A Flag Day, Army birthday and Father’s Day letter to my readers

TAT readers,

There is so much to celebrate today and this weekend. All of it is… essential to who I am as a son, father, veteran and citizen. So let’s first begin with happy Father’s Day wishes to all of the dads out there. To all of the Army folks, happy birthday to the Army and most importantly, happy flag day to all of us here in the US as we celebrate the most visible sign of our nation and its values. I’m both a true believer of and a student of, our republic and the values ensconced in our form of government.

As I celebrate Father’s Day, I will recall my own, as well as my son’s who is an extraordinary father. I will celebrate all of the men whose paternal excellence is life changing for their children and by extension, the world. With so much of our nation in conflict over values, it is of critical importance that we support and honor, all those willing to do their very best as moral, exemplary leaders for their children. I see mother’s in precisely the same light and celebrate them as well on Mother’s Day. Some who are not mothers or fathers, often take on the roles when real moms and dads, are not available for one reason or another. My hat is off to them as well. It is they who are guaranteeing our future.

What all of this comes down to, is honoring values and being willing to lead with them. This is a primary reason that I support Flag Day, Father’s Day and the Army birthday with so much joy and enthusiasm. Each of these days are imbued with honor, commitment, values and the will to stand firmly in support of those who unhesitatingly, accept our citizen’s responsibilities to something greater than ourselves.

As an example of how deeply commitment to what these three holidays mean to me, can be seen in my persistent and occasionally ferocious defense of our constitutional republic. I never defend a political party but our true values, not the fake patriotism of MAGA. Like my dad, the history, government teacher and later, much higher positions in public education, was like my mom, a veteran. Neither would have ever even entertained the notions of the fake patriotism, spewed nauseatingly by the MAGA crowd. Dad and mom both, were the first to rise for the national anthem where dad’s deep baritone could often be heard over several others singing near by. Mom, quieter by nature always sang in a manner that no one but those with dog hearing could hear. She always said that neither her nor I, “could carry a tune in a bucket.” There was and still is a great deal of truth to this.

Mom a Republican and Dad the opposite, both voted across party lines for who they, via education and research, believed to be the best candidate. It was often for the same person or issue because they never once entertained for a second, that party over country was an honorable approach. Both would have scoffed at the fake patriotic, MAGA ideology that today underpins the entire Republican Party. The God, guns and trump fake patriotism of MAGA, would have deeply offended both, although dad was almost certainly, the only one who would speak up. Mom spoke little but it was wise to listen when she did. Both Dad and mom’s traits, were products of humble family means. Common sense and hard work were the basics of getting through the Great Depression, WW II and both joining the Navy during the Korean War.

Mom, the product of staunch, Republican perspectives along the lines of President Eisenhower’s principled conservatism, was raised on a small farm, in very rural, Missouri, the “show me state.” All Missourians in those days believed only what you could prove while that now, Missouri is overwhelmed by and governed largely by MAGA Republicans. Dad, one of 13 children, was a rural and small town product of Ohio, which today is like Missouri, governed by MAGA Republicans with obvious fakery and propaganda as their ideology.

Dad wasn’t quiet like Mom and always spoke truth based on his expertise in government and history. A patient man that had little patience for the lies politicians spewed, regardless of side. He also was the first in his family to go to college. He never looked back. Education and the military service that paid for it, were his ticket upwards and he wanted everyone to have the same chance via teaching and leading education programs.

To this day, I am so much like my dad with the only exception being, that I fight for truth publicly, far past the threshold that he did. Of course, both parents were evocative of solid Midwestern values, that dictated that one never talked about politics or religion publicly. Almost no one in the Midwest that I grew up in, spoke of these things publicly either. Today, Trump and MAGA conspiracy theories, overwhelm both Ohio and Missouri.

I’ve been a Texan now since 2005 and am daily incensed at the un-American, treasonous propaganda spewing daily from the Texas GOP, who have run our once proud state exclusively for thirty years. Our governor and his henchmen regularly attempt to overturn our constitution and are again entertaining secession. It’s not only fake patriotism, but fake conservatism as well. Were President Eisenhower alive today, he would fight against MAGA with his entire being. In fact, his 1956 presidential platform looks a great deal like the Biden platform.

Had mom or dad survived until 2016, the sight of Trump trains, with American and Trump or the other treasonous flags flying in the back of pickups all over Texas, would have likely even driven mom, to speak up with the only swear word that I ever heard her say (it really wasn’t a swear word but she used it habitually in place of one), “piffel!” To this day, I have no idea where this word came from except maybe, from her dad who spoke German at home, with his father, mom’s grandfather.

Like dad and my son, I joined the military at 17 right out of high school. Ninety five percent of the family on both sides joined the Navy but I joined army for three years at the end of the Vietnam war. Mom and dad came to my Fort Knox graduation from basic training and I had never seen them so proud. I was no less proud attending my son’s Navy boot camp graduation, 20 years later. When I became an Army Warrant officer in 2006, it was my dad, now retired from both education and the Navy, who pinned on my rank. We were all basking in the warmth, of having served our nation during wartime. My son and I, a couple of years later both served in the same combat zone. This service, was a prominent element of the foundational values of being an American within our family.

Watching MAGA fake patriots shame our constitution and try to overturn it from 2016 on, touches something deep inside me and the countless others like me. It’s not only anger but anger imbued with a healthy dose of shame that they have stained our nation with. Seeing so many active, reserve, guard, veteran and retired veterans attacking our Capital on January 6th of 2021, only deepened my determination to honor my military oath to, “protect and defend our constitution, from all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

I balled my eyes out when watching the honor guard at mom and dad’s national cemetery memorial service, hand my daughters, both of the folded flags. They had passed three months apart while that I was again deployed in a combat zone. Within six months, I had lost both parents, my wife via abandonment and nearly lost my middle child to a tragic car accident. The only thing that sustained me throughout this period was faith, and knowing that in another three months I would again honor my family commitment, to serve my country and flag, again on the battlefields of Afghanistan.

This is in no way a tale of, woe is me. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Yes, those were five or six months of hell, but the moral of the story is the difference between true patriotism and the vacant fake patriotism of MAGA. It was the outspoken leadership of my remarkable father, the quiet, steady hand of my mother, both grounded in the family tradition to serve our nation. It is the same and always has been for those who’ve worn the cloth of our nation. We stood against the confederacy during the Civil War, Hitler and the fascist Axis of WW II and the terrorism of the seemingly endless wars after 9-11. Now our fight is to restore our core values against those who serve fake patriotism, Putin, oligarchy and Christian nationalism.

We're fighting to prevent this! / C.R. Miller, WW II American poster to support winning against fascism.

There are far more true patriots than the lost, brainwashed souls of MAGA. We will do as we’ve always done, stand for the brilliant vision of freedom our founders ensconced in our constitution. We‘ve put our lives where our hearts were, at every challenge. We will do so again when MAGA attempts their next takedown of American democracy.

To me, today’s essay is the story of celebrating all three special days as one. Families led by solidly honorable parents, honor our flag, the visible sign of our constitution, and respect the service of not only our army but all service branches, are the walking, talking exemplary patriots. Vapid thugs like Putin, Xi, the theocratic terrorists in Tehran and of course any un-American movement like MAGA, will never have what it takes to destroy what our revolutionaries paid for in blood. Willful commitment to a cause so intrinsically moral as defending freedom and the greater good, is much like what the military calls, the will to fight.

This weekend, my dad, our flag and the army I have faithfully served, will come together as a celebration of family, national and human values. Thank you to all who have read this essay about my family and what we as American citizens, stand for.

My very best for your celebrations as well.

Paul