by Amy Ward

Created on: July 01, 2008   Last Updated: July 03, 2008

I do not care if my president is a man or a woman, if my president is black or white, or if my president is a republican or a democrat. I do care if my president has what is best for my country in their heart and mind.

With our country coming to one of its most important elections of its history. I find myself wondering about things that never mattered before. Will the America I have come to love and cherish be taken away from me and my future generations? What is the quote on good intentions?

I fear the next president will have the power and want to destroy what is left of this great country. The core beliefs and values that sparked a group of ordinary men to risk everything for independence.

When did we become so passive and fearful? Have we become so complacent in our sense of entitlement that we care not to fight for what we can hope to achieve. We need to have common sense put back into the equation. Sometimes the most complicated issues can be solved by the simplest solutions. No matter how bad the people may want 2 + 2 to equal 5, it will always be 4 that the answer will be. We need to look at facts and not feelings to get past rough spots. As a parent must do with its child when it needs guidance. Our country and its citizens need that guidance now more than ever. Strong leaders who can make the tough decisions that will ensure we will endure for future generations.

There used to be a time, before I was born, that we were proud to be Americans. People would travel on ships for months at a time to come here, leaving family and risking death. And if my memory serves me they still do.

Patriotism was something to be revered. When did it become such a dirty word to utter? I can remember the pride I felt, as a child of five, that I could take part in my towns parade to celebrate our great country's bicentennial. My Mother holding on to my hand (tightly) while I waved a tiny flag. My thoughts were of how could I find a way to walk in that parade when I got older. I believe that was the beginning of my love for history. The history that has shaped America and turned this once "subjects of the king" to a leader among leaders.

Some say we have become a tyrant that tells other countries how to live. A bully pushing countries into following our way of government. I say we are a country who shares our lives and compassion. America is the country who comes and fights the Bully when no one else will stand up. Our countryman give freely of themselves, wether it be our money or our lives. Parents send their children, some their only child to help other people. People they have never met or will never meet in places that some cannot even point to on a map. So that they may experience one day what all should. Freedom.

As John Adams once said "We are in a state of Revolution", I believe that time is here again. We are a republic. A country were its people have a direct impact on the government. Our government and its citizens have come to a cross roads and I pray that we take the correct road. But if we do make a mistake, we must have the courage to acknowledge and change. Not for the sake of our selfs but of our country. The country our ancestors fought and died for. Our country that our brothers and sisters still die for.

We need to get back to what America was founded upon. We need to take America back.

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