These five flags prove the importance of celebrating Flag Day

June 14, 2024

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On this day 247 years ago, the Second Continental Congress passed the Flag Resolution of 1777 making the "Stars and Stripes" the official flag of the United States of America.

Symbols are a vital part of the identity of a nation. They speak of the values and origins of the country, where they are going, and where they have been. They serve as a benchmark by which to measure the condition of the present society—are we closer to being the people our forefathers imagined all those years ago? They tell a story of the struggles and hardships of the men who first bore those symbols and what they stood to protect.

This Flag Day, we are taking the opportunity to reflect upon the rich history and symbolism of American Flags and the conflicts that shaped them. From the earliest colonial rebellions to modern military operations, here are five flags that symbolize America:

Pine Tree Flag

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Despite the media's claims, this flag is not a Christian Nationalist banner, nor a banner of any other extremist group. The origin of this flag well predates any of those modern groups as it was first created during the Revolutionary War.

The flag comprises two items: the pine tree and the text, "An Appeal to Heaven." The pine tree has long been a symbol of New England, even before Europeans landed in North America. The pine tree was an important symbol of peace to the Native tribes of New England after a great war between five tribes ended with the members settling their differences and burying each other's weapons under a pine tree. After the Europeans arrived, the pine tree remained significant. A large part of colonial New England's economy was based on shipbuilding using the tall pine trees local to the area.

The other portion of the flag, the text that reads "An Appeal to Heaven," is a quote from the English philosopher John Locke's famous book, The Second Treatise of Civil Government. In this particular passage the quote is referring to, Locke outlined the right of people to revolt against a tyrannical government. Locke argued that once you have exhausted your ability to appeal your grievances through the available government channels, you can make an appeal to heaven and throw off the shackles of tyranny through a revolution. As you can imagine, this particular passage was critical to the philosophical justification for the American Revolution.

Francis Hopkinson Flag

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Everyone knows the tale of Betsy Ross, a Philadelphia seamstress who was presented—by none other than George Washington himself—with a sketch of the flag that would come to represent the fledgling nation. After convincing Washington to reduce the points on the stars from six to five, Ross got to work sewing the first stars and stripes together. Before long, she was presenting George Washington with the first American flag with its iconic ring of stars.

Unfortunately, that story is more legend than fact. Betsy Ross did exist. She was a seamstress from Philadelphia, and she most likely did make some of the first American flags. But did she collaborate with George Washington to create the very first American flag? Not likely. Modern historians now tend to credit a man named Francis Hopkinson.

Francis Hopkinson, like many of our founding fathers, was a very interesting man. Along with serving as one of New Jersey's first congressmen, Hopkinson signed the Declaration of Independence and was a lawyer, poet, musician, and artist. It was his skill as an artist that led to him to design the flag. However, the journals of the Continental Congress suggest that he was not the only person consulted during the process. While it is unclear who these other people were (perhaps it was Besty Ross), it is known that Hopkinson would be credited with the creation of other important symbols and devices, including the Great Seal of the United States of America.

Fort Sumter Flag

In April of 1861, the nation split itself in two. The attack on Fort Sumpter in South Carolina marked the beginning of the Civil War, and for many people, it must have felt like the end of the republic. This flag, bearing 33 stars for the 33 states, flew above Fort Sumpter during the assault and was lowered when the fort was surrendered to Confederate forces. After the battle, President Lincoln had a decision that no president before or since has been faced with: would he keep the flag as it was or would he remove the stars that represented the states that had seceded?

Lincoln's mission was to preserve the union—to reform what had been broken—so he decided to keep the stars on the flag. This flag, with all 33 of its stars, came to represent what the Union troops were fighting for. They were defending the Union for which the flag had become the sacred symbol. As such, the flag was imbued with the religious and moral values that were violently clashing along the Mason-Dixon line. For many, the flag represented the abolition of slavery, and for many newly freed black Americans, the flag represented a brighter future and an opportunity to participate in the American Dream.

