The United States of America originated from intelligent, freedom loving, hard working, God fearing people.  They had a clear sense of right and wrong and were not afraid to face down tyrants who tried to take away their God given freedoms.  They were true revolutionaries who risked life, limb, family and fortune to found this incredible country.  Our Judeo-Christian-principled forefathers were brave, disciplined, industrious protectors of life and liberty willing to lose everything, including their lives to protect their inalienable rights.

Our Founders were not sleepy, lethargic, passive goons who hit the brakes when  they encountered the first speed bump in their path to liberty.  They said, ?Don?t Tread on Me? ? ?Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death? ? ?Live Free or Die?!

These mottos were not tired, empty Alec Baldwin bombast, but holy verbiage backed up by sacrificial blood and guts.  It was this spirit that yielded up the freest and most prosperous nation this planet has ever seen. 

Make no mistake about it.  It was the principled and grand statesman, lawyer, minister, peddler, plow hand and parishioner who faced death, disease and deprivation as they strove to create and elevate this great land of ours from scratch.  Our continued success and expansion has been the product of the brave and the courageous throughout the centuries, men and women who were willing to make every sacrifice for our nation. 

The wise, religious, strong, moral and selfless in every generation are the ones who have moved this country from glory to glory and from strength to strength.

That?s why your and my country, the U.S.A., freaked me out, pre-9/11. 

The latter part of the 20th century wasn?t characterized by bravery and courage. 
Buffoonery and cowardice were ascendant.  The ?90s especially were a decade of decadence, headed up by the crude King of nihilism himself, Billy Bob Clinton, a guy who resembled our forefathers? illustrious character and accomplishments about as much as a Celine Dion CBS Special resembles a Godsmack concert. 

We?re talking chalk and cheese here, folks. 

The United States, pre-9/11, didn?t celebrate (especially via the media) the wise, the moral, the brave or the courageous, at least not in the classical way these virtues have been exalted.  The ?brave? and ?courageous? of the pre-9/11 days were:

· The homosexuals who finally came out of the closet.  George Michael and Ellen Degeneres: hooray for you.  You?re right up there with Patrick Henry and Tom Paine. 
Go, you girls!

· Madonna for her Sex book.  Gag.  Can you say, ?Pass the penicillin please??

· The ?heroic? who fought so bravely to save the Southern Louisiana swamp rat, the Oregon slug and the translucent eight-legged California head lice, and fought even harder to allow pregnant women to kill the babies growing in their wombs. 

· The ?sacrificial? screen writers who put their reputations on the secular altar by daring to put to celluloid their anti-God, anti-American, anti-Constitution and anti-heterosexual sentiments.  Bravo!  Bravo!  You brave ones, you.  Vladimir Lenin, John Lennon and the inevitable Yoko Ono would be proud of you.

· The ?stalwart,? effeminate haute couture designers who valiantly paraded their unisexual wares in predominantly heterosexual stores. 

These were postmodern, paltry American heroes ... until 9/11 collided with this anti-sanity, anti-decency, pusillanimous party like Pat Tillman would crash a pro-Al Qaeda rally.

September 11, 2001 changed things ? big, BIG time. 

There?s been a totemic shift in what our nation exalts since the terrorist attacks of 9/11.  Following that epochal event and our successful strikes in Afghanistan and Iraq, bravery and courage--for things that are consequential--are back on the map.

Think about it.  In the last three years, our country has exhibited: Continued...