When I began to write these weekly columns some 12 years ago, I promised myself to avoid any persuasions of politics toward my readers. I do not affiliate with any political party and my opinion is just that and nothing more.

Yet, on this very day, I cannot hold back my thoughts as a citizen of this once proud country and as a father of a son and a daughter who will soon, as young adults, step under this dangerous storm cloud hovering above our nation’s capitol, causing the greatest division of our people since the Civil War.

Our flag appears to not represent every American today, but is often put on display by special interest groups in attempts to advance their political extremism. We should recall our history. In a song by Johnny Cash, he says, “Our flag got a little hole in it when Washington took it across the Delaware and it got powder burned the night that Francis Scott Key sat watching it while he wrote, ‘Oh say can you see.’ And it almost fell at the Alamo besides the Texas flag, but she waved on through. She got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville and she got cut again at Shiloh Hill. On Flander’s Field in World War I, she got a big hole from a Bertha Gun. She turned blood red in World War II. She hung limp and low a time or two. She was in Korea and Vietnam and where she was sent by Uncle Sam. … In her own good land here, she’s been abused. She’s been burned, dishonored, denied and refused and the government for which she stands is scandalized throughout the land. … She’s getting threadbare and she’s wearing thin … cause she’s been through the fire before. …”

Despite having lived through three major American assassinations when I was young, I remained proud of our country and our grand old flag, and I was respectful to the name of anyone who was elected to the highest office in the land. I might have been ignorant back then and somewhat naive, but better be that than the cynical views my jaded son and daughter and many others of their young age have about our country’s current state of affairs.

Now, like elementary school children, Democrats and Republicans squabble over who should lead the salute to the flag when a congressional hearing is held. I understand we need checks and balances, but I’m beginning to think our two-party political system is broken.

Bipartisan agreements on proposed legislation are seldom achieved. Are we not tired of Democrats fighting Republicans in Congress and politicians honoring their pledge to their party instead of honoring their oath to support and defend the Constitution?

“We the people affirm that the government of the United States exists to serve its citizens.”

The division in Washington has spread like wildfire throughout the American population. As political ideologies widen, so is the discord between our families, friends and citizens.

Whether it be blatant stubbornness why so many will not change their views after being shown black and white facts, or is it simply a blind allegiance to a political party or to the man who sits in the White House and declares his controversial executive orders, it is not for me to speculate.

And yet, the most troublesome concern for all of us is to distinguish the truth from the tidal wave of political rhetoric shot at us like cannonballs every single day from the government and from the news media.

I have come to believe that hypocrisy is spreading across this land like an infectious disease. We want a united people, but we draw lines in the sand to further our division.

We are told our current administration is all about law and order, but we’ve elected a convicted felon who has pardoned convicted, violent criminals who assaulted police officers.

We want our government officials to be tough minded, but at the same time they should uphold the values of good parents that nurture our country’s racially and culturally ever-evolving American family.

Thomas Jefferson wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” John F. Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Let us not satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.” These men were leaders who used every citizen’s needs and wants as the influence of their efforts to serve all Americans.

The ultimate hypocrisy lies in the words of the Pledge of Allegiance we have been saying out loud since we learned the salute to the flag in grade school. Think of it. We put our hands over our hearts and we look up to the Stars and Stripes; that flag that over 1 million servicemen and women have died defending; that flag that Abraham Lincoln said, “I ask you to stand by it as long as I stand by it”; that flag that we solemnly pledge will preserve ONE nation, under God, INDIVISIBLE, with liberty and justice for ALL.

I fear these words have lost their meaning. I fear that our once proud country has lost its way. I fear for my children’s future and for every child who now faces the real possibility that the American dream is becoming an American nightmare.

Martin Luther King said we must judge individuals by the content of their character. Shouldn’t we question the content of the character not only of our elected officials, but the level of integrity we citizens uphold for ourselves? As Americans who stand before the judgment of the world’s supreme court, we have a responsibility to carry the torch entrusted to us by our nation’s Founding Fathers.

We must restore our Stars and Stripes to its old glory, not just for me or for you, but for those who have given the ultimate sacrifice to preserve its honor.

This is our country. We must put political agendas aside. Only then can we be one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Email Rich Strack at richiesadie11@gmail.com