When the Stars and Stripes were once again flown over Fort Sumpter in February of 1865, just two months before the end of the Civil War, all 33 stars were present—plus two more to represent the new states that had joined the union during the war. While it would take decades for the wounds of the Civil War to heal, President Lincoln was successful in his mission to reunite America.

D-Day Flag

D-Day was the largest amphibious invasion in military history with over 156,000 Allied troops deployed to liberate Europe from the Nazi regime. America bore a significant portion of the burden, with sending 75,000 of the total 156,000 Allied troops. Moreover, most landing craft and support vehicles were manufactured in the United States. It was aboard one such landing craft, the L.S.T. 493, that the flag above was carried into the chaos. The L.S.T. 493 was one of the largest vessels to make an appearance in Normandy, and it was tasked with running supplies to the different beachheads along the coastline, which it did from June 6th, 1944 (D-Day) until the Battle of Normady's completion at the end of August 1944.

Despite being manufactured by the U.S. and carrying an American flag, L.S.T. 493 was operated by the British during the Battle of Normandy, which was not an unusual arrangement at the time. The vessel served until April 1945 when it was sent from Portland, UK, to Plymouth, UK, for routine maintenance. During this trek, the ship's navigation lights were turned off as per wartime procedures, and consequently, it was badly damaged by large concrete pyramids installed in the breakwater. These pyramids were called "dragonteeth" and were used as a defense against invasion. The ship was abandoned, and the crew was safely evacuated, but L.S.T. 493 was deemed too damaged to repair and was left behind.

The aforementioned 48-star American Flag was removed well before L.S.T. 493 wrecked and made its journey throughout the years before finding itself in Glenn's collection in the American Journey Experience museum. Glenn had the following to say regarding his acquisition of the flag:

“When I first saw this flag I was overwhelmed with the struggle and the power of the human spirit. While the human experience is itself exceptional, those who deny the will to endure and the willingness free mankind from those who wish to control and oppress miss what makes the average American truly exceptional throughout the world"

America's Flag of Valor

This last flag is a reminder that the fight for freedom is never over. There will always come a time when brave men will be called upon to lay down their lives in the pursuit and preservation of liberty, to fight on behalf of those who can't fight for themselves.

Imagine—it's March 2003, America is still recovering from the horror of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and a group of young men full of courage and determination board a plane in Germany bound for Kuwait City to engage in the initial attack of the Iraqi Freedom Campaign. These Marines, most of whom were fresh out of BootCamp and had never faced battle before, were asked to sign this flag by Flight Attendant Sarah Carruthers.

Susan Irvin, the custodian of this incredible artifact, is working on tracking down the fate of these brave soldiers. One can assume that many of the signees didn't make it back to the United States. The same spirit and determination that motivated our forefathers to fight for liberty were in these men as well, and that spirit still isn't lost amongst us today.

Here are just a few of the notes those brave men wrote a mere couple of days before they engaged in the Iraqi Freedom Campaign:

