On this celebration of our country’s independence, I’d like to say a few words about the important role patriotism plays in our country’s freedom. This was taken from the chapter in our book (see www.just2simpleguys.com) on Immigration.

Patriotism is a difficult concept to define, but its importance in preserving all that is great in America is immense. Webster’s New World College Dictionary defines patriotism as “love and loyal or zealous support of one’s country.”¹ That definition works pretty well for what we’re trying to say. The freedoms we enjoy today, and that many take for granted, came at a great price. Thousands and thousands of men and women who loved their country have paid an incredible sacrifice of devotion through the years to defend these freedoms and provide for us the privileges we enjoy every day. An impossible question to answer exactly, but one that should be frequently asked is this: What would America look like today if this “love of country” hadn’t burned in the hearts of those who stood up to the tyranny of British rule in our early years? Or to Hirohito and Hitler in World War II? Or to the terrorists of 9/11? One brief look at the oppression in Afghanistan, or the brutality of Saddam Hussein, or the oppressive rule of the government in China, is enough to see what a land without freedom looks like.

The United States stands for so many good and noble virtues. Values such as generosity, hard work, the rights and privileges of owning property, and freedom itself, are crucial elements that have made us who we are. However, each of these noble privileges could disappear in a very short time if not acknowledged, valued, and protected.

Freedom is incredibly costly. It is also very fragile in the sense that, without great diligence, it could be snatched away from us. If we cease to cherish this freedom and let down our guard in the defense of it, we could lose it so easily. It has become very clear that 9/11 was not a random attack—it was the work of a large group of people who hate America, who despise what we stand for, and who would like nothing more than to wipe the smile of freedom off our faces.

One of our major concerns with the massive influx of illegal immigrants into America is that so many of these illegals (not all of them, we realize, but many) are enjoying the privileges of this great land without having to undertake the responsibilities that accompany those privileges. In other words, they are willing to reap from this country what they can without putting into it the sacrifice required of our citizens and legal residents. Can there be much doubt that with an attitude such as this, many of the illegal aliens living within our borders possess little understanding of what love of country is all about? Sure, thousands of citizens of America have little understanding of this either, but is that a reasonable excuse to permit thousands of others each year to bring more of that attitude here?

The importance of patriotism cannot be overstated. When a country becomes filled with a growing group of people who care little about what it stands for and who don’t take the time to discover what their predecessors sacrificed to safeguard the principles on which the country was founded, that country begins a dangerous journey that can easily lead to a loss of its foundation and its bearings. As that sense of apathy begins to spread, so grows a willingness to accept other, conflicting principles, as equally valid.

America has always embraced diversity. We were built by a diverse group of forefathers and foremothers from very diverse countries and backgrounds. They brought with them a beautiful blend of cultures that gradually merged into a unified nation that has become a lighthouse and an example to the world. But America is great, not because of its diversity—we are a great country because we have been built on such solid principles as freedom, integrity, honesty, a belief in the rights of individuals, a strong sense of right and wrong. We live in a world where these beliefs are not necessarily the norm. Those concepts are very foreign to millions of people around the world. Thousands of those millions would love to shove those principles down our throats and see America fall into oblivion. That is why patriotism is so crucial.

It is also why legal immigrants desiring citizenship are required to take classes to learn about our history, our governmental structure, our heritage. It’s so important for all Americans to know where we came from and what we stand for. If we continue to add to our citizenship a group of people that are apathetic about those all-important beliefs that have made us great; a group that makes little effort to follow some of our laws (shown in their bypassing of our process of legal immigration); a group that may have little interest in defending our beliefs, we run a grave risk of slowly eroding our freedoms and rights and, in the end, possibly losing America. (By the way, this is why it’s so vitally important for the schools across America to teach our students a full and accurate history of our country’s heritage.)

We mentioned earlier about how much oppression and lack of freedom there is in the world around us. We could so easily fall into that same situation if we lose sight of who we are and what we stand for. Does that mean we should shelter our minds from other beliefs and be close-minded? Absolutely not. But in being open-minded, we need to be careful to not let our core principles leak out.

General Douglas MacArthur said something profoundly relevant to immigration: “No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.” How can we expect a growing segment of our population (illegal aliens) to defend and preserve our freedom when we don’t expect this segment to even take the time to learn about our background, study our heritage and history, or follow such laws as going through the proper channels to become legal residents? It is a privilege to become a citizen of a country in which you were not born, it’s not a right. With any privilege come certain expectations and responsibilities—paying taxes, obeying our laws, staying informed about social issues, learning our national language (we’ll talk more about this controversial issue shortly). If we start permitting foreigners to enter our land without meeting these expectations, and then look the other way as they demand all the rights of citizenship (as some illegals did in last year’s protests in Los Angeles), what kind of citizenship are we growing?

Many illegal aliens seem to have the attitude that we owe them something just because they are here. In the past it was expected that immigrants who came to America came here with an understanding that they would need to conform to our laws and culture. Doesn’t it make sense that it was our way of life that drew them here in the first place? So why are we so often willing to change what we are to accommodate them? It seems that, in the name of diversity and compassion, we are sometimes willing to bend over backward to conform to their wishes. Should we accept their differences? Yes. Should we be open to learning new things from their diversity? Yes. But we should not lose track of who we are as a people for the sake of this diversity and acceptance. This isn’t a snobbish form of elitism or close-mindedness. It is a recognition of the fact that what we believe in, and the principles that guide us, are good—they define who we are as a people. In our open-armed acceptance of immigrants, it is so important to not lose sight of the ideology that has made America what it is. To lose who we are for the sake of not offending those of other cultures who live within our borders is not compassion; it’s potentially cultural suicide.