The Spirit of America

The American Spirit is typified by the Gold Rush and wagon train era, roughly 1850. I like to think about what it would have been like in St. Louis if the settlers had brought modern attitudes with them. The trains would have backed up as far as the eye could see because no one would have been able to find an insurance man willing to sell them an "all peril" policy. Most would no doubt have turned back, unwilling to face bad crops, hostile indians and the rigors of the trail.

It's been said of those westward bound ancestors that they had no government behind them and not even so much as protection under the law. Still they went ahead knowing that success or failure laid in the hands of each individual man and woman, not to mention Divine Providence.

Today we want the government to not only provide protection from hostiles and weather related disasters, but also to protect us from plastic bags, too much perfume,obesity, and a host of other utopian concerns.

Some of the few Americans who remain true to that frontier spirit of old, are the men and women of our armed forces. Otherwise I wonder what our ancestors would think of us cowering from risk and asking what the government can do for us today?

Mn 1st,

Great points all around. I do believe the Spirit is alive and well today, despite the efforts to eradicate it from our society.

I point to our young men and women in the military. They make a conscious choice to serve their Country. They are not conscripted nor coerced into "volunteering". They are there.

To make a decision of that magnitude requires a selfless person who is willing to put everything on the line for ideals, principles and values. A willingness to take a stand in preserving and protecting the freedoms and liberties not only for loved ones, but for people they have never met and will probably never meet.

That is the same spirit that founded and built this Country. A spirit we as a nation desperately need to preserve what has been secured for us by blood and sacrifice, and to protect the freedom and liberty we enjoy only at the high price paid by others who came before us.

While it appears that most of those in the US are more concerned looking out for number 1 and voting for candidates who can best give them what they want, we have a strong corps of young people in America that truly understand the fact that freedom is not free. Men and women who appreciate what this Country has given to them and their families, and offer their appreciation and gratitude by serving their Country.

The Spirit of America is alive today, but is not well. We need to do what we can to nurture and grow the Spirit in others, and can begin by demanding that in our elected leaders. People in America are proud to be Americans, but our elected leaders and the main stream media try to condemn the American Spirit at every turn by denigrating the importance of character, values, integrity and principles. If we get to the point as a Nation where the American Spirit is finally extinguished, we will cease to exist as the United States of America.