1. LCPC Christensen 3^rd PLT C. Co 1/24
“I’m doing this so my Stars, Stripes and Eagle will fly Forever.”
2. LEPL Wright
“I’m proud to be an American whatever the cost - know I’m There”
3. LEPL (Deputy) Edelski
“For the Love and Safety of my Wife and Family.”
4. PFC Myers Weapons Co 1/24
“Semper Fi ‘Always Faithful’ “
5. LEPL Koshis GP II
“For the Pride and Honor of my Country and the Love of my Family. Semper Fi”
6. Sgt Hamper M.B USMC 1/24 Detroit Mi.
“Not every Man Can fight. We do what we must for our country, I am proud to have the opportunity for Freedom and the American Way of Life.”
7. LEPL B Leain, M.J. C/co 1/24
“So that our Families will live free from fear. God Bless”
8. Don H Stevens Jr. USMC SSP 1/24
“Because I stand on a wall and say nothing is going to hurt you tonight. Not on my watch.”
9. SGT Dano, Michael Scout Sniper PLT.
“When you care to send the very best. Send USMC”
10. SSGT Ian M. Perry Scout Sniper Det “C” Co. 1/24 USMC
“Americans Sleep Peaceably at Night knowing that Rough Men Stand By To Do Violence on their Behalf…”
11. Leut Lawson SSP 1/24
“For America.”
12. CPT Valler E. R “C” Co 1/24
“The more we do today the less our children will have to do tomorrow.”
13. LCPL Council SSP/ “C” Co 1/24 USMC
“For God, my Loved Ones & America!! We’ll Fight the Good Fight!!”
14. CPT Povedn R. H.
“For My Family and my Country, Mission Accomplished
15. LCPL D? Kellerman “C” Co 1/24
“HIGHLY MOTIVATED – TRULY DEDICATED… TO GOD… TO THE CORPS… TO OUR COURNTRY… TO MY FAMILY… AND TO OUR FREEDOM! ‘SEMPER FI’ “.
16. LCPL Powers J.M
“WE FIGHT FOR THOSE WHO CAN’T OR WON’T… AND SO OUR CHILDREN WILL NOT NEED TO.”
17. LCPL Safko SSP 1/24
“I don’t know what will happen when I die but I am not gonna find out before my target!”
18. LCPL Christensen
“If they don’t like my Flag they can kiss my American Butt.”
19. LCPL Damon “C” Co. 1/24
“Doing my part every day that I can! Semper Fi”
20. LCPL Cowdry, Nick 1/24 “C” Co.
“Godspeed”
21. LCPL Tong
“Showing my blood for my country! Semper Fi”
22. CPL Kinnick WPNS “C” Co. 1/24
“Death before dishonor.”
23. SGT Jim Shabelski
“Semper Fi Fortune favors the Bold.”
24. Cpt. Don Valdivia “Mr. Clean” USMC Scout Sniper PH. 1/24
“I will defend my country and make the enemy DIE for his.”
25. LCPL Forshee JAV 1/24 WPNSRO
“Mess with the best, Die like the rest. ‘Goonie for life’ “
26. SSGT White Javelin PLT Commander
“Semper Fi! God, Country Corps!
27. Cpl. Deak C ”Co” 1/24
"I am proud to be a marine, But even more proud of that I am an American, that has a choice to be a Marine."
28. HM2 “Doc” MeElfresh
“Serving the Corps, my country & my family.
Giving My Best; For the Best. Semper Fi!
29. CPL Inman E.O.K
“You can run but you’ll only die tired----”
30. CPL Jason Spoelm
“Your friendly neighbor, terrorist killers. LET’S ROLL”
31. SGT Dover, Matthew 1^st Scout Sniper PLT
“If it positively has to be Destroyed overnight U.S. Marines.
RUN AND DIE TIRED!”
32. 1stSGT T.J. Pattok Semper FI
“What we do We do for You
33. Cpl Dawson
“What I do, I do for my Family”
34. CPL I Keagle
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” MLK Jr.
35.LCPL Piechawski, Nick
“PEACHES” I’ll be back for my beer”

Special thanks to Susan Irvin for sharing and preserving the story of these brave young men.

Trump v. Slaughter: The Deep State on trial

JIM WATSON / Contributor | Getty Images

The administrative state has long operated as an unelected super-government. Trump v. Slaughter may be the moment voters reclaim authority over their own institutions.

Washington is watching and worrying about a U.S. Supreme Court case that could very well define the future of American self-government. And I don’t say that lightly. At the center of Trump v. Slaughter is a deceptively simple question: Can the president — the one official chosen by the entire nation — remove the administrators and “experts” who wield enormous, unaccountable power inside the executive branch?

This isn’t a technical fight. It’s not a paperwork dispute. It’s a turning point. Because if the answer is no, then the American people no longer control their own government. Elections become ceremonial. The bureaucracy becomes permanent. And the Constitution becomes a suggestion rather than the law of the land.

A government run by experts instead of elected leaders is not a republic. It’s a bureaucracy with a voting booth bolted onto the front to make us feel better.

That simply cannot be. Justice Neil Gorsuch summed it up perfectly during oral arguments on Monday: “There is no such thing in our constitutional order as a fourth branch of government that’s quasi-judicial and quasi-legislative.”

