Why Would Anybody Want to Be an American?

As an American-born citizen whose parents and grandparents were also American-born citizens, I cannot imagine why anybody would NOT want to be an American. I grew up in an era where patriotism was the norm. School children would lock arms and walk around the school grounds chanting, “Hey, hey, get out of our way; we belong to the U.S.A!” Our elementary public school song books included “America the Beautiful”, “My Country Tis of Thee”, and “The National Anthem”, as well as the official songs for each branch of our military. As a third and fourth grader I would feel my chest swell with pride as I, along with my fellow students, sang these songs to the top of my lungs.

 

We all knew that it was the greatest thing in the world to be an American. As I grew older, I still believed that being born an American is a gift like no other. Often, I would feel an overwhelming sense of awe at having been so privileged. At the same time, however, I understood that while people from other countries might appreciate many things about America, they also had ties to their own countries. Even if they chose to live here, they might want to retain their citizenships from the countries of their births. Yet, there are many who want not only the privileges of living in America but who also want to BE Americans.

 

In order to gain some insight about why people from other countries want to be Americans, I have turned to those who have recently been awarded the privilege of American citizenship. Here are some of my favorites:

 

A couple of years ago I heard about an East Indian man who was asked why he had chosen to come to America. He replied, “I wanted to live in a country where the poor people are fat.” I cannot imagine any American-born citizen ever giving this response because it is so removed from our way of thinking. But to him it made perfect sense.

 

A CNN interview on July 4, 2011, with some American citizens who had been sworn in that same day at ceremonies held in cities all over the United States is especially insightful. I was surprised to discover that an inordinate number of them held doctorate degrees and could have made a good living almost anywhere in the world. They had not chosen America because they were “poor immigrants” who hoped for an opportunity to leave poverty and squalor behind. They had chosen America for reasons far beyond the dream of becoming rich.

 

One man from Iraq said that after he had been in this country for only a few weeks he saw someone walking his dog. The dog was wearing socks, and the Iraqi asked the dog’s owner why he had put socks on his dog. The owner replied that the sidewalk was hot and the socks would keep the dog’s feet from being uncomfortable. The Iraqi was astonished. He said that he could not imagine living in a country where people wanted even their animals to be comfortable. He finished by saying, “People would rather be a dog in America than a human in Iraq.”

 

A Nigerian man who has his PhD said that he had wanted to become an American citizen because in his country people do not even have clean water. He said that he wished Americans would travel to other countries and see the way the rest of the world lives so that “we would appreciate what God has given to this country.”

 

Yes, God has blessed America far beyond anything that anyone could have dreamed of 237 years ago. As a result, we owe Him a great deal. Because we have been given much, much is required of us, and most of the time we have done pretty well as a nation in responding to problems in the rest of the world. We are, by far, the leader in sending missionaries to other parts of the world. We have given trillions of dollars in foreign aid, and we are the first to send relief in times of natural disasters. We are a giving, generous people. Nevertheless, some of our best-known politicians and religious leaders apologize for America. They have proclaimed that we are to blame for most of the world’s ills. Whether it is AIDS in Africa or the consumption of too many natural resources, America is to blame. We are told that we are a greedy, selfish, spoiled, pampered and altogether bad people who owe the world an apology; they then add insult to injury by offering an apology on our behalf.

 

I, for one, am tired of being vilified by these men who have received so much from what is undeniably the greatest country on earth. God has blessed us, and we, in turn, have blessed others. I hope that anyone who has ever felt guilty because America has so much will remember from whence those blessings came. We must always acknowledge that God is the author of our story, and we must always live our lives to honor Him and to show others the same kindness and generosity that He continues to show us. People who have lived without clean water, sufficient food and a just system of government know exactly why they chose to come to America. You never have to ask the guy who would rather be a dog in this country than a human in the country from which he came, “Why would anyone want to be an American?”

 

Joyce Swann is the author of Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother co-author of The Chosen, a dystopian novel about the battle of one U.S. family to restore the Constitution and stop the indefinite detention provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act. For more information, visit her website at http://www.frontier2000.net

Liberty Made in America

Last week I wrote about the Liberty Bell and how different aspects of its history are symbolic of Liberty itself. In that blog I mentioned that the Liberty Bell was cast in England at Whitechapel Foundry near London and delivered to Philadelphia on September 1, 1752, while we were still an English Colony, subject to English rule.

 

The Bell, which was inscribed with Leviticus 25:10, “Proclaim Liberty throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof,” was to be installed in the State House (now Independence Hall) Steeple to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of William Penn’s 1701 Charter of Privileges. The first time it was rung, however, a large crack appeared, rendering it unringable. The damage was sufficient so that the Bell was given to John Pass and John Stowe, two Philadelphia foundry workers, to melt it down and recast it. This was absolutely necessary because the Bell that would eventually become a symbol of American Liberty needed to be made in America.

 

Twenty-four years later we declared our independence from England while engaged in a war that appeared to the world to be both unwise and unwinnable, and the Bell pealed loudly to call the citizenry together for the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence. This Bell that had originated in England had proven to be unsuitable for service in America and had been forged anew on American soil so that it could “Proclaim Liberty throughout all the Land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” We proclaimed a new kind of Liberty, without a monarchy, with elected officials answerable to the people who elected them. It was not, and is not, a perfect system, but it was and is the best system the world has ever known. It was Liberty made in America for Americans.

 

Liberty can neither be imported nor exported. We may serve as a model for other countries who want Liberty, but we cannot win their Liberty for them. When we have committed ourselves to bring democracy to other nations, the results have not been good. Usually we have succeeded in helping them exchange one group of despots for another—Cuba, Afghanistan, Iraq.

