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United We Stand

Life is a shell game of smoke and mirrors. A game that has been played throughout time. But it is one thing to bet a couple of bucks and try to guess which shell the nut is hiding under, but why do American's wager their entire lives? I can't figure this one out no matter how hard I try. We watch the news, criticize our elected officials, complain about the taxes we pay and our foreign policy and then do nothing to change it. Go figure!

The United States of America is a country of the people, for the people and by the people, yet we do little to exercise our rights. Its like an investor who gives complete discretionary authority to a broker and never reads the statements and complains when he or she has to pay capital gains on a long term gain distribution that is reinvested into a fund that is losing value.

When was the last time you wrote to or called your local or federal representative? There was a time when Americans banded together to ensure their representatives in Congress did just that, represent their wishes and best interests. What's that you say, they just don't listen? Well if that's that case write letter after letter, and contact your local news editors to let them print letters to the editor or run stories on representatives that are not doing their job.

In one of the most famous addresses to the American public and the world, President John F. Kennedy said to the American people, "Ask NOT what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country", and to his fellow citizens of the world, "Ask NOT what America will do for you, but what TOGETHER we can do for the freedom of man". You can hear the speech in its entirety by visiting www.takeavetfishing.org and clicking on the link. President Kennedy knew, as does every President, that he could not do the job alone and reached out to the people of the United States and the world to accomplish the mission together. 

Here is an example of what I mean. Each day the United States Coast Guard (including its reserve and auxiliary components) stands ready to fulfill its congressionally mandated responsibility of securing our maritime security and ensuring the safety of commercial and recreational vessels. Each year they respond to thousands calls from of vessels in distress (saving thousands of lives and preventing billions of dollars in property damage), educate and qualify thousands of commercial and recreational boaters, keep our artic region and commercial navigation channels clear of ice in the winter, ensure that coastal navigation charts are up to date and Aids to Navigation are operational, conduct marine environmental testing and most of all, are our primary law enforcement line of defense in our war against the illegal importation of drugs, weapons, immigrants and terrorists by sea. Did you know that U.S. Coast Guard resources were responsible for rescuing over 35,000 people when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ravaged the Gulf Coast? Considering that the U.S. Coast Guard is responsible for the security of over 350 U.S. ports, covering over 95,000 miles of shoreline outwards to 200 miles off shore, this is a commendable task considering that the U.S. Coast Guard is staffed by only 35,000 men and women and is the smallest of the five branches of our military defense and its fiscal budget is a fraction of our total armed forces. To compensate for the fiscal budget shortcomings the U.S. Coast Guard relies on its auxiliary component consisting of over 35,000 volunteers for non law enforcement and non military activities such as vessel examinations, public boating education, aids to navigation, marine environmental protection and surface patrol support. Unlike many community volunteer firefighters and EMS personnel, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary volunteers are not compensated for their thousands of hours of dedicated service. Their reward is the pride in knowing that they are America’s Volunteer Lifesavers. Although the Coast Guard budget permits a fuel reimbursement to be paid to owners of qualified vessels and a limited amount of safety equipment to Coxswains of these boats in addition to a limited amount of expense reimbursement, it is not unusual for a member of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary to spend thousands of dollars on equipment and uniforms in addition to their personal time spent in connection with personal education, task qualification and patrol and other support operations. Did you know that the cost of one work uniform, one dress uniform, one utility flotation vest, one flotation coat plus the minimum required survival supplies needed by and Auxiliarist can easily exceed $500?  

So in a post 9-11 world when port security is vital to our national security and when the quantity of illegal drugs and weapons and illegal immigrants being smuggled into U.S. ports is at record heights, and when it has been proven that terrorists and those who wish us harm are infiltrating our borders, why is it that our first line of national defense, which is also responsible for all matters surrounding the maritime safety, search and rescue, is so under budgeted and under staffed. Why is it that it was not until the mid 1980s that the U.S. Coast Guard had a rescue swimmer program in place, and when it was mandated by Congress in 1983, why was it that they were commissioned by congress to spend whatever was necessary to develop a rescue swimmer program, provided that the funds were reallocated from other Coast Guard programs? Even today, the U.S. Coast Guard has not been able to ensure that each station has at least one qualified rescue swimmer? Recently Congresswoman Sue Kelley criticized the U.S. Coast Guard for only having small patrol boats defending Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant. Did she, a member of the United States House of Representatives, not realize that it was her responsibility, and the responsibility of every member of the United States Congress, to realize that the Coast Guard was doing a superb job with limited Congressional resources? Instead of criticizing the Coast Guard, she should have been looking in the mirror and taking the initiative to call to the attention of her peers in Congress the reality of the situation. Does she and her counterparts not realize that although the Coast Guard was granted a budget increase in 2006, the budget approved for 2007 was substantially less and still insufficient for the Coast Guard to accomplish all of the responsibilities for which they are mandated? It is not rocket science to figure out that if the U.S. Coast Guard had greater resources in the form of fiscal budget appropriations it could recruit greater manpower resources and have better equipment with which to do the job they are called upon to do. 

