http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/samheath/15848 Long before Thomas Wolfe’s novel, “You can’t go home again” was an oft used expression and one with which I was familiar even as a child. But Wolfe couldn’t possibly know how prophetic his story would be of America coming out of WWII. While a person may come to terms with themselves concerning change and dealing with life, it is considerably more difficult for nations, which quite often throughout history have gone through horrendous convulsions and bloodletting in the process of change and adapting to new conditions wrought by such a process. America was birthed through such a convulsive process, and the wars since that time have been unrelenting, each bringing about further changes in our nation. We are witnessing changes taking place in America even now due to the wars presently ongoing with no end in sight and escalating. The nuclear age changed the world, and there is no going home from that. The nuclear genie was let out of the bottle, and there is no putting it back. But Tevye made a good point in “Fiddler on the Roof” concerning tradition. How else could a people hold together without their traditions he wondered? And when accommodation to change was demanded by circumstances, he wondered just how far he could go without breaking in adapting to such changes that threatened tradition; that threatened his very way of life? Among my more valued books are The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics, and The Faith of America volume about Norman Rockwell filled with favorite pictures. The two books are a fair representation of the America I was born into and knew as a child. At this stage of my life I leaf through both books with melancholy nostalgia, realizing that not only is it impossible for me to go home again, but that so many of America’s traditions have been betrayed there seems no going home again for our nation. As a witness to the changes that have been wrought in America following WWII by “removing the ancient landmarks which the fathers have set,” I will say many of such changes have not made our nation any stronger or freer, but quite the contrary. My generation respected and honored our flag for example. We didn’t question “In God We Trust,” because most of us subscribed to this. Same sex so-called “marriage,” those of my generation would have expressed both disgust and incredulity at the mention of such a thing. Abortion on demand as means of contraception? Unthinkable! As would have been “Press one for English” and the explosive growth of pornography. And none of us would have dreamed those in our government would lie to We the People wholesale, betraying our nation on every hand for power and profits. Just recently Jack Cafferty expressed my own opinion when asked which of the present contenders for President offered any hope of change for the better in America: “None of them,” was his frank and candid reply. Neither Jack nor I consider ourselves cynics, but we do consider ourselves pragmatic realists. Long ago I abandoned some of my conservative views; I came to oppose the death penalty because of its capriciousness state-to-state, I began to favor the legalization of prostitution and marijuana, I stopped opposing abortion believing this is the right of a woman to choose without the interference of men. But some of my conservative views remain unchanged over the decades of my life such as our Second Amendment right to own and carry a gun, and believing people should be personally responsible and fully accountable for their actions despite politicians, lawyers, judges, and the ACLU. But as a pragmatic realist, I know a nation cannot possibly be any better than its leaders, and it is in the abject failure of America’s leadership to be personally responsible and accountable my thoughts turn to what our nation used to be before our traditions were sacrificed for the “greater good.” Yet, I am not naive to the fact that the seeds of America’s destruction may have been sown by the failure of the Founding Fathers to abolish slavery by our Constitution that resulted in Lincoln’s War followed by federalism and welfare as a way of life for millions, a situation that cannot possibly be resolved by laws fair and just to everyone. America won the war against the Axis powers because we still had a sense of tradition, we still considered ourselves a nation with a national identity. This is no longer the case. We are a fragmented and divided nation on many fronts, so much so that there is no certain solution to the problem apart from some Draconian circumstance forced upon America such as a nuclear attack. And even at that, would we have the kind of leadership that would do what would be necessary in the interests of America? Response to 9/11 and the enormity of greed and corruption exposed in government gives me just cause to wonder. Tevye had every reason to wonder how far he could go against tradition without breaking. Americans like me have every reason for wondering the same thing. There are times when I question whether I live in a haunted house, whether I live with the ghosts or spirits of departed loved ones and friends. No less is the question of whether the America I used to know is now only a ghost, one represented by those like George Washington and Norman Rockwell, those old comic books and strips that so very well recounted the changes taking place in America, but continuing to hold on to many of the best of the traditions that made America great. The America I was born into and knew as a child is now only a ghost, and there seems no Dickens that will get the needed attention of our leaders, no spirits taking them on Scrooge’s journey to the past, confronting them with the present, and causing them to cry out for a chance to change the future for the better. I suppose a miracle is needed to save America from becoming nothing but a ghost, one that acknowledged a nation is defined by heritage, culture, a national language and secure borders, a miracle that would cause our leaders to turn from their wicked ways and do what is best for our nation. Short of such a miracle, I confess I have little hope