Conservatively Speaking

America is uniquely blessed

Posted by Mary Lazich on July 3, 2009 | 2 comments

Caspian Makan begged his friend, Neda Agha-Soltan not to go to a demonstration in Tehran fearing she would be arrested or hurt.

"I tried to dissuade her from going out in the streets because I'd seen in my work as a journalist that, unfortunately, there are a lot of merciless behaviors.”

Agha-Soltan’s aunt who lives in the United States also pleaded with her in a telephone call, “Don't go out into the streets. They're killing people."

The 26-year old was unconvinced, telling a friend, “Don't worry. It's just one bullet and its over."

Agha-Soltan was shot to death the night of June 2009 near the spot of skirmishes between pro-government militias and demonstrators who believe rampant vote fraud took place in the reelection of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  A physician on the scene said she died from a gunshot to the chest in less than two minutes.

Photo: Sky News


The shaky cellphone pictures of “Neda” as she became known worldwide, bleeding on the street immediately transformed her into an international hero.



People of Iranian origin hold images purporting to show Neda Agha Soltan, allegedly killed during a protest in Tehran, as they protest against the regime in Iran, during a demonstration in Zurich, Switzerland, Wednesday, June 24, 2009. The death of the woman identified as Neda Agha Soltan was captured on amateur videos and spread around the world in less than 48 hours on YouTube, Facebook, blogs and Twitter. Photo: Associated Press


“Neda” is a modern day Jane McCrea who played a significant role in the growth of a new nation.

McCrea, born in 1752, lived with her family in New Jersey. One of ten children, McCrea moved to New York to live with her brother after her father died. McCrea’s brother was a Colonel in the American Army. Another brother served as a surgeon for American forces. However, the family was divided with two other brothers serving with the British.

Jane McCrea fell in love with and became engaged to a British officer, a loyalist in General John Burgoyne’s army. Jane was living with her brother John on his farm at Fort Edward in New York at the time. During 1777, General Burgoyne’s soldiers were bearing down on Fort Edward and Fort Ticonderoga. While many colonists left, Jane stayed behind, feeling secure because her fiancée was fighting for the British.

On July 27, 1777, McCrea went to visit a friend in Fort Edward. Indian scouts paid by General Burgoyne broke into the friend’s home around noon and kidnapped the women. Half the Indians took McCrea, the other half, her friend. McCrea’s friend survived, but the Indians murdered McCrea.

News of McCrea’s cold, brutal murder at the hands of Burgoyne’s Indians spread like wildfire and ignited uncommitted men to finally take a side, flocking to enlist. The infusion of new fighters was the impetus Americans needed. Inspired by McCrea, they defeated Burgoyne at Saratoga three months later and the Revolutionary War swung heavily in America’s favor,

With the injection of new fighting soldiers on the American side, General Burgoyne and his troops were defeated in Saratoga just three months later. This defeat was a significant turning point in the Revolutionary War.

Jane McCrea was 26 years old. Neda Agha-Soltan was also 26.

Agha-Soltan’s perseverance and senseless killing illustrate how desperately people around the globe want what we have and enjoy every day. A Freedom House report shows  43 countries or 36 percent of the world population were judged “not free” and 60 countries or 18 percent of the global population “partly free” during 2007. That amounts to over 100 countries and 54 percent of the worldwide population that do not know what it feels to be an American.

Sadly, too many Americans take their liberties for granted. However, many more fully understand how fortunate it is to be an American. 

A poll conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research Inc. for the PBS news program Religion & Ethics Newsweekly and the United Nations Foundation during October 2008 found that 61 percent believe America is a nation uniquely  blessed by God, and 59 percent believe the United States should be a model Christian nation to the world.

Many courageous, valiant individuals throughout our storied history fought and sacrificed that we may benefit from that special status today.

This July 4, 2009, I have the distinct honor of reading the Declaration of Independence at the Greendale Village Hall at 9:15 a.m. It reads, in part:

“...governments are instituted among men, deriving their powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes.....But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government and to provide new guards for their future security.”

Rush Limbaugh Jr, father of national talk show host Rush Limbaugh wrote an essay about our forefathers. An excerpt reads:

"Of those 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence, nine died of wounds or hardships during the war. Five were captured and imprisoned, in each case with brutal treatment. Several lost wives, sons or entire families. One lost his thirteen children. Two wives were brutally treated. All were at one time or another the victims of manhunts and driven from their homes. Twelve signers had their homes completely burned. Seventeen lost everything they owned."

The fight for freedom never was and never will be easy. Remember to pause and reflect on our great history as you celebrate Independence Day.

Happy Birthday, America. I hope you have a safe and joyous 4^th of July!