 

George W. Bush said that “Liberty is God’s gift to humanity”. While I believe that is true, I also believe that, like God’s other gifts to humanity, people must want Liberty before they can receive it. It is not enough for us to want Liberty for others; they must want it for themselves. We cannot simply go into other countries and dole out Liberty as if it were a giant Care Package. Liberty is fragile. It must be won by those who are willing to pay any price to secure it, and then it must be protected.

 

Every generation is called on to defend Liberty, and every free nation must value it enough so that they nurture it and protect it and pass it on to the next generation. The Liberty that we enjoy today was bought with a great price, and it has been secured by each generation with American blood and American treasure. Our Liberty was made in America, and the Bell that proclaimed that Liberty on July 8, 1776, was also made in America. Liberty was certainly God’s gift to America, but in order to secure it, Americans had to accept it, proclaim it, and defend it. If the day ever comes when we fail to value and defend it, Liberty will be lost.

Download Joyce Swann's Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother Free on Kindle now through August 6th.

Joyce Swann is the author of Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother co-author of The Chosen, a dystopian novel about the battle of one U.S. family to restore the Constitution and stop the indefinite detention provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act. For more information, visit her website at http://www.frontier2000.net

Fighting on your Knees

I was part of the “Jesus Movement” that took place in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Most of those involved were hippies who were looking for spiritual answers in a material world. As an ultra-conservative young married who never even once experimented with drugs or Eastern philosophies, I was part of the very small minority of those non-hippie young people who were also looking for real answers to life’s real problems.

During the forty plus years that have passed since I first witnessed hundreds of people standing in churches singing choruses with their hands raised, I have seen many changes in the Evangelical Christian community. However, some things never change, and it is one of those constants that I want to discuss this week.

Every few years our country is put in jeopardy of not surviving as a free nation. Communism and Socialism seem always to be assaulting the gates, prepared to destroy Christianity, liberty, and justice in the United States of America. Since 2008 we have seen a tremendous escalation in anti-Christian, anti-American attacks, and, sadly, most of them come from our own government officials. As a result, we are once again faced with the dilemma of what we as ordinary citizens can do to win back our country.

Since 1960 every time we have found ourselves in a similar situation the go-to solution that has been embraced by the majority of Christians is found in 2 Chronicles 7:14: If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

A few weeks prior to the 2008 election the people in my church met to pray for the nation and the up-coming election. There appeared to be a consensus among those who attended that, perhaps, it was already too late; perhaps, there were not enough Christians, or at least not enough Christians who cared whether the United States would continue as a free nation; perhaps, because of America’s sins, God’s help was no longer an option. These were people of faith, but they were disheartened and discouraged, and they were finding it difficult to believe God’s promises.

I am glad that we serve a God who says of himself, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) The first thing we need to remember is that God does not need us; we need Him! He never depends on our having big enough numbers or good enough weapons. When he spoke to Solomon at the dedication of the temple he said, if my people, which are called by my name –that is you and me, and I believe that if it were only you and me, that would be enough. God did not say, “if enough people which are called by my name”. He said that if His people, the Christians, will pray and seek Him and turn from sin He will (not maybe—will) hear from heaven and forgive our sins and heal our land. What a promise!

During the past few months as I have prayed and fasted, I have become more and more aware of the sins of this nation. We Christians have stood against evil, but we have not stood against it nearly to the extent that we should have. We have not prayed for our nation nearly as fervently as we should have. We have fallen short. So what do we do?

First, we must get serious about prayer. We need to clean our own houses. The Bible says that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. We need to start acting as if we believe that. Admit that we as individuals have fallen short of God’s perfect will for us, and ask for His forgiveness.

Second, we must turn from our wicked ways. We must become zealous about getting the sin out of our own lives. We must examine ourselves honestly and openly and confess our sins to God and ask for both forgiveness and deliverance. He will help us overcome all those things that are currently overcoming us. He will help us break free from the bondage in which sin holds us.

Third, we must pray for our nation. Pray for men and women of God who will lead this country into righteousness. Pray for men and women who will be obedient and do the things that God has put them there to do. Pray that God will send us leaders like Daniel who will make no mistakes because they are continually seeking Him and being led by Him.

Fourth, we must stop believing that we know more than God does about who can lead this country at this time. Most of us have spent a LOT of time praying for the right candidate to run against the current president. God has given us a man who has stood up to the most stringent examination from those opposing him and has emerged unscathed. We need to get behind him and tell others to support him.

Finally, we must vote. That is both our duty and our privilege as Americans. We have allowed godless men and women to rule this land for far too long. On November 6 we will have an opportunity to clean house—to clean three houses, the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the White House. We need to make sure that we do so. Staying home is not an option. We do not have to agree with a candidate’s theology to appreciate that he is a man of good character who supports Israel and agrees with us on many core issues.

We are currently in a battle for the future of Christianity in the United States of America. We have sinned and fallen short, but God has told us exactly what we need to do to turn things around so that our land can be healed. Healed—not put on life supports—healed!

We are engaged in what may prove to be the most important battle of our lives, and we must win it. God has given us everything we need to ensure victory, but if we are to be victorious, we must fight this battle on our knees.

Read Joyce's new novel The Chosen free on Kindle October 3rd through October 8th.

Joyce Swann is a nationally-known author and speaker. Her own story of teaching her ten children from the first grade through master’s degrees before their seventeenth birthdays is retold in her book, Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother Her newest novel, The Chosen, is available on Kindle and  will be available in paperback October 1. For more information visit her website at http://www.frontier2000.net/ or like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/frontier2000mediagroup