Yet for more than a century, the administrative state has grown like kudzu — quietly, relentlessly, and always in one direction. Today we have a fourth branch of government: unelected, unaccountable, insulated from consequence. Congress hands off lawmaking to agencies. Presidents arrive with agendas, but the bureaucrats remain, and they decide what actually gets done.

If the Supreme Court decides that presidents cannot fire the very people who execute federal power, they are not just rearranging an org chart. The justices are rewriting the structure of the republic. They are confirming what we’ve long feared: Here, the experts rule, not the voters.

A government run by experts instead of elected leaders is not a republic. It’s a bureaucracy with a voting booth bolted onto the front to make us feel better.

The founders warned us

The men who wrote the Constitution saw this temptation coming. Alexander Hamilton and James Madison in the Federalist Papers hammered home the same principle again and again: Power must remain traceable to the people. They understood human nature far too well. They knew that once administrators are protected from accountability, they will accumulate power endlessly. It is what humans do.

That’s why the Constitution vests the executive power in a single president — someone the entire nation elects and can unelect. They did not want a managerial council. They did not want a permanent priesthood of experts. They wanted responsibility and authority to live in one place so the people could reward or replace it.

So this case will answer a simple question: Do the people still govern this country, or does a protected class of bureaucrats now run the show?

Not-so-expert advice

Look around. The experts insisted they could manage the economy — and produced historic debt and inflation.

The experts insisted they could run public health — and left millions of Americans sick, injured, and dead while avoiding accountability.

The experts insisted they could steer foreign policy — and delivered endless conflict with no measurable benefit to our citizens.

And through it all, they stayed. Untouched, unelected, and utterly unapologetic.

If a president cannot fire these people, then you — the voter — have no ability to change the direction of your own government. You can vote for reform, but you will get the same insiders making the same decisions in the same agencies.

That is not self-government. That is inertia disguised as expertise.

A republic no more?

A monarchy can survive a permanent bureaucracy. A dictatorship can survive a permanent bureaucracy. A constitutional republic cannot. Not for long anyway.

We are supposed to live in a system where the people set the course, Congress writes the laws, and the president carries them out. When agencies write their own rules, judges shield them from oversight, and presidents are forbidden from removing them, we no longer live in that system. We live in something else — something the founders warned us about.

And the people become spectators of their own government.

JIM WATSON / Contributor | Getty Images

The path forward

Restoring the separation of powers does not mean rejecting expertise. It means returning expertise to its proper role: advisory, not sovereign.

No expert should hold power that voters cannot revoke. No agency should drift beyond the reach of the executive. No bureaucracy should be allowed to grow branches the Constitution never gave it.

The Supreme Court now faces a choice that will shape American life for a generation. It can reinforce the Constitution, or it can allow the administrative state to wander even farther from democratic control.

This case isn’t about President Trump. It isn’t about Rebecca Slaughter, the former Federal Trade Commission official suing to get her job back. It’s about whether elections still mean anything — whether the American people still hold the reins of their own government.

That is what is at stake: not procedure, not technicalities, but the survival of a system built on the revolutionary idea that the citizens — not the experts — are the ones who rule.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

1 in 20 Canadians die by MAID—Is this 'compassion'?

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Medical assistance in dying isn’t health care. It’s the moment a Western democracy decided some lives aren’t worth saving, and it’s a warning sign we can’t ignore.

Canada loves to lecture America about compassion. Every time a shooting makes the headlines, Canadian commentators cannot wait to discuss how the United States has a “culture of death” because we refuse to regulate guns the way enlightened nations supposedly do.

But north of our border, a very different crisis is unfolding — one that is harder to moralize because it exposes a deeper cultural failure.

A society that no longer recognizes the value of life will not long defend freedom, dignity, or moral order.

The Canadian government is not only permitting death, but it’s also administering, expanding, and redefining it as “medical care.” Medical assistance in dying is no longer a rare, tragic exception. It has become one of the country’s leading causes of death, offered to people whose problems are treatable, whose conditions are survivable, and whose value should never have been in question.

