On Tuesday of this week, American citizens once again exercised their remarkable privilege voting into the highest offices of this land a new Administration which will guide this nation for the next four years.
How blessed we are in this country, and in other countries of the civilized world, to be witness to and part of the peaceful transition of civil authority. How grateful we are to the Lord for this land of blessing and opportunity!
I am a first-generation American. My grandparents and my father were born in Sicily and legally emigrated to the United States shortly after the turn of the 20th Century. My mother, while conceived in Sicily, was born in America a week after my grandparents arrived.
My siblings (two brothers and a sister) and I were raised in St. Louis, Missouri on "the Hill", a tightly knit Italian community where the Saint Ambrose Church was the cultural, social and political center of our lives. The Sicilian dialect was part of our everyday conversation, even as we children were strongly encouraged, if not simply forced, to assimilate the English language as well as the customs and character which formed the American way of life.
Both at home and in Catholic school, we were taught to cherish this great land and ask God's blessings on our country even as we made our pledges of allegiance to the flag each morning and offered our prayers to the Lord each night. Election Day was a special day in my family. Even after a hard day's work at the factory, dad would return home and volunteer to represent the Democratic Party at the polls, handing out flyers to voters as they arrived to cast their ballots.
I still have a small collection of the various pins which dad wore at the polls, each sporting a photo or a slogan of the candidates of the time. Special among these is the pin he wore bearing the image of John Kennedy, the first Catholic to win the Presidency. What a joyous occasion when JFK's election win was announced! Dad, who never drank (even wine) had a beer in the new President's honor!
When my oldest brother entered the Marine Corps, we were so proud to see him in his uniform and followed his military service through his letters and photos. He was honorably discharged with the rank of Master Sergeant, having served as a Drill Instructor at Camp Pendleton, California.
Suffice it to say that my family members were and continue to be grateful that we were raised in this glorious place called America.
That gratitude and pride has stayed with me and my family all these years. Through all the turmoil and controversies which have taken place, in times of war and peace, when the scandals broke and the cynicism of the pundits was overwhelming, we never lost faith in our country. The same is true for millions of like-minded American families.
Certainly, as we look at the contemporary landscape, there is a temptation to lose hope and faith in our country. Even now that the election has ended and our new President has been chosen by the American people, the voices of division and anarchy are being loudly chanted in the streets. Our willingness to pander to such voices makes us appear vulnerable and weak.
And yet, America is much more resilient than the mean and lower spirits account us to be. We shall endure if we are wise enough to seek the intercession of Divine Providence and if we have the courage to speak the truth and defend the principles upon which this great nation was founded.
Over the years, I saw the Democratic Party, with which I had been affiliated, become a party of little ideas and loud voices pandering to the most extreme agendas whose principles are so antithetical to freedom, law and order. It was not so much that I left the Democratic Party as much as the party left me and millions like me.
As a Republican, I found a welcome place of ideas and ideals in the 80s and 90s.
When President Obama was elected, however, I began to see that the Republican Party had begun to lose its way. When the Republicans won both houses of Congress yet diddled away and accomplished nothing of the reforms they promised, I realized that yet again the politicians on both sides had become self-absorbed, caring little for the needs and good of the country.
I was without a political home.
Then Donald Trump stepped in and began to voice my concerns, my anxieties, my hope and dreams that America could recapture her spirit and enthusiasm once more.
My candidate won the Presidential election. I am proud to say I voted for Donald Trump and for Mike Pence, two men whom I consider honorable and trustworthy. The mantel of authority has fallen on their shoulders. I pray for them to follow through with their promises and make this country what it once was.
There are others who disagree with the election results, as there always are in a free society. The scant number of dissenters who roam the streets decrying the election, causing confusion and destroying public and private property are plain and simply criminals. There should be no tolerance whatsoever for their lawless actions and threats against the country and against civil order. They should be immediately arrested, prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to the full extent of the law.
The media highlights their antics, making their numbers seem larger than they are. But the truth is they are insignificant and puny reflections of a wayward culture of runaway egos and instantaneous gratification. Their time, their ideas, their agendas have come and gone, sunken in faiure, disillusionment and discontent.
America will easily survive these piddly miscreants and share them off as a dog shakes off bothersome fleas.
The experiment in liberty and republicanism which is America continues.
God bless this noble land. God bless our new President and leadership. May they lead with truth and honor. May we give them our support and offer our prayers for their success and safety always.
Just some personal thoughts I thought I'd share on this weekend following Election Day 2016....
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