{"id":1912,"date":"2015-06-21T15:34:13","date_gmt":"2015-06-21T19:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/?p=1912"},"modified":"2015-06-23T14:18:18","modified_gmt":"2015-06-23T18:18:18","slug":"what-are-americas-core-values-pt-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/1912","title":{"rendered":"What are America\u2019s Core Values? Pt 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"US<\/a>
Core values of the US Navy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is a follow on to the previous article “What are America’s core Values? Pt 1<\/a>“.\u00a0 Initially I wanted to have a five part series on the Constitution, Bill of Rights and our (the citizenry’s responsibilities).\u00a0 While this article will stray from the initial thought process I had – it is no less worthy of your time and attention.<\/p>\n

Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

– Samuel Adams<\/strong><\/em><\/h5>\n

After watching the news the past couple of weeks, I’d say that quote is as meaningful today, as it was when he said it.\u00a0 I have a lot to get off my chest this week, so if you’ll allow me to get on top of my soap box…<\/p>\n

There is that crazy jerk in Charleston, S.C. (I will not use his name) that killed 9 people at a church bible study.\u00a0 Why did he spend an hour at the bible study prior to his assault on Mother Emmanuel?\u00a0 I believe it was to size up the competition, to make sure there was nobody there that could hurt him.<\/p>\n

Remember what I said about Ferguson?\u00a0 It holds true here too: Its not about race \u2013 it\u2019s about Character<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 As I mentioned in that article, there will be two conversations taking place.\u00a0 There will be the public conversation, with finger pointing and a bunch of hot air being spewed.\u00a0 But there should also be a second conversation: what do we do with those that do not want to participate in our society?\u00a0 How do the “silent majority” of good citizens overcome the growing violence in our society?<\/p>\n

There was a man interviewed on CNN in response to the assault in Charleston, S.C., I wish I would have gotten his name; but he stated that people should; no, good people need<\/span><\/em><\/strong> to act when other people do wrong.\u00a0This includes righting those when they do wrong.\u00a0 We must fortify our national character, and put forth good moral judgements that our children can learn from us.\u00a0 Adults need to be role models.<\/p>\n

This jerk has re-ignited the call for stricter gun control.\u00a0 Don’t we have enough laws already regarding gun control?\u00a0 It seems to me, that if we just follow the laws already in place, and held those who break the law accountable, it would solve one part of the equation; now how do we take care of the criminals who carry guns illegally – that’s the bigger problem.\u00a0 There is a rush to punish the law abiding citizen – and the result will be the same.\u00a0 The law abiding citizen is punished for the crimes of criminals.\u00a0 I don’t often use Wikipedia as a source, but they have a good series of articles on legal topics and laws, both state<\/a> and federal<\/a> pertaining to guns in the United States.\u00a0 Like immigration, there are enough laws on the books, we simply need to enforce the ones that are there.\u00a0 I believe in the second amendment, I think the NRA and similar organizations have twisted it’s meaning; but I believe every citizen has the right to bear arms (provided they haven’t forfeited their rights through their actions).\u00a0 I also believe in background checks, both in selling arms from merchandisers and private sales. The problem isn’t guns, nor is it responsible gun owners.\u00a0 The problem is how to weed out the criminals, psychos, and guns obtained illegally by those who wouldn’t otherwise have guns.\u00a0 If gun ownership is banned, I believe crime rates will go up.\u00a0 Criminals seek soft targets.<\/p>\n

This jerk in Charleston\u00a0was cold and calculating: he is evil.\u00a0 There is a quote by Mr. Edmond Burke that my cat quoted to me:<\/p>\n

