Dear Uncle Sam, Can We Return to Liberty Now?

Dear Uncle Sam, Can We Return to Liberty Now?(Tom Williams) Dear Uncle, can we return to Liberty now? Sam, are you listening?

I remember vividly as most Americans do the day the Twin Towers fell. In an act of cowardly evil, people of many religions, hopes, and dreams lost their lives together. I’ve wondered often how they felt on that day when the entire world crashed around them quickly and without warning. Did they have time to pray? Could those they loved feel their last messages? The thought of a dying mother wondering the future of her child brings tears to my eyes on this day. I pray that those who lost someone that day can feel them, and that last conversations of the soul occurred. I told my wife how much I love her that morning on the phone and still tell her often in this world of uncertainty. Thank you to all who lost their lives that day. One of your small legacies is that again; I never take life for granted. This is a lesson I seem to have to relearn at times.

I must admit, and I know this won’t sound proper, but a part of me was relieved that day. Please let me explain: In 1981 I cut my hair and joined the United States Army. Having ducked and covered under my desk as a child I despised the thought of nuclear terror. In the post-Vietnam years it wasn’t popular to join the military but I felt like someone had to step up. With a shaking hand I stepped up and signed the papers that would send me off to basic training. I held fear that I would be called a maggot by some terrifying drill sergeant as he ran me half to death in some desert. He would kick me out of bed at 3:00am and yell at me some more. This is why my hands shook as I signed. I was right. He was in fact worse than I had imagined.

I survived training and was assigned to a tough, highly competent unit of the bravest men I’ve ever known in my life except for a very few I knew in my youth. Our commander was a highly decorated Vietnam veteran that pushed us to our limit on a daily basis. We would follow him through the gates of hell and get the devil himself if ordered. His brave character was our standard of courage. He was respected and loved by most.

One morning at dawn he stood before us and smiled as the sun rose. “Men I would just like to say that I’m proud of each and every one of you. You are as brave as any I’ve served with and this new Army is more intelligent and better trained than any in the history of our nation. We will win the cold war in this Army and in this time because of the type of soldiers you are. I don’t think we will go to war with the Soviets because they see this Army and know they cannot win, but if we do they’ll regret it.” We felt proud. He lowered his head in deep thought as the poet he was. “When we win a new world will appear. No longer will millions be under the oppressive thumb of the Soviet Union but discover the seeds of their own freedom. Some will plant the great trees of freedom and some will plant poisonous weeds. Train the new soldiers who join us well men, because the world they will face will contain terrors greater than you face. You are the soldiers you are because of those who came before you so show the incoming ones the same honor.” I just need to interject here. Suddenly I felt in my soul a legacy of a long line of brave Americans. I was part of that line. Dang that felt good. Back to the speech now. “In the years following the cold war the Russian military machine will no longer be under their watchful eyes. I fear that someday we’ll wake up in our old age and hear that a nuclear bomb was set off by a terrorist, perhaps in America. Train the new soldiers well and train them to be stronger and more brave than you can imagine. They’ll need it.” The field was silent. All knew he was right. I thanked God on 11 September 2001 that it wasn’t a nuke. It could have been.

I’m so proud of our military today that my heart bursts. They have carried the long line of liberty under amazing circumstances without complaint. This military today has faced stresses that our armed services haven’t faced in many generations, silently and with honor. They are true patriots.

The world changed on 11 September. We lost some of our liberty on that day and a sense of who we are and what we come from. In some aspects the evil terrorists won. Let’s jump forward a few years. A few years ago I gave a speech to a group at the National Press Club in Washington. I had a 6 ½ hour drive ahead of me and the day was growing late as I ended the speech. The host warned me that state police had been heavy on the roads and to watch my speed while driving. “This is America and I drive by the laws. I have nothing to fear.” He nodded and shook my hand goodbye. I left with the certainty that I lived in a free land.

The drive was tiring as I neared my home. It was late into the night and I still had a half hour to go. I drove through a town that was known to have aggressive police and made sure to watch my speed. At 2:00am I saw a police car coming from the other direction. I still held no worries because I was a free American and I was obeying the law. Just then a herd of deer ran right in front of my car. I braked quickly and flashed my bright lights briefly so the officer could see them heading his way. He too turned on his bright lights. He turned and came behind me quickly flashing his lights. I pulled over. “Do you know why I pulled you over?” “Nope.” “You had your bright lights on.” “I had them on to warn you of the deer that were about to run right in front of you. I know you didn’t see them until I did by the way you braked so quickly.” He paused. “Have you been drinking sir?” having been a sergeant in the Army my first response was to say: “Don’t ever call me sir, boy, because I work for a living.” I chose to say: “Nope.” “Are you sure sir?” “Why don’t you give me some kind of test if you doubt me? I haven’t had a drop.” “That’s okay sir. I need to do a safety inspection of your car.” “My inspection was done last week. You can see that by the date on the sticker, but do what you need to do and let me get home.” “Why are you agitated sir?” “Let me tell you what I’m seeing in my mind right now son. I’m seeing Arlington national cemetery and all the brave souls that gave their lives for a free America and how your tromping everything they stood for. You pulled me over without probable cause or reasonable suspicion for no other reason than that I was driving through your town at 2:00am. If you want to arrest me for something then do it. Otherwise let me go home in peace.” First he looked angry then some small sense of patriotism took over in him. “Have a nice night sir.” There was a lesson in that.

In Florida there is a route near the top of the state that’s known to be a speed trap. The American Automobile Association has posted billboards warning drivers of this. Once on a trip to visit our hometown I was tailgated by a police car that was just three feet off my rear bumper for fifteen minutes. He was baiting me to speed up. I saw Bay Pines Veterans cemetery in my mind the entire time. I looked back at him in my rearview with disgust. It had no effect on his Nazi like personality. The word Liberty was as vague to him as the patriotism he lacked. He had no sense of freedom and all those who had earned it for us with their lives.

Since 9-11 the Patriot Act and other laws have been put into effect that equaled the single largest assault on our Constitution in our history. The government has taken power from the people and given themselves the right to peek into every aspect of our lives without warrant and without cause. Police, F.E.M.A., The F.B.I. and many other agencies within our government can now look at every aspect of our lives without permission. We have lived through two world wars as a nation and didn’t create these powers. Why now? How much freedom are you willing to give up? I’ve been a student of history my entire life and in every culture one thing always holds true. “Unlimited power by a ruling entity will always be bad for the people under its control.”

Our forefathers knew all too well what we seem to have forgotten. They took special care to place the bulk of the power into the hands of the people. We, in this generation, give it away freely as if it holds no value. We are now at the mercy of those in law enforcement and federal agencies who are still patriots and protect us. Thank God there are still many patriots in these agencies.

Osama Bin Laden is dead. Why isn’t the Patriot Act? Dear Uncle Sam: when will we quit being fondled in airport lines and when will you quit reading our e-mails? When will we be a nation OF THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE AND BY THE PEOPLE again? Please cover us in the warm blanket of liberty again. It has been cold out here and many of us are tired. Your oppressive thumb is destroying us.