IF ONE WERE TO JUDGE solely by what one sees on network news or in the major daily newspapers, it would be easy to conclude that Americans regard Memorial Day mainly as a day for picnics, barbecues, ball games and shopping, as the beginning of summer vacation, as the day the pool opens. News coverage of the countless memorial services held around the country on that special day is nearly non-existent, and as with so many other things, that omission is not mere oversight but a deliberate, agenda-driven distortion of the news.

They are as determined to take the remembering out of Memorial Day as they are to take Christ out of Christmas (or Winter Holiday as it is now called by the “politically correct” crowd).

But Americans do remember, or at least many of us do. Before heading out to the lake or off on a shopping spree, millions of Americans take time on Memorial Day to attend a memorial service or to visit the local cemetery and leave flowers or flags on the graves of deceased friends or relatives who risked and sometimes sacrificed their lives in the service of their country.

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On Monday, May 25, 2009, it was my privilege to participate in a small way in a Memorial Day service at a local cemetery in my home town of Clovis, California, and then to attend an inspiring patriotic concert program by the Clovis Community Band under the capable baton of Duane Weston. Both events were well-attended, and from not only the size but the demeanor of the crowds, it was clear that in this town, the sacrifice of those who served their country in the armed forces and, in particular, of those who paid the ultimate price in defense of our freedom is both remembered and deeply appreciated.

I have no doubt that similar scenes were played out on Memorial Day in thousands of other towns across this great nation.

And yet, there are those who do not remember – and, unfortunately, there are a great many, particularly of the younger generations, who have never been taught.

With a much smaller percentage of the population serving in current conflicts and with far fewer casualties in those conflicts than in past wars, many young Americans today have no connection to anyone serving in the military and no memory of anyone who sacrificed his or her life for their liberty.

On the other hand, they are all bombarded constantly with negative portrayals of those in military service by the media, by the entertainment industry, by a great many public school teachers and college professors, and by far too many politicians, and that reality cannot help having a regrettable effect on many young minds.

This is not a new phenomenon. It started in the 1960s, and this systemic campaign to poison young minds with the notion that the United States is an evil oppressor and those who risk their lives in defense of our freedoms are nothing but cold-blooded murderers is now well into the third generation.

If measures are not taken to counter this insidious anti-American and anti-military indoctrination of our children, if we fail to pass on to the rising generation a pride in our country, a solid understanding of the nation’s founding principles, and a deep and abiding gratitude for the blessings of liberty that our forefathers availed to us and that millions of brave service men and women have fought and died to preserve, then there is real danger that our nation will lose both the ability and the collective will to prevail in future conflicts against the enemies of freedom and democracy.

Which is exactly what those behind this pervasive anti-American indoctrination campaign would like to see, because they, too, are enemies of freedom and democracy, and they are engaged in a propaganda war calculated to destroy America from within. Their goal is to give the United States a radical makeover that would make it unrecognizable to the nation’s founders.

With deliberate and insidious irony, they often use the vocabulary of freedom and democracy in their own propaganda messages, but imbued with highly distorted meanings.

Until very recently, most patriotic, freedom-loving Americans have been reluctant to believe that such a thing has really been going on, at least on such a massive scale. How could anyone born in this wonderful country — or, for that matter, coming here from another country -- fail to appreciate America’s greatness and goodness and deliberately seek to undermine its very foundations? But the reality of that process has now become alarmingly obvious to many if not most Americans.

If we want to preserve our nation, we must wage a massive and relentless ideological counter-offensive against this propaganda blitz, and we must pursue it with the same courage, commitment and resolve with which an earlier generation rallied to the defeat of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan on the battlefield.

Some think it is already too late, but it can be done. Yet clearly it will not be an easy task, if only because this ideological attack on the very soul of America has been going on for so long, and its perpetrators have become so numerous and so deeply embedded in almost every American institution.

The counter-offensive must be waged on many fronts, but one of the most important things that can be done is for those of us who appreciate the service and sacrifice of men and women who serve and have served their country in the armed forces to make that appreciation as visible as possible as frequently as possible, so that the families of those who have served or are still serving, the general public, and most particularly our own families — our own children and grandchildren — will know how we feel.

The more we are seen to show honor and respect and to express an eternal debt of gratitude for those who have served their country in the armed forces, and particularly for those who died in defense of their country, the more those feelings of honor and gratitude will spread to others. It is hard for young people especially to embrace or demonstrate such feelings if to do so is seen as uncool or unpopular. Therefore, the more young people see others openly paying their respects to veterans, the more inclined they will be to view such behavior as acceptable and desirable, and the more likely to emulate it.

George Washington said, ”The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation.

Winston Churchill said, “A nation that does not honor its heroes will soon have no heroes to honor.”

We would all hope, of course — and pray — that our children and grandchildren will never have to serve in another war, would never have to become heroes on the field of battle. But I think both Washington and Churchill would agree, as Ronald Reagan expressed so eloquently on many occasions, that the risk of war is greatly reduced when our enemies know we are willing to fight for our freedom.

And therein lies yet another compelling reason to openly honor those who served. If our enemies perceive that we are ashamed of those who have fought to defend our country, they will view us as weak, even impotent. They will not hesitate to undertake aggression against one of their weaker neighbors because they know we won’t interfere. And they may well see America itself as easy pickings.

As John Stuart Mill so aptly put it, “War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.”

Just by showing honor and respect to those who served, simply by attending Memorial Day services and memorial concerts such as those held in Clovis and in countless other towns and cities throughout America, we are doing something important to help keep America free. By making sure your children and grandchildren are there as well, you will be doing even more.

And then, because the Major Media don’t do their job when it comes to covering such events, we need to take that responsibility upon ourselves by using the internet and other modern communications technologies to let others know about the events in which we participated, and how many others were there, and how so many Americans are showing their love for this country and their appreciation for those who have served their country. The more exposure that is given to such expressions of patriotism, the less effective and the less credible will be the effort by major media to portray Americans as ashamed of their country.

It is a wonderful thing to have pride in America. It is a wonderful thing to honor those who have put their life on the line for their country. But we honor them all the more when we do so openly and publicly, and don’t just keep it to ourselves.

It is important for everyone to be aware that contrary to the impression given by major media, millions of their fellow Americans do remember and honor those who served. So we need to take every opportunity, on Memorial Day and other occasions, to show that we remember, and then, on behalf of a grateful nation, to pass the word along.