How Badly Do We Still Want America?

After the 9/11 attacks, for a brief period Americans were truly united again for the first time in years. Unfortunately, the fissures that divided us so sharply before that fateful date slowly began to open again in the ensuing months and years, with the war in Iraq the main catalyst for the current divide. However, the terrorist threat from mostly outside our shores may not end up being what destroys us-rather, several cancers within may do the job before the terrorists can.

These cancers can either be put into remission or allowed to continue ravaging our nation. They should rightly be the pivotal issues on which the upcoming presidential and congressional elections turn.

Like a cancer that invades one part of the body but then, having gained a stronghold, attacks other areas, these American cancers feed off one another; as one expands, so do the others.

The first of the cancers, in my opinion, is the illegal immigration fiasco, because on this issue hangs the fate of many others. Whether we're talking about multiculturalism, diversity (read: pandering), playing race cards, raping the federal and state treasuries, increasing crime and unsafe neighborhoods, this problem exacerbates many others that drag us away from what this nation is supposed to be about. Not to mention the easy access that real or potential terrorists have to cross our borders along with other illegals.

Closely behind is the cancer of attacks on our national sovereignty. It's sad, isn't it, when we can no longer trust a president, who many of us voted for twice, to tell us the truth about the so-called North American Union. In fact, he not only won't tell the public, he will not even allow Congress to have its proper role in treaty review and, in the Senate's case, ratification. Aspects of the NAU, such as the Trans-Texas Corridor, will make the flow of both goods and people between the U.S. and its neighbors even easier than it is now. How this squares with token efforts at protecting our borders such as the half-hearted effort in constructing a fence, I'll never know. If the NAU is indeed a vehicle for a blurring of borders and national identities, then it's difficult to see how we will ever get a handle on the illegal immigrant flow from Mexico and other nations south of our border.

The third cancer is that of political correctness, an oxymoron if there ever was one. To see how far PC can take a nation into Orwellian madness, we need only observe our neighbor to the north or several supposedly "democratic" countries in Western Europe. In their fanaticism to control so-called "hate speech," these countries are giving us a glimpse of what may be in store for us unless we can apply some heavy doses of radiation therapy to this cancer. Unfortunately, the stronger PC is, the stronger the first two cancers become, as the PC crowd demagogues on behalf of illegal immigrants (waves of potential voters) and has nothing but disdain for those who cherish America and what it has represented for over 200 years.

The final cancer may be the most deadly of all-that of apathy. For it's apathy across the nation at large that has allowed the other cancers to spread to the extent that they have. Modern media and entertainment are designed to turn brains to mush with endless hours of mindless celebrity-chasing, so-called "reality" shows that are anything but, and a daily dose of liberal talking points (that is, blame America first) disguised as news. Our country's fanaticism with sports (and don't get me wrong, I'm a lifelong sports fan) is a symptom of a society desperate for escape from a world that they think is closing in on them-if the terrorists don't get us, global warming (or our politicians' nonsensical "solutions") will, and by the way, it's all our (or Bush's) fault. If we're not careful, we become numbed to the gravity of what's facing us and bury ourselves in our work, sports, or perhaps darker fantasies-anything to not have to think about the trouble we're in.

A cancer patient can do one of two things-see their imminent death as inevitable and throw in the towel, or decide to fight the enemy with everything they have. We in America have become that patient, and it's up to us to decide-is it worth it to fight a painful, uphill battle against the disease, or simply give up and allow it to ravage and ultimately destroy our body?