Uncle Sam
John Butch Preston
My name is Ted. Our beloved Uncle Sam, the cartoon character who represents America, whom we have been led to believe has our best interest at heart, may really be just a big phony.
We see him quite often, usually connected with some patriotic theme in the news, or much of the time as the front man for the local furniture company’s Fourth of July sale—which is the problem; we’re always buying what he is selling. But most famously we see him on that iconic large poster with a grim expression, as he points a stiff finger in our face, with the caption reading I WANT YOU!
But what does he want us for? First of all, he wants us for the army, and second of all, he wants all of us to support the army by working hard and paying our taxes. In effect, Uncle Sam wants America to be the richest, most powerful nation in the world. We all tend to agree with this because we think it’s important for our protection to be the most powerful nation in the world. But have we only been fooling ourselves?
The most powerful nation in the world right now has no riches, no glamour, and can barely feed its people. Besides that, it’s no bigger than Texas. North Korea has the potential, if not the ability already, to put and end to almighty America within minutes. So why are we working so hard to provide for Uncle Sam’s army when it gives us no advantage? Just think—We could be getting a month’s paid vacation each year, a year’s maternity leave, free college education and health care, and other advantages that most European countries enjoy; instead, we work like dogs because Uncle Sam says we all need to get ahead, so the country can get ahead, simply for the sake of getting ahead.
The grim face of Uncle Sam has been around since the war of 1812 and has seen us through good times and bad, demanding our loyalty from the very beginning—but this loyalty, we fail to understand, is the price we pay for living here. What should be made clear to us is that, just because we are born in the US we should not have to work-to-get-ahead for Uncle Sam’s sake, but simply work to be happy. Being a glorious rich country has nothing to do with any of us personally. We should be educated to think, rather than trained to participate in a patriotic work force, most of whose profits go into the pockets of the influential backers of Uncle Sam anyway.
So, don’t think your tax money is going to save you from North Korea, because their nuclear weapons neutralize ours. And don’t think the chief representative of Uncle Sam—the president—is going to help much either. His assurance that North Korea is no longer a threat only gives North Korea more time to prepare.
This is the man who ordered innocent children to be snatched from their mother’s arms at the Mexican border—perhaps he had ethnic cleansing in mind, and undoubtedly must have gotten this idea from when slave children were sold out of their mother’s arms in the antebellum South. If God is Love, ergo Trump is Godless!
And so are all the Christians who unbelievably support him. No, not unbelievably: In colonial America it was church doctrine in Virginia that if you missed church three times in a row you were put to death (astonishing but true, look it up). So, we do have a recorded history of Christians being heartless and cruel at times. How can Uncle Sam deal with that?
I am not sure if your article is an underhanded swipe at America, paying taxes for the military, the military, and/or President Trump. Probably a swipe at all the above. These social welfare programs you speak of in this article are only there because of Uncle Sam. If not for American lives and American money all of Europe would be speaking either German or Russian. All those social welfare state programs you want to trade our military prowess for wouldn’t be in those countries at all. If not for America where would the free world be? Probably not free.
I am glad to see you questioning where your tax dollars get spent. Wouldn’t it be great to have less taxes and more freedom to spend your money the way you see fit. Even if you take the entire amount of military budget it would not even come close to paying for all the welfare programs you mentioned.
So Presdient Trump was ripping children away from their mothers at the border? Where was your righteous concern when the same thing was happening under President Obama. We take children from parents who break the law every day in this country. It’s what happens when your a criminal.
The concern and credit you give North Korea is misplaced. North Korea itself is not the big concern. It’s the WW3 it could lead to that makes them a threat.
So much more I would love to say but I have taken too much space already. Bless the greatest nation on Earth, America and Bless President Trump.
The greatest threat to America is its sin. We have a generation that knows not God. It is not realistic to turn our backs on evil. I wouldn’t trust the leader of North Korea; or any leader that thinks they are superior to any other people.
Talk about ripping children from their mother’s arms. How about the ripping of live children from their mother’s wombs.
We would be sticking our heads in the ground if we ignored the threats from countries who cry daily, “Kill the Americans.” We have given money to many countries who do exactly that. The only hope for any country is to turn to the God of the Holy Bible and embrace His prophecy (it will open your eyes!); repent of our sins and accept His Son, Jesus Christ.
Our only hope: “For God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Reading God’s Holy Bible will open the eyes of any intelligent person who wants to know why things are happening now and what will happen in the future. The solution to the world’s problems are met when people and countries turn to the God of creation and live by His precepts. Obviously we are not doing that! You want to embrace people that want to kill you because you are different? No thanks! I’ll stick with God’s ways and His salvation in His Son, Jesus Christ
if you want to stop abortion quit having sex
Or do what God tells us to do and stop murdering babies
Well, we can all clearly see that you are still suffering from selective outrage and virtue signaling. It is evident that you still harbor that blind hatred for Trump and anything conservative which impedes your ability to reason clearly; let alone ‘author’ a column that is not divisive or unbiased (quite a ‘journalistic’ quality you have there) .
Were you as ‘outraged’ at Obama’s border policy? (Granted, it was much more lenient during the last few years of his ‘reign’.) Or how about when o ordered a drone strike which killed three American citizens, including one 16 yo. in Yemen (2011)-WITHOUT due process?? (In your words- “look it up”). Or how about how federal agents during the Clinton administration (under AG Reno) held a terrified 7 yo Elian Gonzalez at gunpoint? Oh, wait, those were democrat led administrations, so that makes it ‘ok’ for you.
‘perhaps ethnic cleansing in mind’….really??? There is no ‘perhaps’ about the fact that this is the most asinine comment I’ve read on the internet thus far. So besides being a sanctimonious hypocrite, you are now a prognosticator???
‘history of Christians being heartless and cruel’- key word– HISTORY- not even recent history. A report by the charity Open Doors (just to name one), cited case after case of “unprecedented persecution” of Christians happening PRESENT DAY. The government in Sudan ordered that all churches be destroyed. In Eritrea, Christians are rounded up and imprisoned (IF they are one of the ‘lucky ones’) because of their faith- the same in India, Nigeria, Turkey, China, Egypt, etc. How about the genocide of the Yazidis by isis? (I know how you liberals prefer the term ‘isil’-but it is what it is).
Furthermore, no. Godless are those amoral and unethical democrats and their sycophants who not only support third trimester abortion, but cheered it. Delegate Dawn Adams of Richmond, VA (vacillating as all democrats do), stated that she “didn’t fully understand the bill when she signed onto it as a co-sponsor. When asked at a hearing if a woman about to give birth and dilating, could a woman still request an abortion. Her reply, “My bill would allow that, yes.” If this isn’t ‘Godless’, I don’t know what is.
“Perhaps” you should write for the New York (Com)post- the crap you spew aligns with their agenda driven narrative; for you both sow seeds of divisiveness and fertilize it with your partis pris.