By Capt. Tom Burbage, USN ret, USNA ’69
President, Calvert Task Group
Red Sky at Morning, Sailor Take Warning,
Red Sky at Night, Sailor’s Delight
We are a nation somewhere between the proverbial Red Skies.
The warning signals have been sent. It remains to be seen if they are enough to clear the troubling skies or not.
There is a historical resilience to our unique Constitutional Republic form of Government that pulls our nation back from the brink in times of desperation. The fundamental roots run deep and have weathered the storms of time so far.
But there has been a long-term corrosion infecting those roots.
We have a generational responsibility to preserve the America we inherited from earlier generations and leave a legacy for those that come behind.
All sailors have a healthy respect for corrosion. It can sink their ships and end their livelihood.
Webster defines corrosion as the long-term gradual deterioration of materials in reaction to their environment. As a firm believer that the laws of nature are much more powerful than the laws of human logic, the analogy applies well to the political world we now find ourselves and our nation in.
In nature, the roots of corrosion take time and have many tentacles. In politics, these same tentacles have been allowed to run deep over the last few decades.
Their slow deterioration of American ideals is now playing havoc with our ability to even recognize the America we were handed from our fathers and forefathers. The pillars of our Constitutional Republic are rusty and getting rustier.
When was the last time schools taught America’s core virtues and values in a classroom that also had an American flag in the corner?
Who can list the fundamentals of our Constitution; three equal branches of Government; Free and Fair elections; Patriotism; Judeo Christian fundamentals; Government by the People?
Does it really matter? The rust is getting thicker.
Galvanizing is another law of nature that provides a layer of protection for the impervious nature of rust. It also has a second definition “to cause someone to suddenly take action by shocking or exciting them in some way.
The rust on our American Dream cannot be reversed without galvanizing a national willingness to preserve those virtues and values.
Sometimes rust creeps in and we don’t really notice it until we see a leak in the roof (or the hull of our Sailor’s boat).
Examples of creeping rust include
- Indoctrinating our youth by gaining control of public schools and teachers unions.
- Manipulating opinions by controlling the news media and Hollywood.
- Corroding fundamental value systems by denigrating the role of the family and the church.
- Reducing parental rights and fundamentals by making transgenderism and sexual perversion seem normal, natural and healthy.
Once the rust becomes obvious, it spreads faster and has greater impact.
Who can explain the rusting logic of dissolving borders which are clearly bankrupting social welfare systems and influencing free and fair election processes?
Why are we allowing rust into our free and fair election processes under the guise of continuing questionable pandemic exceptions when we are clearly not in a pandemic.
Time to stop incentivizing rust and once and for all galvanize the American boat. It has a severely rusting hull.
Take the time to understand the precipice our nation is on and understand that the only rust repellant is a strong vote for galvanizing the Constitution.
Hoping for a Red Sky at Night soon.
First published on Real Clear Defense
Sailors grind rust off the flight deck ramp aboard the amphibious dock landing ship USS Carter Hall.
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