I am Proud to be an American: So Should You

I believe in the United States of America right or wrong up or down and I respect its' leaders whether I agree with them or not . I criticize them and inject my opinion when ever I can but I respect the government and its' leaders from president Barack Obama to Larry the letter carrier who delivers my mail 6 days a week.
I have always been this way, from when I was in elementary school through high school during the war in Vietnam to today. Republican or Democrat, I respect that leadership is a difficult task in America and I take my hat off to anyone who has the fortitude to serve. As a teacher , I teach my students to respect our leader and support them. I always say that I leaders all believe in the United States of America and the great democracy that we have they just differ on how the nation should be run and how we reach our goals.
When it is all said and done our nation is a work in progress and those architects who shape it come from many perspectives and experiences. I was always taught to respect the job even if I did not respect the person. I usually respect the person and the job, because as easy as it seems from the outside looking in the mantle of leadership is a heavy one. That is why the events of the past few days have been upsetting.
President Barack Obama has decided to speak to American school children on the first day of school for many of them and it has caused a big uproar. There are parents who are threatening to keep their children at home if districts run his message and some Republican leaders, including Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty have criticized the speech calling it a distraction.
I do not think that Governor Pawlenty or any governor of any state in the United States has the right to pass on a speech by the president of the United States. He not have supported President Obama in the election but he is the president now and he represents not just Democrats or the people that voted for him he represents all Americans and our American ideal. My country right or wrong my leader agree or disagree. This is what our American democracy is all about . Governor Pawlenty who has presidential aspirations should know better.
He should realize that in America there is no right or left just right and wrong and as the governor of the state of Minnesota he is wrong to impose his personal feelings on his office and use it as a weapon and not what it was intended to be used as, an instrument of democracy.
All of us have to realize that we can disagree without being disagreeable . In the eyes of many, this is politics as usual, but in my eyes it is an erosion of the political values that this country is supposed to espouse, respect our leaders, respectfully criticize them but work with them to achieve the American ideal of liberty, justice, equality and above all understanding that this country belongs to us all and all must be respected.