But what about people like you and I, the American people. Most Americans don’t vote. They leave that to others and then complain about the job the elected officials are doing. Most Americans don’t understand the workings of our government and their rights and responsibilities as citizens. Those who do vote often vote by party and based on what they hear from the media and the candidates’ promises. Most Americans don’t collaborate and communicate with their elected officials; they leave that up to big business. When was the last time you took a position on a problem faced by our country and made the effort to write a letter to your Congressional or state representative? If we don’t communicate with our electorates how should they know what we feel is important and what is not. They are left to use their own judgment and allowed to be influenced by others.

With freedom comes responsibility and this responsibility is shared by citizens and their elected representatives. As citizens we are responsible for being aware of what issues impact our lives, both locally and nationally. We are responsible not only for exercising our right to vote and for understanding the positions of the candidates who are running for office, but also for collaborating with our representatives both when they are candidates seeking our election, but also after they have been elected. Our forefathers took great pains to ensure a balance of governmental power to make this a government of the people, by the people and for the people of this great United States of America. The late President John F. Kennedy, in his inaugural  address of January 20, 1961 closed by reminding the American people “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”. He reminded Americans that we are a nation comprised of states, united in cause and principle, where the representatives of each state have a responsibility to represent the citizens of the United States not based on popular opinions of others, but because we as a nation should act based on what is right! And just as JFK pointed out that the torch was being passed to a new generation in a then changing world, our present generation is now faced with new perils and threats far greater than that which could have been imagined in 1961.

Indeed the world is very different now than it was then. Today we are faced with new threats from those who wish us harm. Not only do we face daily threats from radical groups who have demonstrated that they are eager to sacrifice their own lives in order to destroy our cherished way of life-a life of freedom and democracy-and to take the lives of innocent Americans in the process, the freedoms we enjoy are threatened by the abundant flow of illegal drugs and weapons into our U.S. ports stealing the life blood from our communities wile enriching and empowering those who seek wealth and power at our great expense. So the question that I pose to you is why, at a time when we enjoy a greater prosperity than ever, when there is greater accumulation of wealth than ever, at a time when our national spending is greater than ever..Why and how is it possible that we, as Americans, accept the progressive threat to our communities and nation to continue? The answer is multifaceted; however one cannot deny that two words sum it all sp. These words in my opinion are “apathy” and “ignorance”, combined with convenient amnesia. It is easier to say that “it could never happen to me” or that someone else will take care of the problem. The truth is that just as we are responsible for the problem, we are also responsible for the solution.

It is our responsibility, as citizens of the United States of America, to identify and challenge the problems that face us today, which will impact future generations of our children and to understand that we are responsible for collaborating with our elected federal, state and local representatives in order that we may address these problems and seek effective solutions. It is so easy to be a Monday morning quarterback and blame our elected officials for their shortcomings and mistakes, but we need to ask ourselves, what we did to help them to help us. What did we do for our country? Instead of blaming our elected officials for not doing what is best to represent us. We have the responsibility to address our needs directly with those who want to represent us, in order that our needs, and not those of pork belly lobbyists, are effectively dealt with. 

So if you feel as I do, that Congress needs to address the issues of maritime port security, illegal drug, weapons and immigration interdiction (including terrorist activities) and that the safety and security of Americans should be addressed by substantially increasing the fiscal requirements of the U.S. Coast Guard as well as the mandates imposed upon them, then you have a responsibility to communicate this with your U.S. representatives in the Senate and House of Representatives. Call them and write letters.

Ask to meet them to discuss your concerns. Be specific. Be firm! Don’t just say that more money should be appropriated to the Coast Guard or other cause in which you believe. Address what needs to be done. If you want a qualified rescue swimmer or swimmers at the Coast Guard Station that is responsible for the area in which you or your family boat, say this. If you feel that greater assets should be spent on improving port security, say this. If you feel that the Coast Guard should implement a plan to double its force, say this. If you feel the Coast Guard should deploy greater assets toward drug interdiction to shut off the supply of heroin and cocaine into your communities, say so. Be specific. Only by being specific can your representative go before the House or the Senate and request greater resources and the money which is needed.  And if they give you a run around then you know they are not the persons you want as your representatives, and you need to communicate, loud and clear, that they will not be your representative come the next election because you will vote for the candidate with whom you have discussed your problems and who shares with you a desired solution.  

Form a coalition with other concerned citizens in your district and contact your representatives collectively. Rather than asking what they can do for you, ask what you can do to help them to help you and all fellow Americans. This is true for each and every matter that affects you as an American, and also holds true for programs which you feel are not needed or are inappropriate or contrary to your needs and wishes. Just as Congress in 1983 mandated that the Coast Guard allocate all necessary financial resources to develop a rescue swimmer program provided that it be taken from some other program, if you don’t agree with some of the governmental programs it is your responsibility to say so, and to insist that monies appropriated to those projects be redirected to those which you feel are vital to your needs and wishes.  

Yes, this takes time and effort, but this is the price of the freedom that you enjoy as an American. Remember, this is a government of the people, for the people and by the people and YOU are the people. Ask NOT what America will do for you, tell them what you want done and the price you are willing to pay to preserve your freedom. Remember, if you don’t communicate exactly how you want your hard earned tax dollars to be spent, someone will make that choice for you, and that is the price of not exercising your rights and freedom to which you, as a citizen, are entitled to under the Constitution. Always remember, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

What you can do for your country is to know the issues, discuss them with your representatives and collaborate toward a solution.

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