anything less than that will prevail. Long before Thomas Wolfe’s novel, “You can’t go home again” was an oft used expression and one with which I was familiar even as a child. But Wolfe couldn’t possibly know how prophetic his story would be of America coming out of WWII. While a person may come to terms with themselves concerning change and dealing with life, it is considerably more difficult for nations, which quite often throughout history have gone through horrendous convulsions and bloodletting in the process of change and adapting to new conditions wrought by such a process. America was birthed through such a convulsive process, and the wars since that time have been unrelenting, each bringing about further changes in our nation. We are witnessing changes taking place in America even now due to the wars presently ongoing with no end in sight and escalating. The nuclear age changed the world, and there is no going home from that. The nuclear genie was let out of the bottle, and there is no putting it back. But Tevye made a good point in “Fiddler on the Roof” concerning tradition. How else could a people hold together without their traditions he wondered? And when accommodation to change was demanded by circumstances, he wondered just how far he could go without breaking in adapting to such changes that threatened tradition; that threatened his very way of life? Among my more valued books are The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics, and The Faith of America volume about Norman Rockwell filled with favorite pictures. The two books are a fair representation of the America I was born into and knew as a child. At this stage of my life I leaf through both books with melancholy nostalgia, realizing that not only is it impossible for me to go home again, but that so many of America’s traditions have been betrayed there seems no going home again for our nation. As a witness to the changes that have been wrought in America following WWII by “removing the ancient landmarks which the fathers have set,” I will say many of such changes have not made our nation any stronger or freer, but quite the contrary. My generation respected and honored our flag for example. We didn’t question “In God We Trust,” because most of us subscribed to this. Same sex so-called “marriage,” those of my generation would have expressed both disgust and incredulity at the mention of such a thing. Abortion on demand as means of contraception? Unthinkable! As would have been “Press one for English” and the explosive growth of pornography. And none of us would have dreamed those in our government would lie to We the People wholesale, betraying our nation on every hand for power and profits. Just recently Jack Cafferty expressed my own opinion when asked which of the present contenders for President offered any hope of change for the better in America: “None of them,” was his frank and candid reply. Neither Jack nor I consider ourselves cynics, but we do consider ourselves pragmatic realists. Long ago I abandoned some of my conservative views; I came to oppose the death penalty because of its capriciousness state-to-state, I began to favor the legalization of prostitution and marijuana, I stopped opposing abortion believing this is the right of a woman to choose without the interference of men. But some of my conservative views remain unchanged over the decades of my life such as our Second Amendment right to own and carry a gun, and believing people should be personally responsible and fully accountable for their actions despite politicians, lawyers, judges, and the ACLU. But as a pragmatic realist, I know a nation cannot possibly be any better than its leaders, and it is in the abject failure of America’s leadership to be personally responsible and accountable my thoughts turn to what our nation used to be before our traditions were sacrificed for the “greater good.” Yet, I am not naive to the fact that the seeds of America’s destruction may have been sown by the failure of the Founding Fathers to abolish slavery by our Constitution that resulted in Lincoln’s War followed by federalism and welfare as a way of life for millions, a situation that cannot possibly be resolved by laws fair and just to everyone. America won the war against the Axis powers because we still had a sense of tradition, we still considered ourselves a nation with a national identity. This is no longer the case. We are a fragmented and divided nation on many fronts, so much so that there is no certain solution to the problem apart from some Draconian circumstance forced upon America such as a nuclear attack. And even at that, would we have the kind of leadership that would do what would be necessary in the interests of America? Response to 9/11 and the enormity of greed and corruption exposed in government gives me just cause to wonder. Tevye had every reason to wonder how far he could go against tradition without breaking. Americans like me have every reason for wondering the same thing. There are times when I question whether I live in a haunted house, whether I live with the ghosts or spirits of departed loved ones and friends. No less is the question of whether the America I used to know is now only a ghost, one represented by those like George Washington and Norman Rockwell, those old comic books and strips that so very well recounted the changes taking place in America, but continuing to hold on to many of the best of the traditions that made America great. The America I was born into and knew as a child is now only a ghost, and there seems no Dickens that will get the needed attention of our leaders, no spirits taking them on Scrooge’s journey to the past, confronting them with the present, and causing them to cry out for a chance to change the future for the better. I suppose a miracle is needed to save America from becoming nothing but a ghost, one that acknowledged a nation is defined by heritage, culture, a national language and secure borders, a miracle that would cause our leaders to turn from their wicked ways and do what is best for our nation. Short of such a miracle, I confess I have little hope anything less than that will prevail. en-us