As long as the Spirit of ‘76 endures, America will never die

OPINION:

I’m the Spirit of 1776 — the spirit of independence, individual liberty and personal responsibility.

You know me. I’ve been part of this grand adventure from the beginning.

I was there with the earliest settlers — the Pilgrims and Puritans, the Quakers in Pennsylvania and the Catholics in Maryland — with all who came to escape the oppression of the Old World, where you could rise no higher than your father, and build a Shining City on a Hill.

I brought the Bible here as a guide and an inspiration.

I encouraged the colonists who revolted against British rule and the Founding Fathers who penned the immortal words of the Declaration of Independence and later formed a more perfect union.

In the winter of ’76, after a string of disastrous defeats, I trudged through the snow with the Continental Army, in shoes wrapped in rags, leaving bloody footprints behind. When Washington crossed the Delaware, I was in the first boat.

In what’s been called our second war of independence, I inspired Old Hickory at the Battle of New Orleans.

Later, I helped man the garrison of the Alamo, which fought to the last man in Texas’ war for independence.

I was with the Marines when they stormed the Halls of Montezuma.

I held Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg and heard Lincoln speak his stirring words at the dedication of a cemetery there.

I saw a nation of 13 states perched precariously on the Eastern Seaboard grow to a land stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

I watched the pioneers push west, saw the great cattle drives, the fields of grain, and the cities rising from what was once wilderness. I saw the engineers, inventors, scientists and entrepreneurs as they helped to create the greatest economy in history — one that lifted all boats.

I charged up San Juan Hill with the Rough Riders and joined the doughboys over there.

I sold apples on a street corner during the Great Depression and saw Americans climb out of its depths due to perseverance and hope.

I beheld America’s dream factory when it produced works of art and imagination like “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “Gone With the Wind,” “Miracle on 34th Street” and “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

I remembered Pearl Harbor and watched the landing at Omaha Beach and MacArthur’s return to the Philippines.

I was on the frozen ground of the Chosin Reservoir, in the steamy jungles of Southeast Asia and on the burning plains of Afghanistan.

I welcomed immigrants and refugees from Italy and Ireland, Germany and Russia, Cuba and Southeast Asia who came here to build and fill their lungs with free air. Each group made unique contributions to our culture.

I was proud to raise our banner and inspire oppressed people the world over. We created the first republic in modern times, guided by a government of limited powers and restrained by the rights of citizens.

And now I look back at 247 years of triumph and tragedy, of dreams and illusions, of nobility and achievement, at the times when we lived up to our ideals and those when we didn’t.

I can take pride in our achievements, regret our failures and marvel at the glory of the nation we built on these shores.

But now, the nation I inspired is in mortal danger.

We’ve raised a generation of ignorant ingrates that haven’t the vaguest notion of the price paid to secure the freedoms they now enjoy. They are historical illiterates who believe that America is a natural phenomenon instead of something precious that took centuries of sacrifice and struggle to achieve.

They are fed a steady diet of lies and poison to make them hate their native land.

We have an administration of criminal misfits and a culture controlled by degenerates diametrically opposed to the ideals for which I stand. Their inspiration isn’t the American Revolution, but the French and Bolshevik revolutions. They seek not individual liberty, but an anthill society they can rule.

They are dedicated to the destruction of this great nation — committed to open borders, weak national defense, debt that imperils our survival, anarchy in our streets, and a social agenda that aims at destroying the family and forcing uniformity of opinion.

You must oppose them with everything you have.

I am the Spirit of 1776 — the Spirit of America. Remember, when you’ve lost me, you’ve lost everything.

• Don Feder is a columnist with The Washington Times.