tneditor@tnonline.com

This WikiLeaks scandal that has dominated a great deal of the news in recent weeks as website founder Julian Assange was finally arrested in England on criminal charges originating in Sweden. The most recent issue is Assange has been leaking millions of documents that cut to the core of United States' security as well as the security of the people of this country. Just when it seems this country can't have any more problems, this one occurs. It will be interesting to see who takes the fall for this massive failure of our diplomatic network. Hopefully ALL of the people responsible will be held accountable for this treason.We are getting close to the end of another year and halfway through our 234th year of independence and this grand experiment as our forefathers viewed this republic is in trouble. Yes, we are still a great nation and one of the freest countries on the planet, but we are a shadow of the nation we founded when we stood up to those who wanted us to stay under their royal English thumb.Why would I say this? Just look at society today. We stand up and say that the terrorists have not affected America with their cowardly act 10 years ago, but that is not so. Crossing the Berlin Wall in the 1960s was easier than it is to board an airplane. We are paranoid about everything related to flying, yet we leave the majority of our thousands of miles of border unguarded. The irony of this juxtaposition is that we are creating a police state in our airports yet a terrorist can realistically drive a nuclear bomb across the desert in the southwestern United States or our northern border in an off-road vehicle without being caught.I'm not criticizing our border patrols who are killing themselves to protect us, but I'm criticizing the people who run this country who refuse to stop this. It's amazing to me how we whitewash history and refuse to see the truth in front of us. Our southern border is becoming closer and closer to being a Mexican no man's land. Drug wars occurring a few miles from the Arizona and New Mexico borders are creating fear in our fellow citizens and what do we do about it? Nothing. Well actually worse than nothing. We let our southern neighbors people into this country in droves and we prevent our own law enforcement from sending them back.This type of policy makes us look like a laughing stock. Even Mexico's President admitted when he was here that he would never allow Guatemalans to sneak into his country, yet in practically the same breath he is pleased that Mexico is doing this to us.It's important to realize the history that underlies this issue. In the 1840s we fought Mexico for territory, the territory that became the American Southwest and while Santa Ana slaughtered the defenders of the Alamo, we ultimately prevailed, but Mexico has not given up the fight. This was a bitter defeat for them and they would like nothing more than to reclaim this territory. The proof is that it was the carrot used in World War I to attempt to draw us into War with Mexico by Germany. Instead we declared war on Germany. Now Mexico is using our unwillingness to enforce our laws to essentially invade this country and conquer us from within our borders.The demon that is allowing this to happen is hyper-political correctness. We have gone from a nation of rough and ready explorers and pioneers to a bunch of namby-pamby momma's boys and girls. We are terrified of hurting someone's feelings or being seen as being unfair to anyone. What happened to standing on your own two feet and ignoring stupid people?By no means do I advocate prejudice and bigotry, but I do advocate not being handcuffed by some imagined terror so that we fear using experience to make an educated decision. Because of this elderly people and toddlers are being groped in airports, illegal aliens are not being deported and people are afraid of what to say for fear of offending someone even if the statement is justified.If a farmer sees an animal that has feathers, quacks and has a bill, don't you think he is going to think it's a duck? Are we going to arrest the farmer for profiling his animals so he can feed them? We know the terrorists who want to harm us most likely come from the Middle East, but we use some inane and illogical reasoning to refuse to profile who the most likely terrorists are. We are afraid of offending someone. We are the only country to my knowledge that have become so paranoid about offending a traveler for the sake of protecting a flight so we demonize everyone and treat everyone like criminals.This is not the principle on which our country was founded and we were not created by founding fathers who refused to offend anyone. To the contrary, our founders offended many people. In today's United States many of them probably would be sued thanks to the erosion of our rights.Political correctness is an ideal that has caused more problems than it is worth. It's a pariah that erodes the Spirit of this country. It's time to swing the pendulum back to the middle and tell people who are easily offended to grow a backbone and a thicker skin and give us back our right to free speech.Til next time …