Dear Madam:
There is a scene in the movie “The Great Escape” in which the star, Steve McQueen, playing the character of Captain Virgil Hilts, joins two other American POWs in a march through the prison camp dressed as a revolutionary war drum and fife detail. As they march, they are playing “Yankee Doodle” on their instruments and summoning all to a celebration of the Fourth of July. The American prisoners of war are hosting the rest of the camp in a celebration of that uniquely American holiday and treating them to a tasting of the rot-gut moonshine they have distilled. Hilts probably was from West Virginia and was no stranger to moonshine. A good time is had by all, at least for a while.
That drum and fife military detail, with one of the three soldiers sporting a bloody bandage around his head, comes from a painting by Archibald Willard unveiled in 1876 as part of the American Centennial. It was originally titled “Yankee Doodle” but is now known as the “Spirit of Seventy-Six.” It used to be one of our countries most recognizable symbols of our fight for independence from England and the founding of our American ideals, ideals based on the sovereignty of the individual.
Despite all the maligning lately about the founding of our country, this trope of the drum and fife detail is still symbolic of something worthwhile to many of us.
Maybe not so much in Dearborn, Michigan, or Mogadishu, Minnesota, but still some places.
This July 2026, our country will be 250 years old. That’s quite a milestone since our form of government has been under assault since before it was formed. Ben Franklin emerged from the final deliberations of the Continental Congress on whether we would have a pure democracy or a republic and was asked what kind of country we had. He said “a republic, if we can keep it,” and we have been struggling to keep it ever since.
Our form of government is very unique on the world stage both now and throughout history. Individual rights are the foundation of our constitution, and these unalienable rights are NOT to be infringed upon by our government. Most constitutions, if they exist at all, set about defining what the government is allowed to do, ours defines what it is NOT allowed to do. This is a very different approach from the thousands of years of dictatorships and monarchies preceding 1776.
I came of age during the sixties and was witness to riots, protests, assassinations, and U.S. troops opening fire on US citizens. We survived that, we got past all that, and the country is still here.
Our system is not perfect by any means, especially when you consider some of the characters we elect to administer our constitution, but it is resilient. I’m hoping it’s resilient enough to withstand the on-going moral erosion, a greater threat than even our civil war. Societies don’t survive anarchy of the spirit.
The final scenes of “The Great Escape” depict Virgil Hilts, re-captured after his historic motorcycle ride, returning in handcuffs to the prison camp. The Gestapo is also there taking into custody the former camp commandant.
Hilts is going back into the “cooler” as punishment for the escape, and the commandant is going to a fate unknown, also because of the escape.
Hilts, ever the smart aleck American, looks at the departing Nazi commandant and says, “job just didn’t work out, huh.” Hopefully, future historians won’t be writing about the last days of America with similar words: “Republic just didn’t work out, huh?”
John Jackson
Huntersville
Editor,
I have a lot of problems with most of the professional politicians of both parties who have made being in office a lifelong job thus making getting reelected in many cases their top priority. Many got their positions not based on competency to govern but because they won popularity contests and have funding by special interest groups. Their failure to pass effective laws preventing them from trading in the stock market with inside information and our massive complex tax code full of loopholes designed to pay back doners is another example of the rot in Congress. This conflict-of-interest results in many putting their financial interests ahead of doing what is best for the American people. Both parties have this problem. When it comes to policies, I have issues with both parties to varying degrees. The Dem Party is taking it to new heights. Their willingness to open the big tent to anyone who will vote to keep them in power is backfiring as we see a bunch of incompetent radicles winning races in New York and other parts of the country displacing candidates that are part of the Dem Political Machine. All these candidates have a few things in common. They include peddling communist ideology, as Democratic Socialism, a system that has never worked in the real world along with most never having real jobs of any note, nor any leadership or management experience. Some of the ideology they subscribe to include the destruction of western society, no borders, no prisons, redistribution of wealth, seizing the means of production, defunding police, packing the Supreme Court with candidates that will ignore the constitution and ever bigger government. Now I suspect some of you will claim this is all made up. Simple searches on the internet will provide you with ample evidence from multiple sources to include their own words that this is true. So how did we reach this new level of insanity. In the New York elections less than 18 % of eligible voters participated. Those that did turn out were mainly,” highly educated” individuals that lack critical thinking skills and will sign up to any feel-good idea they stumble across. This should be a wake-up call to the many sane among us, many that have not voted. It is time for you to get involved to prevent this insanity. I say this as an independent voter who has voted for Democrats in the past. The party lost me years ago with their enshrinement of racism under the guise of DEI, threating criminals as victims, importing large numbers of illegals for cheap labor and potential voters and widespread corruption through their funding of NGOs that enriched donners and accomplished little if anything of value.
The new crop of lunatics pushes me further away if this is even possible. I did not leave the party it left me. Oh, yeah, Trump is evil and a threat to democracy, so anything we do is justified will be the other over simplified ridiculous counter argument.
I have my own problems with some of Trump’s conduct but he lives in the real world and gets results. The world is not a Disney movie where everyone wants to hug and share their toys, it is a violent place with winners and losers on the international stage.
Until the Dems put forward competent candidates and stop supporting whatever crazy idea steps forward, they will not get my vote.
This country is very divided and faces a lot of real problems. Silly fantasy and feel good solutions will only make things worse.
Joseph Kaffl
Hillsboro
