God bless America

Enough U.S. bashing, says Michael Coren — for all of its faults, our great
southern neighbour still deserves our heartfelt gratitude and support

By MICHAEL COREN — For the Toronto Sun

Shortly after the mass murder of September 11, 2001, I wrote a column about
the United States. I said then that I’d never been a particular fan of many
of the foreign and domestic policies of the U.S., and I have no reason to
change my mind now.

But I have now written an updated version of that column because, frankly, I
am sick of the smugness, the hypocrisy and the sheer hatred evinced by so
many people towards the United States.

I’ve had enough of certain risible Canadians inflating themselves by
claiming superiority over their southern neighbours.

I’m tired of the America-bashing from mediocrities the world over, and the
blaming of every conceivable problem on Washington.

The last straw was, in itself, not particularly significant. It was when
cyclist Lance Armstrong was spat at during the Tour de France. Spat at
because he is an American.

Politics didn’t matter

We do not know his politics, but his girlfriend, Sheryl Crow, is an opponent
of George Bush. That didn’t matter. The man was American and thus worthy of
disdain.

So, almost three years later, I say it again: God bless America.

For leaving half a million men on the battlefields of Africa, Asia and
Europe during the Second World War, a conflict the United States could
easily have sat out. For effectively forcing Japan to declare war and thus
joining the alliance of light against the gang of darkness. God bless
America.

For that farm boy from Nebraska who had never even heard of Normandy or
Sicily, who wanted so much to walk back from the hill but continued on, the
bullets flying over and around him. For his not turning back. For his
determination to do his duty and for his dedication to freedom. God bless
America.

For being prepared to rip the country apart in a bloody spasm of civil war
because, however delayed and reluctant in some quarters, the leaders and
people knew that slavery was wrong. For seeing the future dawn when others
could only see the enveloping night. God Bless America.

For Lincoln and Roosevelt, Eisenhower and Truman, Kennedy and Franklin,
Jefferson and Adams. For Mark Twain and John Steinbeck, Henry James and
Scott Fitzgerald, Melville and Whitman. God bless America.

For the legion of Nobel Prizes won with grace, for the medical breakthroughs
celebrated with decorum, for the sporting records, the intellectual
triumphs, the moral victories, the glory. For embracing “yes” rather than
hiding behind “no.” God bless America.

For the vibrant pastures and forests, for the mountains and valleys that
startle, for the cities and the towns, the highways and back roads. God
bless America.

For jazz and pluralism, baseball and religious tolerance, burgers and
equality. For inventing and pursuing an ideal that, though not always
achieved, is still glorious in the making and pristine in the chasing. God
bless America.

For the billions in foreign aid, greater per capita than any other country
in the world. For the food, clean water, medicine, machinery given to every
continent on Earth. For the Marshall Plan and Marshall Dillon, for Tom
Sawyer and Tom Hanks, for New York and for the New Deal. God bless America.

Melting pot

For inviting Irish, Jew, Italian, Pole, German, Hispanic, black, Asian, man
and woman, all and every into the highest levels of government. For being
the first nation in the world to treat the outsider as a guest rather than a
problem. For being a melting pot rather than a melting society. God bless
America.

For allowing God and prayer and faith to enter public life and for not
running scared of gratitude to the Almighty for all that He has given us.
For not lauding the religion of secularism whilst lambasting the religions
of the church and synagogue. God bless America.

For being right more often than being wrong. For being the nation that still
leads the way in so many ways, still lights the path on so many days. For
being you. For being. God bless America.

The Second Amendment IS Homeland Security!!!