\u00a0The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Do I believe there is absolute evil in the world, yes I do.\u00a0 If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, I feel pretty strongly about people who feel they are better than others. People, no matter their political affiliation or their religion need to be held accountable for their actions.\u00a0 I have stated pretty firmly that the Muslim majority who remain largely silent need to fix their house, get control of their radicals.\u00a0 It is the same here for me.\u00a0 Racism comes from all directions and in various forms.\u00a0 It is not simply a white \/ black issue.\u00a0 People should be judged for their actions and character; not the color of their skin or the religion of their preference.\u00a0 What do you see when you look in the mirror?\u00a0 Can you look yourself in the mirror?\u00a0 It is up to each and every one of us, as part of our civil contract and in our pursuit of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that we each have the obligation to be productive and useful.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For those who are not useful and productive – every state has an international airport; go somewhere else – you are part of the problem, not the solution. We, as a civilized culture have an obligation to respect one another – no matter what color, religion, blood type (any other stupid reason you want) – we each have an obligation to each other.\u00a0 And as far as people like this jerk, and others who believe like he does… I’m ordinarily not a fan of the death penalty, but for you I’ll make an exception.<\/p>\n

During the re-opening service at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston<\/a> this past Sunday, Pastor Goff made the statement “Respect begets respect.<\/strong>”\u00a0 I couldn’t agree more.\u00a0 The Pastor also preached about how a faith community acts during times of trouble.\u00a0 Did the community in Charleston riot?\u00a0 No, people of faith will join hands and come together as a community.\u00a0 I think the parishioners of the church can feel proud of themselves.\u00a0 As one family member stated, “we have no room for hate.”<\/p>\n

There are defining moments in every community.\u00a0 Defining moments of crisis, after which the community must decide whether they will draw nearer one another and become stronger \u2014 or break apart.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

– Dr. Rudolph Featherstone (2002)<\/strong><\/em><\/h5>\n

We have seen communities over the past few years choose the later; it is refreshing and makes me hopeful that a community chose to become stronger instead of breaking itself apart. There is a good article written by a Ms. Duquette.\u00a0 I stumbled across her blog (Take Off Your Shoes<\/a>) in my research for this article, and it is an enjoyable and refreshing read from the doom and gloom you’ll find on many blogs.\u00a0 I encourage you to browse her posting.\u00a0 Reading through her posts; she is more eloquent than myself.\u00a0 The quote above comes from her blog.<\/p>\n

She has two articles that also sparked my curiosity, The first, entitled “Guns<\/a>” presents her case for gun control.\u00a0 The second, entitled “Molan Labe<\/a>” is written by her friend with an opposing viewpoint. I can relate to both sides.<\/p>\n

Recently, the Supreme Court made it’s decision in the court case, the Texas Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans Vs. Texas DMV<\/a>.\u00a0 In this, weird but true story, the Sons of Confederate Veterans were seeking an overturning of a lower courts decision to not allow the confederate flag be printed on Texas license plates.\u00a0 The stance taken by the Supreme Court was that since license plates are issued by the state, the state would be affirming the beliefs of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The government should not do so, and hence the lower court’s decision was upheld.\u00a0 As a matter of fact; I think the confederate flag should be removed from all license plates (I can feel the emails arriving already!).<\/p>\n

As far as the confederate flag flying at the Capital building in South Carolina. This flag is no longer primarily a symbol of southern pride and heritage, it is more that that.\u00a0 This past week, as the National Ensign and the state flag were lowered to half mast, it was ironic that the confederate flag was not.\u00a0 Now, the news reported that the flag is incapable of being flown at half mast (Oh..you don’t even want me to get started on that one!).\u00a0 The confederate battle flag should not be flown from any governmental agency.\u00a0 I understand some who argue for the historical significance of the flag.\u00a0 But; that particular flag represents a very dark corner of our nation’s history, and represents the idea that one group of people is better than another. There is a flag which is inclusive in nature, and should fly above all others in this great land, and that is our National Ensign.<\/p>\n

As such, I am of the belief that the confederate battle flag needs to come down – period.\u00a0 The flag belongs in museums and other places, namely those individuals who feel the need to fly it – not flying next to the National Ensign or on the back of a license plate in Texas. For those of you who are having trouble with this, let me make it perfectly clear… The confederate battle flag has no place being flown in government locations.\u00a0 It does not represent the values of the United States, where all are equal.\u00a0 If you haven’t already, I recommend you click on the Navy core value image to reflect upon the Navy’s core values.<\/p>\n

