Tears of joy on Independence Day

After years of political struggles, banging heads with leftists who hate America and going toe-to-toe with cretins who despise our military, I know two things for sure: The America haters are losing. And those who love this country and support our troops – and everything they protect – are winning.

I don’t just say that because we are just around the corner from winning peace and stability in Iraq. We know already that Baghdad has less violence than some big cities in America, so the naysayers should zip it until they’ve stopped all murders in Chicago, Detroit and Oakland, Calif.

I don’t just say that because the FBI is investigating left-wing, anti-military groups and the city of Berkeley for allegedly conspiring to cripple the federal government’s constitutional right to raise an army during war time.

I say it because, no matter what the mainstream media report, no matter how much caterwauling we hear from ex-Marine Jack “the Marines-are-cold-blooded killers” Murtha, Sen. Harry “we’ve lost the war” Reid, and Sen. Barack “top dog of the white flag brigade” Obama – America isn’t falling for it.

The proof is in the pudding, and America has nothing but love, support and respect for our troops. I saw it and lived it like my wildest dream on June 26, when patriots from across the fruited plains joined hands with my nonprofit, Move America Forward, in a historic webathon, raising $1.5 million in care packages for our troops.

Michelle Malkin cohosted the event with me, and Ustream.tv kept it rolling on the Web. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, gold Star parents, Joseph Farah of WorldNetDaily, former first lady Nancy Reagan and President George W. Bush participated. Our biggest stars were American troops, who talked about how they savor every package from home, every note from a child.

Care packages are loaded into Postal Service trucks.

I had big hopes for the event, but it was a risk. No group had ever held a Jerry Lewis-style telethon on the Internet. I wondered if we could pull it off. My biggest fear was that we would let down our troops. We couldn’t let that happen – not now when the left is striking out at America with its gasps of desperation. Like a den of rattlesnakes, they are hissing and trying to bite.

The haters in Santa Cruz, Calif., just held a flag burning event. Today in Berkeley, Calif., home of the anti-military thugs, the cretins will hold an anti- July 4th event.

These anti-American spectacles of hate and self-loathing would have caused me to lose sleep if not for the webathon and the aftermath of volunteers who packed four postal trucks full of packages for our troops.

After our eight-hour webathon, which we called “From the Front Lines,” I wept. Joy swept every cell in my body. My soul was light with love and appreciation. I knew – and so do thousands of Americans – that there is no turning back.

We will not surrender to hate and disloyalty to our troops. America has a strong soul herself and will not fold under pressure from those who want to sell her out to socialism, communism and bondage.

It was, for me, Independence Day.

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