On Tuesday, January 13, 1915, shortly after I published 20/20: A Clear Vision for America, I wrote an article for my website. It was entitled “Liberty and Freedom – A CLEAR VISION.” I sought to share why I wrote 20/20: A Clear Vision for America and where my vision of America came from. Where it was born, and nurtured.
I wrote about my experiences as a newly commissioned officer in the United States Marine Corps. The following is an excerpt from that article.
“I’ll never forget a sunny Saturday morning in June 1958 when a group of tanned, chiseled candidates stood to take the oath of an Officer in the United States Marine Corps. I still remember solemnly swearing with pride to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. That oath was taken with joy in a nation filled with an enthusiastic spirit, full of energy and excitement over the bountiful prospects that lie ahead.
Living by that oath is my way of life. My vision of America has not changed since that day of great magnitude so many years ago, however something terrible has happened over these many years. Unfortunately, our country, so poised to accomplish monumental undertakings has gradually become a listless, lost ship in a roiling sea of uncertainty searching for a beacon of light. We have lost our direction and our moral compass.
I yearn for the days of promising career opportunities for everyone and the news of countless discoveries in science and space. My vision still burns bright. Competent, creative leadership can regenerate that same spirit and joy of accomplishment. We can find our way. Let’s roll out the revolution to reinstate our Constitution and to regain the essence of generations passed.
“20/20: A Clear Vison for America” has become my life and my life is this vision to make America whole; to keep Americans safe; and to straighten the (twisted) dysfunctional federal government path of corruption and apathy.
I quickly learned to be a leader of Marines, I had to recognize that each Marine not only has value and is equally important, but every Marine must add equal value no matter their rank, role or assignment. We could only accomplish our mission when we all worked together. We all relied on each other. We all had trust in each other. We all had to respect each other. It became clear that these are the essential requirements of all successful organizations.”
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Lessons Learned
The Marine Corps taught me many valuable lessons in leadership. We learned responsibility cannot be delegated. We learned that we never stood in the chow line, or ate, until all our Marines were fed. We learned genuine service and sacrifice. I could go on and on. Cite thousands or examples. What is disturbing is that we now have generations of citizens who have never experienced true leadership, they therefore can make no comparisons. They go about their lives never experiencing anything of meaningful value. They are programmed to believe the universe revolves around them.
Sadly, they have come to think they know everything when in fact they have experienced nothing but false indoctrination. And the beat goes on. Sadly.
Now Comes a Perfect Example of True Leadership
U.S. Central Command Commander-nominee Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 27, 2010, before the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on his nomination. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
I have heard many praise General James and sorrowfully many demean his appointment. They not know what they say or write. I copied and pasted this story for my readers to get a sense of what a real man and a real leader and a real Marine does.
James N. Mattis is a retired United States Marine Corps general who last served as the 11th Commander of United States Central Command from August 11, 2010 to March 22, 2013. Mattis is known for implementing the COIN strategy. He is known to be a tough guy; however, he is also a very professional and highly respected Marine. Below is another side of this great man, one of compassion and caring for his men. The kind of man we need to lead our service men and women.
A General Mattis Christmas Story (Posted 2010/12/20)
A couple of months ago, when I told General Krulak, the former Commandant of the Marine Corps, now the chair of the Naval Academy Board of Visitors, that we were having General Mattis speak this evening, he said, “Let me tell you a Jim Mattis story.”
General Krulak said, when he was Commandant of the Marine Corps, every year, starting about a week before Christmas, he and his wife would bake hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of Christmas cookies. They would package them in small bundles.
Then on Christmas day, he would load his vehicle. At about 4 a.m., General Krulak would drive himself to every Marine guard post in the Washington-Annapolis-Baltimore area and deliver a small package of Christmas cookies to whatever Marines were pulling guard duty that day. He said that one year, he had gone down to Quantico as one of his stops to deliver Christmas cookies to the Marines on guard duty. He went to the command center and gave a package to the lance corporal who was on duty.
He asked, “Who’s the officer of the day?” The Lance Corporal said, “Sir, it’s Brigadier General Mattis.”
And General Krulak said, “No, no, no. I know who General Mattis is. I mean, who’s the officer of the day today, Christmas day?”
The Lance Corporal, feeling a little anxious, said, “Sir, it is Brigadier General Mattis.”
General Krulak said that, about that time, he spotted in the back room a cot, or a daybed. He said, “No, Lance Corporal. Who slept in that bed last night?”
