsh reality check each time Little Hitler, Jr. arrives to speak at the U.N., only to see how empty of a reception his special brand of hate and conspiracy theories receives.
Let’s compare and contrast, shall we?
Here’s what the room looks like when a great man and respected world leader steps up to the podium . . .
President Obama Speaks to a Packed House at the U.N.
And here’s what the same room looks like when Little Hitler, Jr. speaks . . .
Ahmadinejad: No One Can Clear the Room Like this Asshole
When three-fourths of the dignitaries of the world head for the exits to avoid the putrid stench of your oral flatulation, doesn’t that give you a clue as to what an asshole you really are?