By Ski Ingram
July 2025
I love America
On June 14th, Flag Day, I watched on television the 249th birthday party of the United States Army. It was an inspiring sight for anyone who loves this country. It was a glorious day in America. I only wish I could have been there in person.
If you are a loyal reader of my newsletter, you know that I served eight years in the regular Army and six years in the Army Reserves. You also know that I love this country. It saddens me that many citizens hate this country and work so hard to undermine the government and the freedoms that we enjoy.
Why do people hate America? I believe it’s a training issue. There are too many young people in college and other venues being taught to hate what America stands for. It’s too bad for there are so many reasons to love this country. Some state they hate America because it’s not perfect. They fail to understand that America is a work in progress. And it’s up to them to continue to make this country better for all just as our forefathers and our pioneers did in the past.
Others hate America because they feel that the country isn’t giving them everything they feel they deserve. Years ago, President John F. Kennedy said: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Far too many people do not understand what President Kennedy was trying to tell them.
I believe in American exceptionalism. I believe God inspired Thomas Jefferson and the framers of the Constitution while this country was being conceived. Some reading this may be mocking me already for what I believe and that is okay because I truly believe that everyone is free to believe what they want. That is part of what makes America exceptional.
America was built on the lofty principle that all men are created equal and they have certain rights given to them by God. Because these rights are God-given, they cannot be taken away by man. This was a completely new concept in the world. In every other civilization the citizens’ rights came from man, such as a king or dictator.
Another new concept was the idea of limited government. The rights granted by God are “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Americans were truly free to pursue happiness because their government was limited. History shows that when a single monarch, dictator or political group has complete power, personal rights and freedoms are always diminished, eventually taken away completely.
Another concept unique to America is the idea of equal justice under the law. Our founders were not thinking of social justice as some do today. They did not expect that everyone should be equal in wealth or social status because they knew that everyone had different talents and opportunities in life. Nothing was guaranteed except your right to pursue your desires and your happiness.
American exceptionalism does not mean that the people are better here than in other countries. It means our Constitution is exceptional. It gives all who live here the opportunity to succeed or fail in what they choose to do in life. Americans have been given a wonderful gift, Freedom. It is up to us to preserve it for this generation and all future generations.
I love this quote from Theodore Roosevelt who was the President of the United States from 1901 to 1909. “There are good men and bad men of all nationalities, creeds and colors; and if this world of ours is ever to become what we hope someday it may become, it must be by the general recognition that the man’s heart and soul, the man’s worth and actions, determine his standing.”
It saddens me to see all of the chaos, the violence, and the criminality in some of our major cities. I agree with President Roosevelt, look to the heart and soul of a man or woman. It will tell us all we need to know about their worth.
One more from President Roosevelt “This country has nothing to fear from the crooked man who fails. We put him in jail. It is the crooked man who succeeds who is a threat to this country.”
To be a true patriot we must be the man in the poem “The Bridge Builder.” The third stanza states.
The builder lifted his old gray head;
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,
“There followed after me to-day
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm that has been as naught to me
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him!”
We must spend our days building on what our forefathers started 249 years ago. If we fail, this country will end up like so many other countries that no longer exist.
Take President Roosevelt’s words to heart, “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure…than to rank with those poor souls who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they know not victory nor defeat.”
It’s up to us to guard America and its constitution from those who wish to terminate our freedoms. In 1787 Benjamin Franklin was asked by Elizabeth Willing Powell this question, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy? His response, “A republic, if you can keep it.” It’s up to us, patriotic, freedom loving Americans to keep it. It is up to us to preserve it for this generation and all generations to come.
