"Full-Blooded American", Indeed

For those of you looking for religious or faith-related content today, I have to apologize in advance as this article has very little religion in it. However, this topic is personally meaningful for me, and quite frankly, I have to address some issues that offend me to the core.

Recently, Josh Fry, a 24-year old from west Virginia, explained his preference for McCain over Obama was because McCain was a "full-blooded American". Now, there are many Josh Frys in this world and they are entitled to their opinion, and whether their opinions make sense or not. I can forgive Josh Fry for his world view.

Now, columnist Kathleen Parker has jumped on this comment in an article entitled "Getting Bubba", which seems to imply that only full-blooded Americans truly love this country and are capable of being patriotic.

My grandfather went to Indiana University and then to Yale to get his law degree. He went on to serve the American government loyally and rose to high office.

My uncles fought and shed blood at Bataan and Corregidor during World War II. One of them escaped the Japanese during the infamous Bataan Death March, and continued to fight them until the Japanese were defeated. My family shed blood to protect America's freedom.

I grew up with stories of American heroism, the hard-fought liberties, and was singing the Star-Spangled Banner at an early age.

I was in US Army ROTC for a brief period, and were it not for parental objections, I was willing to shed my blood for this country.

I wept, when at the age of 30, I finally took oath as a citizen of these United States of America. I wept because several lifetimes had been spent so I could take that oath. I wept because of the blood shed by my family members, and countless American soldiers so I could take that oath. I wept because, I was now fully part of a country that I truly loved.

You see, I am not a "full-blooded" American. Unless you count the fact that my native country, the Philippines, was United States territory for 50+ years, I have no Americans in my ancestry. My children, although born here, are not, and will never be, "full-blooded Americans".

And yet, people like Kathleen Parker have the temerity to claim that it has to be in your DNA to truly understand and love this country? That only "full-blooded Americans" get this?

I do have to admit that there is one difference between myself, and "full-blooded Americans" as Kathleen describes them. I believe in an America whose foundations are rooted in the vision of its founders, whose core principles are embodied in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. I believe that it is the unequivocal preservation of these freedoms and rights that allow our country to continue. I believe in an America whose core principles have allowed the nation to endure the tests of history.

I do not believe, like Kathleen and her ilk, in an America-of-the-moment, defined by slogans, symbols, and the enemy and fear of the day. I do not believe in an America that tells its citizens to wrap themselves in the flag but shreds their constitutional rights. I do not believe in an America that defies its founding principles by telling its citizens what and how to think. I do not believe in an America that is perfect, can do no wrong, and no longer needs its citizenry to remind it of what it stands for and what it needs to do to endure.

I believe in an America as our forefathers have envisioned it. "Full-blooded Americans" have died for the America I believe in. My Filipino ancestors have died for the America I believe in.

How dare you, Kathleen Parker, imply that I, and immigrant citizens like myself are something less than appropriately patriotic, and that we don't "get it"? How have you paid for your right to be here? You use pseudo-scientific terms you barely understand like "DNA" - has yours been left on any battlefields? What makes you better? "Full-blooded American", indeed.