In Canada, MAID is now responsible for nearly 5% of all deaths — 1 out of every 20 citizens. And this is happening in a country that claims the moral high ground over American gun violence. Canada now records more deaths per capita from doctors administering lethal drugs than America records from firearms. Their number is 37.9 deaths per 100,000 people. Ours is 13.7. Yet we are the country supposedly drowning in a “culture of death.”

No lecture from abroad can paper over this fact: Canada has built a system where eliminating suffering increasingly means eliminating the sufferer.

Choosing death over care

One example of what Canada now calls “compassion” is the case of Jolene Bond, a woman suffering from a painful but treatable thyroid condition that causes dangerously high calcium levels, bone deterioration, soft-tissue damage, nausea, and unrelenting pain. Her condition is severe, but it is not terminal. Surgery could help her. And in a functioning medical system, she would have it.

But Jolene lives under socialized medicine. The specialists she needs are either unavailable, overrun with patients, or blocked behind bureaucratic requirements she cannot meet. She cannot get a referral. She cannot get an appointment. She cannot reach the doctor in another province who is qualified to perform the operation. Every pathway to treatment is jammed by paperwork, shortages, and waitlists that stretch into the horizon and beyond.

Yet the Canadian government had something else ready for her — something immediate.

They offered her MAID.

Not help, not relief, not a doctor willing to drive across a provincial line and simply examine her. Instead, Canada offered Jolene a state-approved death. A lethal injection is easier to obtain than a medical referral. Killing her would be easier than treating her. And the system calls that compassion.

Bureaucracy replaces medicine

Jolene’s story is not an outlier. It is the logical outcome of a system that cannot keep its promises. When the machinery of socialized medicine breaks down, the state simply replaces care with a final, irreversible “solution.” A bureaucratic checkbox becomes the last decision of a person’s life.

Canada insists its process is rigorous, humane, and safeguarded. Yet the bureaucracy now reviewing Jolene’s case is not asking how she can receive treatment; it is asking whether she has enough signatures to qualify for a lethal injection. And the debate among Canadian officials is not how to preserve life, but whether she has met the paperwork threshold to end it.

This is the dark inversion that always emerges when the state claims the power to decide when life is no longer worth living. Bureaucracy replaces conscience. Eligibility criteria replace compassion. A panel of physicians replaces the family gathered at a bedside. And eventually, the “right” to die becomes an expectation — especially for those who are poor, elderly, or alone.

Joe Raedle / Staff | Getty Images

The logical end of a broken system

We ignore this lesson at our own peril. Canada’s health care system is collapsing under demographic pressure, uncontrolled migration, and the unavoidable math of government-run medicine.

When the system breaks, someone must bear the cost. MAID has become the release valve.

The ideology behind this system is already drifting south. In American medical journals and bioethics conferences, you will hear this same rhetoric. The argument is always dressed in compassion. But underneath, it reduces the value of human life to a calculation: Are you useful? Are you affordable? Are you too much of a burden?

The West was built on a conviction that every human life has inherent value. That truth gave us hospitals before it gave us universities. It gave us charity before it gave us science. It is written into the Declaration of Independence.

Canada’s MAID program reveals what happens when a country lets that foundation erode. Life becomes negotiable, and suffering becomes a justification for elimination.

A society that no longer recognizes the value of life will not long defend freedom, dignity, or moral order. If compassion becomes indistinguishable from convenience, and if medicine becomes indistinguishable from euthanasia, the West will have abandoned the very principles that built it. That is the lesson from our northern neighbor — a warning, not a blueprint.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

A Sharia enclave is quietly taking root in America. It's time to wake up.

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Sharia-based projects like the Meadow in Texas show how political Islam grows quietly, counting on Americans to stay silent while an incompatible legal system takes root.

Apolitical system completely incompatible with the Constitution is gaining ground in the United States, and we are pretending it is not happening.

Sharia — the legal and political framework of Islam — is being woven into developments, institutions, and neighborhoods, including a massive project in Texas. And the consequences will be enormous if we continue to look the other way.

