The New American Manifesto (Tell your Friends!)

I’m an American and I have some things to say: I’m tired of being mad at the people that attacked my country. I’m tired of being embarrassed by the man that so many of us feel ruined it. I’m tired of living my life in fear that someone might drop a nuke or release a disease. I’m tired of protecting myself. That isn’t freedom. That, my friends, is oppression. I’m an American. I will hold my head high in the world. I will act in a way that is becoming of a people blessed beyond measure. I will claim what I wish to claim in the world rather than spend my time trying to hold on to notions of what used to be.

I’m tired of courts and I am tired of recounts. I am tired of being mad at people whose religious views seek to limit freedom rather than to offer liberty. I’m tired of paying so much attention to the details of other people’s lives that I miss the things that are really important. So from this day forward, wherever I shall walk, I shall act as a free person should. I will exercise my right to live with liberty. I will live my life in the pursuit of happiness. I will look out for the little guy and I will give of my bounty rather than from my leftovers. I will look the homeless man in the eye and greet him with a hearty hello. There but by the grace of God go I. I will do what is right over what is profitable. I will act in a way that makes others want to be part of this grand experiment we call a Democratic Republic.

I will choose to serve my fellow man rather than to protect the few whom I love from people who will not hate me if I serve them. I will pick up trash from the streets as if it sits in my living room...because my friends, it does. We will never get another America. We live in a land of beauty, and I will not live in a land that is run down for my lack of willingness to make sure it’s tidy. When I visit the lands of others, I will be a gracious guest. I will not cast judgment on them and I will not claim superiority. I will act in a way that is becoming of a person with the name “American.” I will not make jokes about the might of my military, for it is the goal of a free people to live in peace.

On occasions when I need to hit, I will hit hard, and I will hit furiously so that all men know it is better to be my friend than my foe, but I will not parade my victory through the streets. Rather I shall grieve the need for war. Rather than pretending that all who agree with me are created equal, or that all Americans are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, I will act in ways that prove I understand that all people everywhere are endowed by our common creator with those same rights.

We are blessed but we are not better. We can be, but to be so requires action. To be the best is not merely to be the most powerful, or the most impenetrable. It is to be the best at holding to our national ideals. I am an American and I will live proudly.

Sincerely,
Harry the Hobo Widdifield