Fallen Heroes and a Corrupt Government

 

By LAWRENCE SELLIN, PHD
FamilySecurityMatters.org

This is my personal story. There are thousands of similar stories about loved ones who died defending our Constitution and our country. 

It is a sad story because our own government is now in the process of destroying our Constitution and country for which those fallen heroes made the ultimate sacrifice. 

Written on a cross in the American Military Cemetery, Lorrain, France, is the name First Lieutenant Joseph J. McCarthy. He was my mother's first husband. 

From the records of the American Military Monument Commission:

Joseph J. McCarthy
First Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Forces
Service # O-809674
340th Bomber Squadron, 97th Bomber Group, Heavy
Entered the Service from: New Jersey
Died: 10-May-44
Buried at: Plot K Row 48 Grave 15
Lorraine American Cemetery
St. Avold, France

Awards: Air Medal with 6 Oak Leaf Clusters, Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster 

Here is the rest of the story as I understand it. 

In May, 1944, the commander of the 97th Bomber group at Foggia airbase in Italy was Colonel Jacob E. Smart.

In 1943, Smart had been the architect of Operation Tidal Wave, in which, on August 1, 1943, 178 B-24 Liberators flew from bases near Benghazi, Libya to perform a low-level bombing raid on the oil refineries at Ploieşti, Romania. 

On May 10, 1944, Smart was to lead a mission to bomb the FW 190 fighter aircraft factory near Wiener-Neustadt, Austria. The area was known as a "hot" target because it was well-protected by German fighters and anti-aircraft batteries. 

The navigator assigned to Smart's lead aircraft "begged off" and subsequently Lt. McCarthy volunteered, even though he had completed his quota of missions and was schedule to rotate back to the United States on the day of the scheduled raid. 

Upon approaching the target, Colonel Smart's lead aircraft was bracketed by three bursts of anti-aircraft fire. The fourth hit the front of the B-17, killing McCarthy instantly and blowing Smart clear of the aircraft. Smart managed to open his parachute despite the wounds he received from the explosion, landed safely, but was immediately captured by the Germans. He was held as a prisoner of war until freed by elements of General George S. Patton's Army in April 1945. 

Although she remarried and raised four children, my mother never got over that tragic loss within a year of her wedding and it likely contributed to her early death. 

Fast forward to the present day. 

Instead of heroes like Lt. McCarthy, our government is now run by a sordid collection of cowards, crooks and opportunists.

The present occupiers of the US Government are hopelessly corrupt. They have brought us to the brink of bankruptcy, have opened our borders to illegal immigration and have permitted a fifth column promoting Sharia law to infiltrate our society. 

Politicians have grown so arrogant and so accustomed to the wanton use of power without any accountability, that they consider themselves above the law and show not even a modicum of deference to the electorate. 

Both the Democrat and Republican establishments remain willing to smother the truth, ignore the Constitution and flout the rule of law.

In particular, they fail to vet all candidates for the offices of President and Vice President, perhaps intentionally. 

As an example, Article II, Section I, Clause 5 of the Constitution requires that all candidates for President and Vice President be a "natural born citizen." The binding Supreme Court precedent Minor vs. Happersett (1874), which has never been superseded, defines "natural born" as a U.S. born citizen of citizen parents at the time of birth; that is, a second generation American. 

In addition, on March 1, 2012, Arizona's Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio presented evidence that Barack Obama's long-form birth certificate released by the White House on April 27, 2011 and his Selective Service registration are most likely forgeries. Arpaio said, ""Based on all of the evidence, I cannot in good faith report to you these documents are authentic". adding that his "investigators believe that the long form birth certificate was manufactured electronically and that it did not originate in the paper format as presented by the White House."

Other documentation indicates that Obama is using a Social Security Number not issued to him. 

As another example, Governor Romney has so far not released his full tax returns, which only begs the question, "Why not?" All may be just fine with the Governor's tax practices, but we will not know until he is also fully vetted. 

It is difficult to imagine more pressing issues facing the country than the integrity of the Constitution and adherence to the rule of law. Yet our politicians call these issues a "distraction," ignoring pleas for an investigation and suppressing any discussion of them. 

The best definition for such behavior is willful stupidity, more commonly known as political expediency.

In case you haven't noticed, there is no longer representative government in the United States. 

Sure there are elections, but they are mere formalities, brief lulls between periods when the permanent political class continues their plunder of America's wealth while limiting our liberty through an ever expanding and oppressive government, all in the service of a small number of well-heeled power-brokers. 

Frederick Douglass said "power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will." 

Only when politicians are more afraid of the voters than they are of the political establishment, the media and the wealthy donors will there be a restoration of representative government, adherence to the Constitution and respect for the rule of law. 

Lawrence Sellin, Ph.D. is a retired colonel with 29 years of service in the US Army Reserve and a veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq. Colonel Sellin is the author of "Afghanistan and the Culture of Military Leadership" and "Political Establishments and the Culture of Dependency". He receives email at lawrence.sellin@gmail.com