Nurit Greenger
By sheer fluke of destiny and courage of the surviving, those who came ahead of me, I live in the United States, the land of the free. I could have been born, a Jewess, in Poland or Russia, where my parents were born, just after the murkiest and darkest of the dark days in human history, my co-religionists Jews had faced. Had I been born in any of those two countries, just after WWII, what chance would I have had to live a life of freedom and strive to be whomever and whatever I choose? In all likelihood, I would not have had that luxury. I would have been part of a persecuted minority, without the ability to live a life of dignity, or even to survive.But I was lucky to have been born in Palestine, in 1947, where my parent found refuge from the burning ovens of Nazi Europe. Born just few months before David Ben Gurion stood so proudly and declared the independence of the Jewish State of Israel and with that declaration he gave ALL Jews the Bill of Rights to be Free and Independent, no longer anyone country's minority. I was lucky to have been born a FREE Jew.
Then, when circumstances took me to move to live in the United States when I became a citizen, I also became blessed to have the protection of United States Constitution that gives me, a Jew, the same equal rights as all others creeds.
Because of our very smart and thoughtful Founding Fathers, who worked, tirelessly, to create a country like no other, with true liberty and justice for all, we have an exceptional America. The documents the Founding Father labored over and argued to create, and through the rights endowed by our Creator, all of us, Americans, have been blessed by living in this land of opportunity.
We must never forget that, originally, our Founding Fathers wanted our national seal to depict the Israelites fleeing slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Land of Israel; the United States was to be the new Jerusalem. Our Founding Fathers fled Modern Egypt, England, to Modern Canaan, The American Continent.
Among all the unique foundations on which our country was built, the most important one is the fact that our rights come from G-d, not from the government. Whatever the government gives can be easily taken away, through pursuit of power of misguided and self-centered political decisions that end up, sometimes, impacting small minorities at the detriment of the majority.
Solon was an Athenian Statesman, lawmaker, and poet. He is remembered particularly for his efforts to legislate against political, economic and moral decline in archaic Athens. His reforms failed in the short term, yet he is often credited with having laid the foundations for Athenian democracy)
The Romans followed Solon's Law along which they created the 12 tables of the Roman laws and built a Republic that limited the government power and left the people lone. Since the government was limited, the people could produce with the full understanding that they could keep the fruits of their labor. In time, Rome became wealthy and the envy of the entire world. Sadly, in the midst of the plenty, the Roman People forgot what freedom entail. They forgot that the essence of freedom is the proper limitation of the government's power. They forgot that when government power grows, people's freedom recedes. Once the Romans dropped their guard, power seeking politicians began to exceed the power rendered to them by the Roman Constitution. Some learned that they can elect politicians who use government power to take property from some and give it to others. Agriculture subsidies were introduced, followed by housing and welfare programs. Inevitably, taxes rose, and controls over the private sector were imposed by the government. Soon, the number of Romans producing diminished and many could no longer make ends meet and they went on the dole. Productivity declined, shortages developed, and the mob began roaming the streets demanding bread and services from the government. And they were then induced to trade their freedom for security. Eventually, the whole system came tumbling down and Rome went from a Republic to a Democracy and ended up with oligarchy under the aggression of the Caesars.
There has never been a modern country to have been created on the values of ours: it is not a democracy, but a republic - a country like none other ever been created. The one, and only one, that is based on the Judeo-Christian values that were endowed on us by our Creator, with freedom of religion, the ideals of liberty, the smallest government possible, with checks and balances, free market principles, and personal responsibility.
In far less than 200 years, these special values, along with the endowment of our Creator, allowed our country to become the number one innovator and the leader of the free world, surpassing the successes of other democracies throughout times.
May G-d continue to bless, watch over and protect the United States of America!
And we, Americans, ultimately, are left with only two choices: we are to keep our Republic, or, inevitably, we will end up with oligarchy, a tyranny of the elite, and we are heading that way, unless we all take a deep breath, revalue what is really going on in our country right now, this before we lose our Republic, the best gift a nation could have gotten from its founders.
By the sheer fluke of destiny I live in the United States, the land of the free and the brave and by the same sheer fluke I was born in British Palestine of 1947. That fluke of luck made me appreciate and love the United State as much as I love my birth country Israel. I believe that these two counters are carefully watched by our Creator and I will fight for both of them, equally.
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Flash Mob at Cape Cod Stop and Shop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5lbNXNn3CI&feature=youtu.be
At 5pm on July 1st, 2011 in Orleans, Cape Cod, MA, shoppers stocking up for the 4th of July got a surprise shot of patriotism to start their weekend! This flash mob was organized by http://www.SpiritofAmericaband.org to wish everyone a happy 4th of July!
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