www.RogerWendell.com
Roger J. Wendell
Defending 3.8 Billion Years of Organic Evolution^SM

America!

Washington, D.C. photo by me!

I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.   - Abraham Lincoln   "If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth."   - Ronald Reagan

The Greatest Country in the World - The United States of America!

"I love being an American!" - Maya Angelou on Larry King after the election of Barack Obama

Click Here for my page on the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights...

Click Here for my 4th of July page...

Click Here for the U.S. Debt Clock

"The national debt, that is the unfunded liabilities and fiscal operating debt amount to over 200 trillion dollars. The government accountability office, the congressional budget office, numerous other private and public institutions have sounded warning alarms about the oncoming crash. They don't say 'if,' they say 'when.' No serious or effective steps have been taken to address this simmering financial and economic implosion. It is, after all, far easier for today's statists, and that's Republicans and Democrats, to doll out money not yet earned by future generations not yet born and be lauded as compassionate, thereby reaping media plaudits and political benefits for a generation of wealth redistribution, than to be accused of denying subsidies and programs to a growing list of worthy and needy recipients and suffer the media and political backlash. Nonetheless, the governing generation's self deception, or worse, does not and will not avert the inflating debt bubble which will eventually burst and flatten a society - turning promises of utopia into the reality of dystopia for future generations."

God Bless the American Flag!

I found this large billboard at about mile marker 47, along Interstate 76, near Wiggins, Colorado. It was on November 09, 2018 at time of a lot of controversy with the president and other issues...

America is an idea!

"Anyways, it's not a right-left issue, it's a right-wrong issue. And America's consistently been on the side of what's right. Because when it comes down to it, this is about keeping faith with the idea of America. Because America is an idea, isn't it? I mean, Ireland's a great country, but it's not an idea. Great Britain's a great country, but it's not an idea." "That's how we see you around the world... as one of the greatest ideas in human history. Right up there with the Renaissance... right up there with crop rotation... The Beatles' White Album... That idea, the America idea, it's an idea. The idea is that you and me are created equal... It will ensure that an economic recession need not become an equality recession. The idea that life is not meant to be endured, but enjoyed. The idea that if we have dignity... if we have justice... then leave it to us, we can do the rest. "This country was the first to claw its way out of darkness and put that on paper. And God love you for it. Because these aren't just American ideas anymore. There's no copyright on them. You've brought them into the world. It's a wide world now. I know Americans say they have a bit of the world in them. And you do. The family tree has a lot of branches. But the thing is... the world has a bit of America in it, too. These truths... your truths... they are self-evident in us." - Bono at Georgetown University on Monday, November 12, 2012

"Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant to step the ocean and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest, with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force take a drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue Ridge in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer. If it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us; it cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide."

The good, the bad, and our responsibility:

I'm growing more worried about my country each and every day concerning a great many issues. Nevertheless, I love America - its founding, diversity, opportunity, freedoms, and wilderness areas can't be beat! I've lived in the United States all of my life and can only think of a few 8,000 metre peaks, or secluded tropical islands, where I'd rather be - So, it looks like I'll be here for the duration! I believe America is a special place that deserved my loyalty not only when I enlisted as a young man for four years of military service, but as I grow older on her soil as well.

Also, America has been pretty good to me so I've tried to contribute in some small ways over the years. Some of that has included the four year enlistment I mentioned above, active reserve duty, various government jobs, volunteer work as an election commissioner and election judge. I've also worked, extensively, to protect our environment, promote Democracy (Yes, America is a Constitutional Republic, but, in reality, we still have a great number of democratic processes for electing representatives and passing new laws...), and continue working to protect our liberty. I've also served in our neighborhood caucus and have been elected to the Republican Party's county assembly for three different elections.

That being said, I still have my complaints - our growing population problem, the erosion of traditional values and morality, the narrowing concentration of wealth and power, religious dominance of government (and society in general), needless wars and goofy alliances with Israel and other aggressive/expansionist states,* and a general disregard for the natural world and creation are issues of grave concern to me. Also, we've grown so accustomed to being wasteful (huge cars, huge homes, excessive packaging, wasted food, etc.) that we think it's normal! So, although there are a ton of good things in my country, there's also a lot of serious stuff that needs our immediate attention.

Therefore, I use this page, and most of my website, for what I believe to be a force for good. Although you and I don't have to agree on anything, we do need to speak up and provide our leaders with direction. It's just like Nobel Prize winner Günther Grass said, "The job of a citizen is to keep his mouth open."

*Over 200 years ago Thomas Jefferson reminded us, in effect, that we should engage in; "Free trade and commerce with all, entangling alliances with none."

Washington, DC Since the early 80s I've taken many business and personal trips to our nation's capitol. I really enjoy "DC" and am proud of how well it represents our country (despite its infamous crime rate, corrupt mayors, and incompetent city government...). The Smithsonian, parks, government buildings, memorials and statues are all worth the visit. The Metro is one of the easiest to use, well-kept subway systems I've been on and, I've been on a lot of 'em (from San Francisco's BART and Japan's Shinsanken to London's Tube and Amsterdam's Metro).

