12-16-24

Did you ever see the Robin Williams movie called “Hook”?.....I loved that

movie…..it hit the theaters in 1991 – directed by Steven Spielberg and starred

Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, Julia Roberts, all in a classic recreation of the

story of Peter Pan…..but it takes a different twist on the old story because it starts

off with Peter Pan played by Robin Williams, all grown up, with a family of his

own, and responsibilities, and business to attend to……I won’t get into the whole

story but suffice to say it’s a great movie for the holidays coming up…..but there

was one scene that is one of the most incredible moments in modern movie

history…..you see, in the movie Peter Pan had forgotten who he was…..the once-

great Pan could not remember his childhood adventures….it was like a distant

dream….but now he couldn’t fly, he couldn’t fight, he couldn’t smile…..he was

just a stodgy grownup with no joy overwhelmed with the cares of life…..but then

came that scene when the Lost Boys found him….and they began to wonder if he

was really their Peter Pan….and the smallest of the Lost Boys came up and began

to touch his face, and push at the wrinkles, and touch the gray hairs, and then he

pushed back both of his cheeks and made a smile on Peter’s face and said, “Oh

Peter, there you are”….it was the moment that the Lost Boys knew Peter Pan was

back…..Peter Pan found himself and got back to really living……

Sometimes I feel like that is where America is…..we’ve lost the joy….the clutter

of serious life…..the inability to remember who we really are as a nation…..it’s as

if America has forgotten itself sometimes…….the past four years have been

hard…..Covid, and Covid lockdowns, civil unrest, epic inflation, a bumbling

White House, the loss of Afghanistan, the lack of a cohesive plan for our future, a

skewing of priorities, cancel culture, lawfare, transgender activism, BLM

accusations…….nothing about the past four years was at all what America is really

about but it did serve to stifle who we are…..in the midst of hard times Americans

began to lose some of the sense that this is the greatest nation on the face of the

earth…..we lost a sense of ourselves…..we were beaten down a bit, but the truth is

being on the ropes doesn’t mean the fight is over…..I sense a turning….there is a

real and present sense right now that America is clawing its way back to the joy of

living the adventure of being America….not just the business….not just the

seriousness…..the distant dream of what America was is on the return……we’re

going to find that smile and get back flying and fighting and living…..

I see it in many ways but one of the actual tangible ways that I see it is in events

like what we saw this past weekend….. President-elect Trump, Vice President-

elect JD Vance, and a whole host of patriots attended the annual Army-Navy

football game…..it was epic….it was so good…..it was also pointed out that Joe

Biden never once did that…..As the National Anthem was sung by cadets from

both West Point and Annapolis President Trump stood at attention and saluted…..a

military flyover followed….the crowd went wild…..it felt different….it felt

better….it felt like the America that has been missing for a few years……I’ve

heard it said that the Army-Navy game is one of the only sporting events you can

watch where every member of both teams is committed to the idea of giving their

life for every person watching the game……that’s humbling…..but its so

true…..and my sense is that this was not a one-time moment…..patriotism is

back…..pride in America is back…..peace thru strength is back……America is

back

Think back over the past four years under the Biden administration….. Is there

anyone in the middle east that feared Joe Biden?…..is there anyone in China who

believed that Chinese interests were better served by having a strong friendship

with the US?.....have the drug cartels and coyotes on the southern border had any

concern whatsoever with the US law enforcement?.....If oil prices are steep would

the OPEC nations pick up the phone when we called?......when we warned Russia

not to invade Ukraine, they did it anyway…..when we abandoned friends and allies

in Afghanistan the Taliban were emboldened. …….the world is filled with foreign

leaders who stopped valuing our friendship and had no fear of having us as an

enemy……that’s because the Biden Administration is filled with glass-ceiling-

breaking do-nothing America-bashing beta-people who insist that climate change

is the existential threat to our way of life and that your use of pronouns is the

clearest indicator of your worth…….

It is imperative that on the world stage our foreign policy has at its core the notion

that it is best to be our friend, and that if we extend the hand of friendship you

should not reject it…… We must build relationships to further the fight, and we

must fight to build those relationships…… Relationships forged through warrior-

diplomacy with the underlying thought that it is better to be our friend than our foe

should always be on their minds……but you can only do that when you walk in

the authority of who you are…..when you exude confidence in your position….

But the truth is that the Biden administration found that line of thinking

offensive…..they would rather that we “lead from behind” and apologize for being

the biggest dog on the international block……I’m not surprised to have seen

President Trump standing at attention and saluting during the Army Navy

game…..I’m equally not at all surprised that Joe Biden never did…..it’s how they

do things….its how they view the world……Trump believes in leading from a

position of strength and reminding people that being an American is gift from

God……Biden believed in apologizing for being strong……

For a number of years we have seen a leftist agenda that has stymied our national

pride….It is beyond time for civilian leaders to go back to a position of strength

and readiness…..not equity and wokeness…..The world is not a stable

place……even more so based on four years of the United States being dragged

through the Mad Hatters tea party…..we have to restore the sense of identity that

made us the cowboys of the world……we have to walk in our God-given authority

as a force for good, and a foe to evil…..It’s a sense of maintaining our national

honor……of not allowing someone else, much less a rogue group of violent

backward thinking hairy-knuckled misogynists to dictate our reputation on the

world stage…..our honor is of our making….it is a sacred matter not to be taken

lightly…..Because this is our country…..our home….our refuge….a place where

the sweat of our brow and the work of our hands has forged a future for our

kids…..our country where the generations before us labored, and fought and loved

and laughed to form a more perfect union…..

Duty, Honor, Country……far more than just a phrase……not some melodramatic

intonation of old-school promises…..its real to the vast majority of

Americans….sure, the network news want you to believe that Critical Race

Theory, Antifa, White supremicists, Black Lives Matter – that those things and

those fringe elements are the core of the system, in some way the true nature of

who we are…..They most certainly are not!....The core of our citizenry recognize

the value of our national heritage….The vast majority of Americans will fly the

flag, stand for the anthem, and volunteer for the cause…..Duty, Honor, Country….

We still have that full capability as a nation….as a military…..to fully engage this

process and to fix this situation…..to restore the pride and patriotism that has been

flagging for four long years…..

And I’m no rocket scientist…. I’m just a salty old Ranger who gets misty-eyed

when I see the flag waving…..I don’t know everything but I can see a few things

…..even from this side of the far horizon…..I can see a nation that is hungry for

leadership that reminds them of who they really are…..the biggest dog, the greatest

friend, the one who helps the hurting, and hurts the harmful…..the one that

promotes the good and opposes the bad…..the by God United States of

America….where it is better to be our friend than our foe any day….the kind of

nation that is willing to both Win Friends and Kill Enemies…..

The kind of nation that we have been….and still are….we just needed to be

reminded……

Oh look America….there you are

And that’s a wrap for the Rightside Way……