The Lance Corporal said, “Sir, it was Brigadier General Mattis.”
About that time, General Krulak said that General Mattis came in, in a duty uniform with a sword, and General Krulak said, “Jim, what are you doing here on Christmas day? Why do you have duty?” General Mattis told him that the young officer who was scheduled to have duty on Christmas day had a family, and General Mattis decided it was better for the young officer to spend Christmas Day with his family, and so he chose to have duty on Christmas Day.
General Krulak said, “That’s the kind of officer that Jim Mattis is.”
The story above was told by Dr. Albert C. Pierce, the Director of the Center for the Study of Professional Military Ethics at The United States Naval Academy. He was introducing General James Mattis who gave a lecture on Ethical Challenges in Contemporary Conflict in the spring of 2006. This was taken from the transcript of that lecture.
This article is slightly amended and reprinted, with permission, from The Strategy Bridge.
The 20/20 Vision of America
My call to action to create honesty and integrity whereas citizens realize government is the hindrance, not the answer to a bright future for their children.
God Bless us all and God Save our America. Our Constitution, our culture, our country, our civilization, our currency, our children, our liberty, our safety and the peaceful transition of government need you now more than ever.
Is this book in season?
Well, yea. Look at the cover. It has George Washington crossing the Delaware River on Christmas night. Picture perfect.
20/20: A Clear Vision for America is priced perfectly. A priceless value. You can spend a lot more, but your recipient will never receive as much value as a gift that is personally inscribed and signed by the author. And the author pays all shipping and handling charges plus any applicable taxes. There are no extra charges.
All this value for so little effort. No shopping. No lugging stuff. No standing in long lines. No looking for your auto in a cold parking lot. It’s all done for you.
The Gift with the Perfect Message
The reader will learn how to regain our country’s liberty and freedom. They will relate to the 20 solutions to America’s 20 worst problems that are intensified by senseless policies imposed by the political establishment. 20/20: A Clear Vision for America is a book of common-sense answers written in a style readers can readily identify with.
Something Extra Special for that Extra Special Person
Did you know many of us support inventors, authors, artists and other entrepreneurs through crowdfunding? It’s a wonderful way to help independent creators bring their projects to life.
Did you know that many authors use the names of their family and friends as characters in their books? It is a way to honor and memorialize loved ones.
Do you know that I am writing a new book and need family and friends to help tell the story of the Constitution and other important topics? Did you know that I want to honor you with a part in the narrative?
Do you know that the names of my backers and supporters are on my webpage? Do you know that those backers and supporters will also be acknowledged forever in print in my new book?
Do you know that I would be honored to have your name listed as one of my backers and supporters? Do you know that I want you to be on my team? Did you know how important it is that I hear from you?
Do you know there will be a void in my book and in my heart if you don’t appear in my new 20/20 Vision book? It’s safe and easy to go to my website and pledge $250, $100, or $50 and you’ll get lots of priceless rewards including lots of signed books as gifts to your family and friends who will read your name in the new book. Time is running out. I need your name now!
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Finally, an author who brings you solutions, instead of problems.
Americans have lost faith in their overreaching federal government. “We the People” don’t need to be overregulated or have their taxes misspent. Americans are victims of a crumbling economy, high prices and stagnant wages. They view government as bloated and politicians as corrupt.
They do not trust the leadership at any level. They see politicians of both parties as self-centered narcissists whose only objective is re-election. The author is like you, with one principal difference and 20 reasons for optimism. His “Vision” of America is “clear.” It is a vision of the Constitution and America the way it could be, the way it should be. The author’s eyesight is twenty-twenty.
EUGENE STEFKO
says:Bill:
I think that you will agree that the US Supreme Court has made some ludicrous decisions during our lifetime. Some of their logic is so convoluted that it is mindboggling. Any time that a decision is made that is in direct conflict with natural law it should be apparent to any critical thinker that it is a bad decision. Many of the court’s recent decisions fall into this category and will/should eventually be overturned. As far as the ‘flag burning’ decision is concerned, under the US Constitution we as American citizens have free SPEECH not free ACTIONS. How can the burning of our flag (an action) be construed as speech? It cannot and therefore must be addressed by our legislators to pass a law to make that ACTION illegal. Yes, they have tried in the past but maybe with the new conservative controlled Senate and House of Representatives we can pass a sensible law that will be signed by our newly elected president.
