As a Busy Mom Thinks: Independence Day 2015

I'm sitting here at our friend's beach house on the Outer Banks this Fourth of July. The television news is both frightening and ridiculous--talk of terror threats on this sacred holiday blending in with the heated debate over the appropriateness of the Confederate flag.

The direction our country is heading causes dismay. Once a country that applauded achievement, it now decries success and calls it greed. Once a country that celebrated freedom of speech and freedom of religion, we now live in fear of offending anyone--especially if we are Christians sharing our faith. Instead of praising our cultural differences, we are suspicious and more divided than ever.

America remains the greatest country in the world. Democracy has stood the test of time. Yet, abuse of executive privilege has us moving closer and closer to socialism; as does a Supreme Court that ignores the Tenth Amendment:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

We are at a dangerous turning point in our country. Either we are going to move closer to socialism or we are going to keep democracy alive and well. We are either going to allow the federal government to centralize control or we are going to elect people who work to keep control in the hands of the states (the people).

I am scared for our future. I am scared for our children's future. Every day I fear some new terror threat will impact our country and the people I love. As we sat and enjoyed the fireworks on the beach tonight, my husband and I were considering how easy it would be for a terrorist with a machine gun to wipe out hundreds of us as we were celebrating our country's independence.

September 11 changed our lives forever. But have we gotten smarter? Have we learned from it? Have we elected leaders who can deal with threats and keep us safe? Do those kinds of leaders exist anymore?

I pray for this country. I pray for its leaders. And I pray for my children and future grandchildren who will live through much more difficult times than my husband and I have known.

God bless us all, and God bless America.