Our mission

The Patriots Committee’s mission is to help Cambridge lose its reputation as a town of moonbats, old hippies, and leftist professors. We would like to stop being embarrassed by the actions of our elected and appointed City officials. We would love to see Cambridge evolve into a normal American home town. 

What would normal look like? Close your eyes for a moment. Just imagine a future Cambridge in which the following statements are true:

• The words patriotic and Cambridge can be used in the same sentence without causing an eyebrow to be raised or a giggle to be suppressed.
• The Stars and Stripes are proudly displayed in front of our homes and along our main streets.
• Our local government stays focused on the day to day business of providing essential services, not on foreign policy or left-wing causes.
• The men and women in America’s armed services know that the folks back home in Cambridge stand with them, praying for success in their mission and a safe journey home when the mission is complete.
• Memorial Day and Veterans Day are the most significant dates on the civic calendar, with events attended by thousands of local residents.
• The names of our heros—those who died in the line of duty as soldiers, Marines, sailors, pilots, policemen, and firemen—are known and cherished by all of us, not just their next of kin.
• Our schools teach our youngsters how to read, write, and calculate; how to love our country and its remarkable history; how to take pride in  George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and the other visionary Founders of our republic; and how to be thankful for the many blessings that have been bestowed on our nation over the last 230 years.

Some people may find the above statements to be corny and old-fashioned, like a scene from a 1950s Norman Rockwell painting. They might consider them irrelevant to such a sophisticated and cosmopolitan and diverse city as Cambridge. I feel sorry for such people, for they know not what they are missing.

During my travels across America, I have seen communities that still match the above description. Not so long ago—within the lifetime of Canterbridgians who are now in their 60s and 70s—you could have described Cambridge with those same words. The gap between the Norman Rockwell scene and our current culture is a measure of how much we’ve lost between then and now.

We must not yield to feelings of despair in the face of all we have lost. There is a way back to Normal.

Let’s start with a clear understanding of what is meant by culture. It is the net result of millions of individual decisions, interactions, and habits. It is not a force of nature, something that we just have to learn to live with. It is most certainly not something that we can leave in the hands of those who write newspaper articles and movies and TV shows and rap music. If we unconsciously acquiesce to fundamental changes in our culture, and if we leave its future in the hands of strangers, then it will sink to the lowest common denominator—the culture of the Consumer and of the Masses.

On the other hand, if we make a conscious effort to reshape our culture, guided by our best instincts and our powers of reason, we can succeed.  Small, committed groups of people have done so many times over the course of human history. Our country’s Founders were one such group.  

I believe that a sufficient number of Cambridge residents would support a move back to Normal—back to the original vision of a Shining City on a Hill. We have only to put our minds and hearts and hands to the task.  Let us heed the words of Henry David Thoreau, the young idealist who lived at the far end of Concord Avenue:

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost. There is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.”

Let’s get to work!