A Proud Right Wing Extremist

I am a proud American. My roots run deep in northern West Virginia. My immigrant maternal great-grandfather and his sons toiled in the coal mines of Marion County. On my father's side I am a direct descendent of the founder of Morgantown and of his son, who fortified New Martinsville against Indian raids when West Virginia was still the edge of the American frontier. I was born in a nation that welcomed immigrants to share the blessings of freedom and opportunity, where abortion was illegal, and owning a gun was a constitutional right and never challenged.

I was a teenager when Elvis Presley swiveled onto the American scene - a mother of four when I marched in spirit with Dr. Martin Luther King in his non-violent campaign to win equality for all Americans - a grandmother when an actor-turned-president declared America that shining beacon on a hill - a great-grandmother when I awoke last November to feel a stirring of pride that in less than a half-century, the aspirations Dr. King dreamed of and championed for all Americans, had been fulfilled. We had elected a black man president.

Today, the country I love is rapidly changing, but not for the better I fear. The Judeo-Christian foundation upon which our founding fathers crafted the Declaration of Indpendence and Constitution is being marginalized to the world. Americans are simply "citizens" the President declared recently. Citizens of what, Mr. Obama? A country that you must continiously apologize for. Are we such a wayward people? Are we such a misdirected democracy? Will we still be a recognizable democracy in four years? I wonder, when the most urgent priority of the Department of Homeland Security was to undertake a study of the danger posed by those who oppose abortion, who oppose illegal immigration, who are returning veterans, who uphold the constitutional right to own a gun. It seems that the department of government charged with keeping us safe from terrorism has seen the terrorists- and they are us.

I own a gun. I abhor abortion. I oppose illegal immigration and support the building of fences to protect both our northern and southern borders - high fences as the Israelis have built to protect their territory from infiltration by terrorists from the Gaza Strip and West Bank. I am not a returning veteran, but my middle son is. He was a Green Beret who re-enlisted after 9/11 and returned safely from Iraq. His son, my oldest grandson, is now a Green Beret and will no doubt, one day, be a returning veteran. My fellow Americans have nothing to fear from these veterans. They are good men both and would never dishonor their country the way this unfortunate use of government time and money dishonors them.

If this DHS study is the measure by which my government is to judge them and me, then count me a proud right wing extremist.