Wednesday, September 9, 2009

The President Without A Country





The president without a country 
By Pat Boone







  
"We're no longer a Christian nation." - President Barack Obama, June 2007
 
" America has been arrogant." - President Barack Obama
 
"After 9/11, America didn't always live up to her ideals."- President Barack Obama
 
"You might say that America is a Muslim nation."- President Barack Obama, Egypt 2009



 


 


Thinking about these and other statements made by the man who wears the title of president. I keep wondering what country he believes he's president of.
 
In one of my very favorite stories, Edward Everett Hale's "The Man without a Country," a young Army lieutenant named Philip Nolan stands condemned for treason during the Revolutionary War, having come under the influence of Aaron Burr.. When the judge asks him if he wishes to say anything before sentence is passed, young Nolan defiantly exclaims, "Damn the United States ! I wish I might never hear of the United States again!"
 
The stunned silence in the courtroom is palpable, pulsing. After a long pause, the judge soberly says to the angry lieutenant: "You have just pronounced your own sentence. You will never hear of the United States again.. I sentence you to spend the rest of your life at sea, on one or another of this country's naval vessels - under strict orders that no one will ever speak to you again about the country you have just cursed."
 
And so it was. Philip Nolan was taken away and spent the next 40 years at sea, never hearing anything but an occasional slip of the tongue about America. The last few pages of the story, recounting Nolan's dying hours in his small stateroom - now turned into a shrine to the country he fore swore - never fail to bring me to tears.  And I find my own love for this dream, this miracle called America , refreshed and renewed. I know how blessed and unique we are.
 
But reading and hearing the audacious, shocking statements of the man who was recently elected our president - a young black man living the impossible dream of millions of young Americans, past and present, black and white - I want to ask him, "Just what country do you think you're president of?"
 
You surely can't be referring to the United States of America , can you? America is emphatically a Christian nation, and has been from its inception! Seventy percent of her citizens identify themselves as Christian. The Declaration of Independence and our Constitution were framed, written and ratified by Christians. It's because this was, and is, a nation built on and guided by Judeo-Christian biblical principles that you, sir, have had the inestimable privilege of being elected her president.
 
You studied law at Harvard, didn't you, sir? You taught constitutional law in Chicago ? Did you not ever read the statement of John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and an author of the landmark "Federalist Papers": "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers - and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation - to select and prefer Christians for their rulers"?
 
In your studies, you surely must have read the decision of the Supreme Court in 1892: "Our lives and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian."
 
Did your professors have you skip over all the high-court decisions right up till the mid 1900's that echoed and reinforced these views and intentions? Did you pick up the history of American jurisprudence only in 1947, when for the first time a phrase coined by Thomas Jefferson about a "wall of separation between church and state" was used to deny some specific religious expression - contrary to Jefferson ' s intent with that statement?
 
Or, wait a minute . were your ideas about America 's Christianity formed during the 20 years you were a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ under your pastor, Jeremiah Wright? Is that where you got the idea that " America is no longer a Christian nation"? Is this where you, even as you came to call yourself a Christian, formed the belief that " America has been arrogant"?
 
Even if that's the understandable explanation of your damning of your country and accusing the whole nation (not just a few military officials trying their best to keep more Americans from being murdered by jihadists) of "not always living up to her ideals," how did you come up with the ridiculous, alarming notion that we might be "considered a Muslim nation"?
 
Is it because there are some 2 million or more Muslims living here, trying to be good Americans? Out of a current population of over 300 million, 70 percent of whom are Christians? Does that make us, by any rational definition, a "Muslim nation"?
 
Why are we not, then, a "Chinese nation"? A "Korean nation"? Even a "Vietnamese nation"? There are even more of these distinct groups in America than Muslims. And if the distinction you're trying to make is a religious one, why is America not "a Jewish nation"? There's actually a case to be made for the latter, because our Constitution - and the success of our Revolution and founding - owe a deep debt to our Jewish brothers.
 
