IS OUR FLAG STILL THERE?

IS OUR FLAG STILL THERE?

It is the war of 1812 and the British once again have an army on American soil. They have invaded Washington DC, placed their flag at our Capitol building, and then burned the capital building to the ground as well as the White House and the treasury building. They have moved on to Baltimore and Fort McHenry. There is a fierce battle at Fort McHenry. Francis Scott Key, on a diplomatic mission, views the battle from a British ship in the harbor. The battle rages into the night but in the morning twilight he can still see the American flag flying over Fort McHenry. From this he knows that America is winning the war. That is when he wrote his famous poem – the words of our national anthem.

        O say can you see by the dawn's early light,
       What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
       Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
       O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
       And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
       Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
       O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
       O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

       O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
       Between their loved home and the war's desolation.
       Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land
       Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
      Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
      And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
      And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
      O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Every time we sing the national anthem we should ask “Is our flag still there?” Is the liberty that brave men suffered, bled, and died for still here? Unfortunately, the flag is down to half mast and being lowered every day.

Today all commerce, business and organization is controlled by Federal regulation. The Federal Register has 175,000 pages of regulations and there are 1,900,000 bureaucrats to enforce them. We have dropped to 12^th place in economic freedom.

 The founding fathers knew of this potential problem and in the10^th Amendment provided for this: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the constitution, nor prohibited by the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Over time we have elected Senators whose primary loyalty is to their political party rather than to the people of the state they represent. We are no longer the home of the brave. We have taken the easy bread of government handouts – welfare, food stamps, housing, etc. and lost our sense of self-reliance.

Can we again raise the flag to full mast and remake our country the land of the free and the home of the brave?  Yes, we the people can!