I will return to our series, picking up after with the Bill of Rights, but I think recent events have been impacted by the values people hold.\u00a0 After these recent events, just what are America’s core values?\u00a0 Do we live in a land where all<\/em><\/span> have the opportunity to seek life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?\u00a0 Do you have a comment?\u00a0 Do you believe in evil?\u00a0 In good? Disagree with what I said?\u00a0 I look forward to the conversation.\u00a0 After all, how can we grow if we do not hear and understand another person’s prospective?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a follow on to the previous article “What are America’s core Values? Pt 1“.\u00a0 Initially I wanted to have a five part series on the Constitution, Bill of Rights and our (the citizenry’s responsibilities).\u00a0 While this article will … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"kt_blocks_editor_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,16],"tags":[50,91,82,59,93],"class_list":["post-1912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","category-rants-raves","tag-america","tag-responsibilities","tag-rights","tag-security","tag-us-constitution"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":940,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/940","url_meta":{"origin":1912,"position":0},"title":"What\u2019s a Poor Congressman To Do?","author":"John Sweeney","date":"April 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"My congressman sent out an e-mail in which he was inexplicably whining about some backlash he\u2019s gotten from his constituents over some recent political decisions.\u00a0 He appeared genuinely perplexed at why we would be upset, and went on to wonder if compromise and \u201cgetting along\u201d would ever be possible in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AoM"","block_context":{"text":"AoM","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/rants-raves\/aom"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":935,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/935","url_meta":{"origin":1912,"position":1},"title":"American Gestapo","author":"DR D","date":"April 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"With the recent shootings, and the bombings in Boston, MA, there have been new calls for gun legislation, immigration reform and prosecuting the bombing suspects as terrorist.\u00a0 We (as a country) need to be very, very careful about the precedents we set.\u00a0 Look at what we got from our rush\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Rants & Raves"","block_context":{"text":"Rants & Raves","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/rants-raves"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15086,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/15086","url_meta":{"origin":1912,"position":2},"title":"Unity, Strength and Fairness… NOT!!!","author":"DR D","date":"February 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Mr. Trump has been in office for just over one month, and his stated theme for this presidency is \"Unity, Strength, and Fairness\" (his words, not mine). Holy crap!! that theme didn't even last a week! He hasn't wasted anytime in convincing me that nothing has changed, except this time\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/politics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2790,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/2790","url_meta":{"origin":1912,"position":3},"title":"Reality show government","author":"DR D","date":"October 7, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning, my cat and I were watching Fareed Zakaria's show, GPS (Global Public Square) on CNN; yes - I still watch CNN, and really try and watch Mr. Zakaria's show whenever possible.\u00a0 Today he had on two former Secretaries of State, General Colin Powell and Madeline Albright.\u00a0 It was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/life"},"img":{"alt_text":"We The People....Not we the Lobbyists","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/WeThePeople-300x208.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15097,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/15097","url_meta":{"origin":1912,"position":4},"title":"Who\u2019s Responsible for the Political Violence??","author":"DR D","date":"September 21, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Strap in boys and girls, this is gonna be a long one!\u00a0 For the past few days, ok, the last week or so, I\u2019ve been in heavy discussion with my cat on the issue of free speech, or, in my opinion, the slippery slope of its erosion.\u00a0 I am of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/politics"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Constitution, I read it for the Articles","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140812_130401-e1758501508584.jpg?fit=700%2C475&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140812_130401-e1758501508584.jpg?fit=700%2C475&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140812_130401-e1758501508584.jpg?fit=700%2C475&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140812_130401-e1758501508584.jpg?fit=700%2C475&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":825,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/825","url_meta":{"origin":1912,"position":5},"title":"Mail Bag – Freedom and Liberty Hijacked","author":"DR D","date":"December 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Good morning Boys and Girls.\u00a0 This is the first reader who has written using the \"What's on you mind\" link.\u00a0 Here's what he(she?) had to say: Our Freedoms and Liberty have been Hijacked. I'm tired the fruits of my labor are being stolen by \"the state\". When being robbed by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/politics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1912"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1937,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1912\/revisions\/1937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}