Have you stopped to think what an actual Muslim America would be like? Have you ever really spent much time in Iran ? Even in Egypt ? You, having been instructed in Islam as a kid at a Muslim school in Indonesia and saying you still love the call to evening prayers, can surely picture our nation founded on the Quran, not the Judeo-Christian Bible, and living under Shariah law. Can't you? You do recall Muhammad's directives [Surah 9:5,73] to "break the cross" and "kill the infidel"?
 
It seems increasingly and painfully obvious that you are more influenced by your upbringing and questionable education than most suspected. If you consider yourself the president of a people who are "no longer Christian," who have "failed to live up to our ideals," who "have been arrogant," and might even be "considered Muslim" - you are president of a country most Americans don't recognize.
 
Could it be you are a president without a country?

15 comments:

  1. More racist sub-text, more rightwing blather, more shouted caps without regard for your audience. Plus the "America is a Muslim country" is a misquote designed to inflame.

    Obama may be a lousy President so far, but stick to issues and drop the pro-Christian/Israel crap.

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  2. Just the facts, Korny.

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  3. THE COUNTRY WITHOUT A GOVERNMENT


    Goldman Sachs

    Wall-Mart

    Exxon Mobil

    Chevron

    General Motors

    Conoco Phillips

    General Electric

    Ford Motor

    Citigroup

    Bank of America

    AT&T

    Berkshire Hathaway

    J.P. Morgan Chase

    AIG

    Hewlett-Packard

    IBM

    Valero

    Verizon Communications

    McKesson health care systems

    Cardinal Health

    http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2008/full_list/index.html

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  4. Well if the right wing evangelicals are christian than I surely hope we aren't a christian nation. The word hypocrites comes to mind.

    Real Christians that practice the teachings of Christ are fewer and far between but these looney wingnuts are not kind like Christ and way too many are hateful of those not like them. For instance,. I'm sure Jesus would be for single payer healthcare for all !

    Religion fosters hate amongst people just as race does. It was designed that way. To keep us all at each others throats. My faith is better than your faith.

    Let's not divide by bringing up the christian card but instead practice what we preach quietly and live our lives the way Christ would, humbly and lovingly.

    There's no need to advertise which brand you subscribe to if any at all. Keep religion out of government and government out of religion.

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  5. @ Korn,

    what's wrong with "homo-tree hugger- amimal rights-healthcare" freaks by the way?

    Please elaborate on this, but please do be careful with that axe.

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  6. Nothing if you are one of them.

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  7. Korn

    This is COTO, not some scaredey cat, chickenshit, Sierra Club liberal type of group.

    Unlike other said groups who will try and 'reason with you' with "nice talk and logical talking points"
    we will simply call you on your bullshit.

    After all, need we remind you that it was your self professed "born again" Christian president Bush and his side kick Cheney that are implicated and suspected as being directly involved in the 9-11 attacks?

    COTO LIVES

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  8. No he isnt a socialist,he is a fascist.

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  9. Congratulations ! The rescue of the Delta Smelt has wrecked California farming. Cutting Your own throat with chest inflated proudly. The new religion of environmentalism . THANK YOU GAIA ! HALLEY-LUYA !

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  10. I am looking for My old tennis racket to swat all these pesky moon-bats,jeez. I didnt write this crap, it was Pat Boone , please direct your comments and concerns to him or his virgin daughter , and in your progressive politically correct fervor dont try to tie Me to the Bush regime,I had nothing to do with them or the Clintons. I guess reality can get blurry when the Kool-aid kicks in.

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  11. Korn

    You posted the article. Just like everyone else who posts an article, they post it because they support the ideas behind it. At least have the balls to admit that that is why you posted.

    You mention that you had nothing to do with Bush. You are a Christian. I point out that Bush is a self professed Christian. Who has been tied to the 9-11 attacks. Where are the Christians who are pointing that fact out?

    Nowhere to be found. That old Red/Blue Kool Aid does indeed make ones throat burn, right Korn?

    That is my point.

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  12. "milkman in black leather"???

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  13. Maybe he delivers milk on a Harley.

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  14. from "Pat Boone in a Metal Mood - No more Mr. Nice Guy"

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