Fixing Our Old, Broken Mess of a Country

No, this isn’t what you think it will be.

On the contrary, I am sick of people telling me how screwed up my country is.  How we are so lucky that we finally have a president who can get us back on track.

You want to know why?  Because I have a unique job.  I swore an oath to protect and defend it against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and prescribe to a creed that says that I am a guardian of it and our way of life, and that I am prepared to give my life in its defense.  I don’t get the option to “opt out” if I, or you, decide that it somehow got all screwed up sometime between when I took the oath and right now.

You might say that I am stupid for making such a promise before I thought about the possibility that it could all go to hell in a handbasket later on.  You might say that I was mis-informed, deliberately or otherwise.  You might say that I am an adrenaline junky, or a war-monger, and deserve what I get.

I would say that I am not that stupid.  I would say that I entered into this arrangement very well informed and conscious of the possibility that the America I swore to protect, defend, and even die for could change at some point.  I would say that we are nowhere near a  point that I question my decision, nor have I been for the last ten years.  I would say that America is still the greatest country in the world and will still be tomorrow, next year, or four years from now, just like it has been for the last eight.

Now, you are welcome to your opinion about all of this.  The free speech rights you have guarantee it.  I’m not saying you have to shut your trap.  I’m just suggesting that you take a look around at this screwed up place you have to live and compare it to the best options available everywhere else in the world.  You see, it is all relative.  I’m not saying we can’t be better, just that nothing is perfect, America included, and that in a limitless universe it is within the realm of possibility that what you think sucks about America can only be solved in our living rooms, not in D.C.

I’m also saying that being prepared to die for America makes a guy look a lot harder at her than other people might.  And might make him a bit more critical of the complaints about her.  How about we all take stock in her objectively for a while and then spout the rhetoric about change.  Let’s make sure the change we support is good for America and not accepted just because it is change for the sake of change.  Let’s remember that some change needs to happen in our living room, not in an administration.