IN DEFENSE OF OUR NATION

I am going to take a stance here that many, if not most of you will find distasteful. What I am going to say is probably going to offend both liberal and conservative alike, and that’s okay. This country has more unsung heroes than the ones we typically think about, the military, police, and other first responders. This country owes a debt of gratitude that it will never be able to repay to the men and women of those dark and scary three letter agencies that we have been taught to distrust.

The FBI, CIA, ICE, INS, DEA, and so many others. The ones whose ‘black’ operations we don’t get to know about or understand. Over the years, the agents of these organizations have fought to keep the United States of America safe from threats that we will never be told about, at least in most of our lifetimes. There are heroes in every one of these organizations. We will never know their names. We will never see them receive medals. We will never know what they died for or, in most cased, how they died. The women and men who populate these agencies have dedicated their lives to a shadow existence for us, the American people.

Have there been abuses? There is no organization on the planet that has existed for more than a few years where someone has not abused their power in some way. This applies to both the private and public sectors.

This is usually a holiday where we celebrate America’s birthday, it’s independence from an old monarchy. We raise the flag, we barbecue and watch the fireworks. There are wives, husbands, and children whose spouse and father did not come home last night. They won’t be able to barbecue today or watch those fireworks tonight, but in their own way, they raised the flag for us.

If all you think of when you think of one of these three-letter agencies is how awful they are, I will remind of you that if it weren’t for one of these agencies, D-Day would never have happened, and a Nazi America might have been a real possibility. The terrorist attacks that are thwarted on a daily basis by these agencies rarely make it into the news. That is by design. We are given only a glimpse now and then of the drugs and murders that go with them that are stopped before they can reach the streets of our cities, again, that is by design.

So, I want you to enjoy your Independence Day, I do, but I am going to dedicate this one to some real unsung heroes. To the men and women who fight at their desks, at the borders and on the streets, who we will never know and never see. Thank you all for what you do and what you have done.

KM