So, although it's obvious I love "DC" I am becoming more concerned about it and the impact it has on the rest of our country.. The cost-of-living in and around Washington is sky-high with the crime rate following right behind. And, all those monuments and buildings I love so much have become armed fortresses since 9-11. Even a simple visit to the Library of Congress or Supreme Court requires passage through a gauntlet of police, undercover agents, X-ray machines and surly guards. I know it's a necessary evil in an age when we've created so many enemies but I can only wonder what the cost is in not only dollars, but to our freedoms and access to open government as well?

Anyway, below are a few photos of our nation's captiol - a place I always enjoy visiting and encourage others to do so as well!

Some trips I've taken to our nation's capitol:
(September '06 and April '07)

US Capitol

White House

White House

White House roof gunmen

25 Year Peace vigil

Library of Congress	Smithsonian	Me & the Secretary of Defense!	Metro Center	Supreme Court building
Korean War memorial	WWII CO Memorial	Vietnam War memorial	Vietnam War memorial	Vietnam statue

Senate ticket

Metro tickets

I took most of these photos from
the top of the Washington Monument:

Washington Monument	Waiting in line...	Dave, Bill, Grant & Dave	The top	White House	Washington Monument
Looking from the top	Lincoln Memorial	Jefferson Memorial	Capitol Building	Department of Commerce	Lincoln Memorial

A side trip to Georgetown:

Lynn, Danny & me

Tony, Lynn, Danny & me

Onion volcano

Benihana

Metro subway

Foggy Bottom

"America wasn't built by conformists but by mutineers - we're a big, boisterous, bucking people and now is our time. Our democracy is being dismantled right in front of our eyes by our own ruling elites. This is a crucial moment when America desperately needs you and me to stand up as citizens. We are not only what democracy counts on, we are what democrcy is."

America:
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good The U.S. Constitution, especially the 1st and 2nd Amendments... Edward Abbey National Parks, 1964 Wilderness Act, and Wilderness Study Areas (WSA's) NASA, the Smithsonian National Museum, SpaceX, and the twin Voyager 1 and 2 spacecrafts The internet and our country's bicycle route system The Bad Our high taxes and huge debt Our huge overpopulation problem San Francisco and New York City Air travel SUV's, Hummers and gas guzzlers The Ugly Murderers who receive light sentencing Off Road Vehicles and Shopping Malls Nuclear waste Rush Limbaugh, Hillary Clinton, and Rachel Maddow Anti-American Leftists ingrates (not to be confused with the more honorable/thoughtful liberals...)

The American Dream

James Truslow Adams, in his book The Epic of America, which was written in 1931, stated that the American dream is "...that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." (p.214-215)

America was not founded as a Christian Nation!

Although our country (and others) can benefit from many of Christianity's values, I've always been uncomfortable with any kind of religion dominating government. Like I've suggested on other pages, you certainly wouldn't like it if a religion you didn't agree with was in charge of your country so the best policy is to keep religion out of government, period! Anyway, studies of our founding fathers suggest that many had a very low opinion of Christianity. In fact, at the time of our country's founding less people went to church (per capita) than do today! I don't know where the myth was started that America is supposed to be a Christian country but these historical quotes, from the founders, should settle the matter:

• The Christian God is a being of terrific character- cruel, vindictive, capricious and unjust
  - Thomas Jefferson
• To talk of immaterial existences is to talk of nothings. To say that the human soul, angels, god, are immaterial, is to say there are nothing, or that there is no soul, no angels, no god. I cannot reason otherwise...I am satisfied, sufficiently occupied with the things which are, without tormenting or troubling myself about those which may indeed be, but of which we have no evidence
  - Thomas Jefferson
• Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone upon man
  - Thomas Jefferson
• During fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been it its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolences in the clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution
  - James Madison
• Lighthouses are more useful than churches
  - Benjamin Franklin
• This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it
  - John Adams
• As I understand the Christian religion, it was, and is, a revelation. But how it has happened that millions of fables, tales, legends have been blended with both Jewish and Christian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed
  - John Adams
• I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind
  has produced- the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced.
  - John Adams
• As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion, as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen; and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitian nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of harmony between the two countries.
  - 1797 Treaty with Tripoli drafted by George Washington
• Shake off all fears of servile prejudices, under which weak mines are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.
  - Thomas Jefferson

Links:

4th of July Arizona Bad Guys Capitalism and its failures Colorado Constitution and Bill of Rights of the United States Declaration of Independence Hawaii Heritage Foundation - Join the fight for America's future Nevada Patriotic Quotes Peace Politics San Francisco Spooks and Spies United Nations Unites States of Jesus - Pat Condell War and Terrorism Wealth and Power Writing by me...

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