I have a confession to make. I, Adam Edward Clevenger, being of sound mind and smelly body am not proud to be an American. What is there for me to be proud of?  I didn't choose to be born in the middle of the most powerful nation in the world. I have done nothing to establish or maintain this country's sovereignty. I have in no way earned the right to be an American. I can no sooner be proud to be an American than I can be proud to have brown hair. There is nothing for me to be proud of, I did nothing to establish or earn either. That being said I am extremely blessed and happy to be an American. My happiness that comes from being an American is not based in our world leading economy, or our contributions to the millions of destitute and sometimes ungrateful ones forgotten and betrayed by other governments. My heart doesn't skip a beat when I think that the USA is the dominant military power in the world (although I may rest a little easier at night). I don't smile in my sleep every night because I'm an American and that means that we have world leading literacy rates. I have no delusions of an American utopia. I am happy to be an American because I am free. I can not be ashamed to be an American because I love my freedom. No perception or stereotype circulating the mainstream can inhibit my love of freedom. The idea of freedom can not be separated from the United States and all things American. I don't consider myself to be anymore patriotic than the next person. I just love freedom. 

However, freedom cuts both ways. Just as I am free to conduct myself in what ways I see fit, others are free to conduct themselves in ways different, and sometimes contrary to what I believe is right. There is indeed a moral decline in the United States as in the rest of the world (speaking in the Biblical sense). This is an unfortunate yet necessary function of freedom. There is only one true and perfect law of liberty. No one can know truly complete freedom but through Jesus and the freedom from the bonds of sin that only he can provide.   

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