This is the contradiction at the heart of political Islam: It claims universal authority while insisting its harshest rules will never be enforced here. That promise does not stand up to scrutiny. It never has.

Before we can have an honest debate, we’d better understand what Sharia represents. Sharia is not simply a set of religious rules about prayer or diet. It is a comprehensive legal and political structure that governs marriage, finance, criminal penalties, and civic life. It is a parallel system that claims supremacy wherever it takes hold.

This is where the distinction matters. Many Muslims in America want nothing to do with Sharia governance. They came here precisely because they lived under it. But political Islam — the movement that seeks to implement Sharia as law — is not the same as personal religious belief.

It is a political ideology with global ambitions, much like communism. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently warned that Islamist movements do not seek peaceful coexistence with the West. They seek dominance. History backs him up.

How Sharia arrives

Political Islam does not begin with dramatic declarations. It starts quietly, through enclaves that operate by their own rules. That is why the development once called EPIC City — now rebranded as the Meadow — is so concerning. Early plans framed it as a Muslim-only community built around a mega-mosque and governed by Sharia-compliant financing. After state investigations were conducted, the branding changed, but the underlying intent remained the same.

Developers have openly described practices designed to keep non-Muslims out, using fees and ownership structures to create de facto religious exclusivity. This is not assimilation. It is the construction of a parallel society within a constitutional republic.

The warning from those who have lived under it

Years ago, local imams in Texas told me, without hesitation, that certain Sharia punishments “just work.” They spoke about cutting off hands for theft, stoning adulterers, and maintaining separate standards of testimony for men and women. They insisted it was logical and effective while insisting they would never attempt to implement it in Texas.

But when pressed, they could not explain why a system they consider divinely mandated would suddenly stop applying once someone crossed a border.

This is the contradiction at the heart of political Islam: It claims universal authority while insisting its harshest rules will never be enforced here. That promise does not stand up to scrutiny. It never has.

AASHISH KIPHAYET / Contributor | Getty Images

America is vulnerable

Europe is already showing us where this road leads. No-go zones, parallel courts, political intimidation, and clerics preaching supremacy have taken root across major cities.

America’s strength has always come from its melting pot, but assimilation requires boundaries. It requires insisting that the Constitution, not religious law, is the supreme authority on this soil.

Yet we are becoming complacent, even fearful, about saying so. We mistake silence for tolerance. We mistake avoidance for fairness. Meanwhile, political Islam views this hesitation as weakness.

Religious freedom is one of America’s greatest gifts. Muslims may worship freely here, as they should. But political Islam must not be permitted to plant a flag on American soil. The Constitution cannot coexist with a system that denies equal rights, restricts speech, subordinates women, and places clerical authority above civil law.

Wake up before it is too late

Projects like the Meadow are not isolated. They are test runs, footholds, proofs of concept. Political Islam operates with patience. It advances through demographic growth, legal ambiguity, and cultural hesitation — and it counts on Americans being too polite, too distracted, or too afraid to confront it.

We cannot afford that luxury. If we fail to defend the principles that make this country free, we will one day find ourselves asking how a parallel system gained power right in front of us. The answer will be simple: We looked away.

The time to draw boundaries and to speak honestly is now. The time to defend the Constitution as the supreme law of the land is now. Act while there is still time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Why do Americans feel so empty?

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Anxiety, anger, and chronic dissatisfaction signal a country searching for meaning. Without truth and purpose, politics becomes a dangerous substitute for identity.

We have built a world overflowing with noise, convenience, and endless choice, yet something essential has slipped out of reach. You can sense it in the restless mood of the country, the anxiety among young people who cannot explain why they feel empty, in the angry confusion that dominates our politics.

We have more wealth than any nation in history, but the heart of the culture feels strangely malnourished. Before we can debate debt or elections, we must confront the reality that we created a world of things, but not a world of purpose.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

What we are living through is not just economic or political dysfunction. It is the vacuum that appears when a civilization mistakes abundance for meaning.

Modern life is stuffed with everything except what the human soul actually needs. We built systems to make life faster, easier, and more efficient — and then wondered why those systems cannot teach our children who they are, why they matter, or what is worth living for.

