America: Imagine the World Without Her

"September 11, 1777.

"My loving wife,

"these past few months away from you

and Nathaniel have been difficult,

"and I miss both of you terribly.

"We have all made sacrifices,

starting with our commander.

"We face the most

powerful army in the world.

"In our last battle we felt

the bite of their artillery."

Fire!

"But we held firm and

pushed them back.

"Our commander did not let us fail.

"We trust him. He keeps

our spirits high."

Battalion, attention!

"General Washington reminds us

"that life, liberty and

the pursuit of happiness

"are our unalienable rights and we

will not give them up to the crown.

"When the war is won,

America will be the first nation

"to freely choose its own way.

"Today will be another test of our

will as we face General Howe,

"whose troops outnumber

us by the thousands.

"The American cause now rests on

providence and General Washington."

Hold the line, boys!

Hold the line!

Ready, fire!

Fire!

Fire!

Charge!

General Washington!

Fall back! Retreat!

- Advance!

- Retreat!

Fall back, company!

Imagine the unimaginable.

What if George Washington had

been killed by a sniper's bullet?

What if the Civil War had torn this

country into two or 10 countries?

What if Hitler got the

atomic bomb first?

What would the world look like

if America did not exist?

From farmers in the fields

to the tallest of the

towers that fall and rise

1-7-7-6, the names upon the list

of all the ones who

gave until they died

Don't you hold back

I can see in your mind

and your mind will set you free

Rise to the top of the world

America

America, don't you cry

Lift me up

Give me strength to press on

Rise to the top of the world

America

America, don't you cry

Lift me up

Give me strength to press on

Rise to the top of the world

I love America.

I chose this country.

America, don't you cry

And like millions of immigrants,

I've been blessed by my life in America.

Give me strength to press on

This country does

something truly unique.

It allows you to write the

script of your own life.

A chapter of my script

was making the film 2016.

It surprised Hollywood and the

media by becoming a runaway hit.

It became the number two political

documentary film of all time.

In the film I made three predictions.

The federal government

would grow bigger

as America's role in the

world grows smaller.

Under President Obama,

the national debt would double.

This administration would

undermine our allies

and strengthen our enemies.

Seeing these predictions come true,

I'm scared for the future of America.

But I believe we can be strong again

unless we choose another path.

A century and a half ago,

a young Abraham Lincoln

issued a prophetic warning.

Shall we expect some

transatlantic military giant

to step the ocean and

crush us with a blow?

Never. All the armies of Europe,

Asia and Africa combined

with a Bonaparte for a commander

could not by force take

a drink from the Ohio.

At what point then, is the

approach of danger to be expected?

I answer that if it ever reach us,

it must spring up from amongst us.

It cannot come from abroad.

If destruction be our lot,

then we ourselves must be

the author and finisher of it.

As a nation of freemen,

we must live throughout

all time or die by suicide.

How do you convince a great nation

to author its own destruction?

You start by telling a new story.

'Cause if you got a business,

you didn't build that.

Somebody else made that happen.

What President Obama is really saying

is that the wealth and

abundance of American life

are not earned, they're stolen.

But it's not just President Obama.

Thievery was a critical element

to the expansion of American empire.

This is a nation founded on genocide

and built on the backs of slaves.

Moving borders. They call

it American imperialism.

Obama didn't create this movement.

It created him.

Not God bless America.

God damn America.

European expansion, conquest,

colonization, genocide.

American foreign policy

has been aggressive

and imperialist for a very long time.

It was expansionist immediately starting

right after the Revolutionary War.

Incredible as it may seem,

there are people in America who

want a world without America.

Their indictments against America

start at the very beginning.

What are the words that come to mind

when you hear the phrase,

Christopher Columbus?

I know your name.

What's your unit?

Lieutenant Colonel John Fer

of the United States Air Force.

And ends 400 years later in

America with the Trail of Tears

where 18,000 Native Americans

were forced to march 2,000 miles,

leaving a third of them dead.

What words come to mind when

you think of the word "America"?

A sadness. For me,

it's just a great sadness.

I think of all the hundreds of

nations that were destroyed.

In 1845, Mexican territory

covered most of Texas,

New Mexico, Arizona and California.

I like Chicano nationalism.

I really do prefer Hispanic

culture to Anglo-Saxon culture.

And you say, "Well, why don't

you move back to Mexico?"

I don't have to. I'm in Mexico.

And like I tell my Chicano students,

maybe after there isn't a United States,

we'll still be here, like the Indians.

So to put it biblically, you are

in America but not of America.

I'm not of America, no.

Charles Truxillo is a

professor of Chicano studies

at the University of New Mexico.

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