In September 1776, Nathan Hale, a 21-year-old soldier of the Continental Army, volunteered to go behind enemy lines in New York City in order to spy on British movements in the area.  General Washington needed to know what route the British would be taking to lay siege to Manhattan and believed that the only way to know was to send over a spy.  Hale was a newly minted first lieutenant in the Connecticut militia and had not yet been in combat.  When the request came from General Washington, he was the sole volunteer.  Despite knowing the punishment for spies was swift execution by hanging, his sense of patriotic duty far outweighed the risks to his life.

Shortly after he ferried over to the British position in Long Island, the Brits invaded and took over Lower Manhattan and forced General Washington to retreat to the northern side of the island.  Despite disguising himself, the young inexperienced spy was identified in a pub by a British loyalist.  Nathan Hale was lured into a revealing his identity by the man and arrested in Queens on September 21, 1776.  He spent the night in a prison where he was denied a bible or clergyman.  The next morning, a highly composed and stoic 21-year-old Hale was led to the gallows where a noose was placed around his neck.  The only courtesy extended to those guilty of spying was the allowance of final words before pulling the noose tight:

“I only regret that I have one life to give for my country.”

Though barely out of college and without children of his own, Nathan Hale went to his death proud of his decision to defend liberty for his country. Since his death, many thousands of Americans have followed his selfless path in defense of our lives.  These people have never met the millions of Americans for whom they are giving the ultimate sacrifice.  They do it based on a belief that they want to leave a better world to their children and fellow countrymen… and that that is worth everything.

Hale’s story and those like it lie in stark contrast to what we saw out of our current president Tuesday night who spent his evening on a comedy talk show in leu of dealing with our country’s current crisis:

After deflecting all responsibility for the deficit he doubled to his predecessor, Obama went on to talk about how a certain class of people should “sacrifice” more to pay for the problem.  Hundreds of billions of our current and future tax dollars were spent by his administration to shore up union pensions and strengthen his constituencies.  This is a man who chose a Reverend who preached we got what we deserved on 9/11 and a wife who said she didn’t feel any pride in American until her family was running the show.  Rather than reach across the aisle and come up with a solution to our nation’s problem, he dug in his heels and funneled money to his constituency.  His ”apple of discord” approach to politics is shamelessly pitting Americans against each other to gain favor:  He won over the AMA by saying the primary care doctors deserve more than surgeons… Wall street was blamed to gain favor with Main street…  Rich are blamed for making money off the backs of the poor.  If there is any political gain to be won by demonizing a minority group of his fellow Americans, Obama doesn’t hesitate.

Is this the legacy Nathan Hale was imagining when he held his head high for the hangman’s noose?