We tell the next generation to chase success, influence, and wealth, turning childhood into branding. We ask kids what they want to do, not who they want to be. We build a world wired for dopamine rather than dignity, and then we wonder why so many people feel unmoored.

When everything is curated, optimized, and delivered at the push of a button, the question “what is my life for?” gets lost in the static.

The crisis beneath the headlines

It is not just the young who feel this crisis. Every part of our society is straining under the weight of meaninglessness.

Look at the debt cycle — the mathematical fate no civilization has ever escaped once it crosses a threshold that we seem to have already blown by. While ordinary families feel the pressure, our leaders respond with distraction, with denial, or by rewriting the very history that could have warned us.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

We have entered a cultural moment where the noise is so loud that it drowns out the simplest truths. We are living in a country that no longer knows how to hear itself think.

So people go searching. Some drift toward the false promise of socialism, some toward the empty thrill of rebellion. Some simply check out. When a culture forgets what gives life meaning, it becomes vulnerable to every ideology that offers a quick answer.

The quiet return of meaning

And yet, quietly, something else is happening. Beneath the frustration and cynicism, many Americans are recognizing that meaning does not come from what we own, but from what we honor. It does not rise from success, but from virtue. It does not emerge from noise, but from the small, sacred things that modern life has pushed to the margins — the home, the table, the duty you fulfill, the person you help when no one is watching.

The danger is assuming that this rediscovery happens on its own. It does not.

Reorientation requires intention. It requires rebuilding the habits and virtues that once held us together. It requires telling the truth about our history instead of rewriting it to fit today’s narratives. And it requires acknowledging what has been erased: that meaning is inseparable from God’s presence in a nation’s life.

Harold M. Lambert / Contributor | Getty Images

Where renewal begins

We have built a world without stillness, and then we wondered why no one can hear the questions that matter. Those questions remain, whether we acknowledge them or not. They do not disappear just because we drown them in entertainment or noise. They wait for us, and the longer we ignore them, the more disoriented we become.

Meaning is still available. It is found in rebuilding the smallest, most human spaces — the places that cannot be digitized, globalized, or automated. The home. The family. The community.

These are the daily virtues that do not trend on social media, but that hold a civilization upright. If we want to repair this country, we begin there, exactly where every durable civilization has always begun: one virtue at a time, one tradition at a time, one generation at a time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn's Show Prep

These five flags prove the importance of celebrating Flag Day

Pine Tree Flag

Francis Hopkinson Flag

Fort Sumter Flag

D-Day Flag

America's Flag of Valor

Trump v. Slaughter: The Deep State on trial

The administrative state has long operated as an unelected super-government. Trump v. Slaughter may be the moment voters reclaim authority over their own institutions.

A government run by experts instead of elected leaders is not a republic. It’s a bureaucracy with a voting booth bolted onto the front to make us feel better.

The founders warned us

Not-so-expert advice

A republic no more?

The path forward

1 in 20 Canadians die by MAID—Is this 'compassion'?

Medical assistance in dying isn’t health care. It’s the moment a Western democracy decided some lives aren’t worth saving, and it’s a warning sign we can’t ignore.

A society that no longer recognizes the value of life will not long defend freedom, dignity, or moral order.

Choosing death over care

Bureaucracy replaces medicine

The logical end of a broken system

A Sharia enclave is quietly taking root in America. It's time to wake up.

Sharia-based projects like the Meadow in Texas show how political Islam grows quietly, counting on Americans to stay silent while an incompatible legal system takes root.

This is the contradiction at the heart of political Islam: It claims universal authority while insisting its harshest rules will never be enforced here. That promise does not stand up to scrutiny. It never has.

How Sharia arrives

The warning from those who have lived under it

America is vulnerable

Wake up before it is too late

Why do Americans feel so empty?

Anxiety, anger, and chronic dissatisfaction signal a country searching for meaning. Without truth and purpose, politics becomes a dangerous substitute for identity.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

The crisis beneath the headlines

The quiet return of meaning

Where renewal begins