A lot of Americans have an appreciation for our great country that is only skin deep. Because so many of us have such a shallow appreciation for it, just how imminent its fall potentially is cannot be understood. Those good people among us should definitely remember what is at stake.

What is happening in this world between radical Islam and Western civilization is no small thing. Fact is, we live in a world where a relatively small number of people can kill hundreds of thousands of people very quickly. Because so many of us here cannot imagine any other group of people being that ruthless and evil, we surmise that it simply cannot or will not happen. What a dangerous conclusion that is to draw.

As some of us learn in life, few good, productive, and beneficial things ever happen without struggles and battles. America winning her independence from Great Britain demanded a severe struggle. Ridding the U.S. of slavery demanded a strenuous, bloody struggle. Ridding the world of Adolph Hitler and the aggression of Japan toward us was a demanding fight, to name only a few.

Maintaining the freedoms and privileges we enjoy as Americans will require the good people among us being diligent to protect and preserve what others have died to give us.

As Herbert Meyer, the first man in the United States Government to predict the collapse of the Soviet Union, for which he was awarded the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, has said, the United States is in a position that no other superpower has ever been in.

"On the one hand," he says, "this makes the U.S. a magnet for bright and ambitious people. It also makes us a target. We are becoming one of the last holdouts of the traditional Judeo-Christian culture. There is no better place in the world to be in business and raise children. The U.S. is by far the best place to have an idea, form a business and put it into the marketplace.

"We take it for granted, but it isn't as available in other countries of the world. Ultimately, it's an issue of culture. The only people who can hurt us are ourselves, by losing our culture. If we give up our Judeo-Christian culture, we become just like the Europeans.

"The culture war is the whole ballgame. If we lose it, there isn't another America to pull us out."

Keep that in mind as you visit polling places in upcoming elections.

Jack Rollins is the managing editor of the Daily Dunklin Democrat.