I am an Ornery American

We aren’t impressed by your credentials, Dr. This or Senator That. We aren’t going to take your word for it, we’re going to think it through for ourselves.

We don’t like being spun. That doesn’t mean we aren’t sometimes fooled by the way reporters slant their stories, but when we find out how we’ve been manipulated, we get a little mad and we refuse to trust that writer, commentator, that magazine, that newspaper, that news network, or that politician again.

We think America is larger and more important than our self-interest. You can’t buy our integrity with a boomtown economy, and we won’t let you shame our country just to avoid risking American lives. We Americans have never been afraid to make sacrifices for a worthy cause.

We believe that character matters – our own character, the character of our leaders, and the character of our nation as a whole. We don’t like bullies and cowards, liars and hypocrites, and we don’t appreciate it when our leaders make our nation behave as if that were what Americans are.

We’ll forgive your misdeeds, but only if you apologize sincerely and never do it again. Our trust, once betrayed, is not lightly restored.

We vote.

We know that good, wise people sometimes disagree. So we listen to the views of others, and have no patience with those who shout others down or use ridicule or coercion to silence serious arguments. Only fanatics and dictators assume that anyone who disagrees with them must be evil or stupid.

We believe in right or wrong. Individual cases may merit compassion, but the law must be respected. Along with individual freedom must come responsibility for others. Along with compassion for the minority’s needs must come respect for the majority’s will.

We believe in representative government, with the separation of powers set forth in the Constitution. Judges do not have the right to create law. Presidents do not have the right to lie to, conceal information from, or ignore the prerogatives of Congress. Congressmen must act first for the good of the nation, and only secondarily for the benefit of their constituents.

We reject violence except in self-defense or to protect the weak against aggression.