I remember how I felt that clear September morning when I heard the news, and how I had to console my visibly shaken wife that night as we watched the horror of 9/11 unfold on the news. But I also remember how tragedy became triumph, and how a people united behind one flag, one nation.

Then, on February 3rd 2002, New England Patriots owner Robert Craft made that now famous remark at Super Bowl XXXVI, “Today, we’re all Patriots”. Those words would come to embody American spirit and courage at that most consequential moment in our national history.

It’s been nearly fifteen years, and much has changed. Our country is divided like never before, and many of the value systems which made the U.S. what it is today have been cast off in favor of a low accountability free lunch. Moreover, success which comes from hard work and dedication, those hallmarks of the American dream, is now scorned by a small but growing number of ignorant and ideologically challenged fools. With the now unabashed support of a corrupt and equally ignorant media, even iconic American sports teams like the New England Patriots have been unfairly thrust into political debates, and vilified for their victories. TB12 and America’s team of 2001 are apparently now representative of what the Left sees as everything wrong with America. Ironically, only in a nation so free as ours can this type of political shape-shifting take place.

In the end, “We the People” will decide if Coach Belichick’s philosophy of teamwork and “do your job” is representative of those tenets passed to us by our forbears. Only “We the People”, and not some university professor bust-out, can teach our children that “winning” is nothing to be ashamed of but rather something to strive for. And only “We the People”, can face off against (some) folks like we saw at the Women’s “protest” march in DC, and explain to them that simply being a jobless criminal agitator, committing acts of vandalism and violence while others race to and ultimately achieve the “American Dream”, is, well, counterproductive. God help us…
Go Patriots!