Enemy of the State

Fear made my blood run cold. Just minutes before, I’d slept peacefully in my bed, but something—a noise, perhaps—woke me up. I could feel him there in the dark. I turned my head & saw him next to me…A Right-Wing Extremist. My mind raced. Should I reach for a gun? Wait…are we still allowed to have guns?  Should I call Napolitano and tell her there’s a potential terrorist in my home? Should I call in the U.N.? I reached over & grabbed the hand of my husband: Iraqi veteran, church volunteer, newly-minted possible enemy of the state.

When he first told me that Homeland Security considered people like him suspicious, I giggled. This guy took a pledge to defend the constitution. He spent almost a decade in uniform as an Army medic. He was a Boy Scout, for goodness sake. So I giggled. That was right before he told me that I was a right-wing extremist, too. “You’re on TCOT. You went to seminary. You’re a pro-life state-rights Capitalist who writes for conservative magazines.” Oops. Somewhere amid wondering if I should avoid cameras at my local tea party and trying to remember when “Good Christian woman” became reasonable cause, I realized something: this is real. This. Is. Real.

This is my America—the flag that still chokes me up, the anthem I learned on the piano when I was seven, the history full of my heroes. But at the same time, it’s not like I remember—the place where merit is encouraged and hard work is rewarded; where faith and family are supposed to be high priorities; where people like me are considered the backbone of the country, not enemies of the state. I’m not a risk. Neither is my husband, or the thousands of men and women who have fought to defend our country. I love God, and I love America. Extremely, but not extreme. Kinda makes my blood run cold.

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