Justin Elkin
says:Hey Bill,
Ron’s my guy but I don’t agree with all of his argument here. I hope I can assist you without actually writing myself into the narrative. I trust you’d know how to do all that if need be. There seems to me that there is some cognitive bias associated with Ron’s service and there is bias on the ACLU’s part displayed with there persistence to burn the flag with impunity. Why in the world is such a thing being brought before the Supreme Court of the United States to begin with?
The ACLU needs to understand that burning things is not a peaceful form of expression. One who willfully burns something is performing an act of violence on whatever it is being burned. Fire is a cause for alarm to anyone that knows fire burns.What do we think most people would think of someone who decides to burn Malcolm X’s work in public because it says “blue-eyed devils” in it? There must be something wrong with them or they couldn’t have researched his whole life, right?
People like Ron ought to see that bringing the law down for desecrating the flag does nothing for the Constitution of the people themselves without patiently considering the matters at hand. Patiently because history is a convoluted mess just like a lot of people are. It’s one thing to be endearing to certain symbols and quite another to forget that “Ceremony is not civility; nor civility ceremony”, to quote Poor Richard, no matter how many hours of flag etiquette one has performed.
Luckily, the Supreme Court does patiently consider the matter. Free speech is important not only for the sake of what is right in ourselves but also to discover and “weed-out” what is wrong in ourselves too. To be lighthearted, couldn’t we consider flag desecration like stabbing at a voodoo doll? Lol.
Until soon
Dick Reynolds
says:I’m trying to create a dialogue where some voices that are never heard can be heard through my characters. Thanks for commenting.
Dick Reynolds
says:No, I don’t think it’s OK to burn the flag. I think it’s a hateful act and it angers me whenever I see pictures of anyone doing this as an act of protest.
However, since the Supreme Court has ruled that it’s not against the law, what can you do about it? Have our dysfunctional Congress pass a law that prohibits it? You can probably guess that such a law would give the ACLU another cause to champion and shift the whole problem back to the Supreme Court to think about. Wonder if the court will have a 9th justice by then?
Anonymous
says:My comment is simple on burning the flag of the United States of America that so many brave men and women fought and died to protect.
If you hate our symbolic flag so much that you burn it, go the hell to some other county. I suggest moving to Syria and join ISIS. Burn their flag and see what happens. They will bury you in two pieces. That is if they bury you. They would more then likely not bury you so everyone can come by and piss on your head. I agree with Ron but I like my approach handling dumbass flag burners.
tom Lutz
says:“You can’t yell fire in a theater unless there is actually a fire; it’s the law”
Why can’t there be, why shouldn’t there be, a law that disallows burning the flag, the symbol of our freedom for which so many of our people have died to protect. If you don’t like what it stands for, the most logical solution, and a very easy solution, is to move to a country that agrees with what you are bitching about, and acts accordingly. We’ll even let you take your money with you. But you won’t do that because you want your freedom to bitch, about what you no not.
Next to my disgust at burning the flag is my disgust at all the various renditions for singing our National Anthem. So many of these so called singers, seem to think that standing out there on the gridiron, or wherever, is about them (look how I can sing it in falsetto, I can even yodel as certain places, etc). Trust me, it’s not about you. For me its that you can’t sing the Anthem as it is written. Take some more singing lessons and come back when you can sing it correctly.
Linda D. Martin
says:There is already a law on the books against flag burning, needs to be in forced. Although, I believe it should be a stricter penalty.
Bill Muckler
says:Thanks for the comment Linda. You are correct.
Connie Ross
says:I am just an ordinary citizen, not a constitutional scholar. I have never served in any branch of the Military but am forever grateful to those who have served, defending my freedom for which our flag represents so much. I agree with Ron, in this article. Free “Speech” is protected by the Constitution but i do not believe that “Acts” of Destruction of National Symbols of Our Country should ever fall under “Free Speech”. This article was very thought provoking. I am hopeful that with new Supreme Court Justices to be put in place, this will be revisited.
Bill Muckler
says:Thanks for the comment Connie. The government has been taken from the people by the elite. They now decide what they want and those of us with common sense are to be forgotten.
Anonymous
says:Burning the flag is a non-starter. I will never support this under any circumstances, regardless of the leftist ACLU and their minions. This disgusts me to no end. I hope and pray no one ever does it in proximity to me….
Bill Muckler
says:Thanks for the comment. Stand by your principles.