New American Heroes: Ilario Pantano

Maybe you can predict the future by reading past essays at Brushfires of Freedom. Almost exactly a year ago, we wrote in “New American Heroes Will Arise”:

“… the scope of Obama’s fraud on the American nation, and the breadth of his previously concealed radical left agenda, are just too large to ignore, too much to stomach. Their sweep encompasses ordinary Americans across the country, and contrary to the view of Pravda and the elitists, ordinary Americans aren’t really ordinary. They are the salt of the earth. They know a lie when they see one; they have picked up the smell of fraud; and they don’t let their birthright of freedom go down without a fight…

Who are these others? Could be a judge someplace that calls a liar and a lie by their real names [Brushfires note: another nominee for a “new American hero” award: Judge Martin Feldman, who struck down the oil drilling moratorium imposed by the Obama administration in part because it was based on lies as to the recommendations of experts who did NOT recommend it];

….a soldier…—anyone who loves America and has had enough of the lies, the arrogant Political Class, and the Pravda government-run media. When those other(s) give voice to their complete disgust at what is going on, the ‘resonation-factor’ is going to be off the charts. The tide of public opinion will morph into a tsunami, and the Obama administration won’t know what hit it.

It’s hard not to be discouraged when you look at what passes for political leadership in America today. But new American heroes will arise where the elites least expect them. Mark our words.”

We’ve already nominated two people as ‘new American heroes’: one soldier, Lt. Colonel Allen West, who has stepped up to run for Congress in Florida (click here); and Kyle-Anne Shiver, a talented writer who has set aside conventional writing ambitions and focused her keypad on waking America up from the many dimensions of the Soros/Obama nightmare click here.

Now, meet Ilario Pantano, conservative candidate for the U.S. Congress in the 2nd District of North Carolina. His website tells the story in more detail, here, but the summary is: a 38 year old son of an Italian immigrant, Ilario enlisted in the U.S. Marines at age 17, served in Gulf War I, was honorably discharged; then, after 9/11 re-enlisted in the Marines and went on to active duty in the Iraq war, including the assault on Fallujah. Pantano was targeted for prosecution while serving in Iraq based on the complaints of a disgruntled Marine who had been demoted; was later fully exonerated and wrote a book about his experiences, called “Warlords”. He was later honorably discharged again.

After watching in 2009 as the Obama/Holder Department of Justice start to target the military and CIA officers for prosecution in connection with interrogations at the Guantanmo Bay detention facility, Pantano decided he had seen enough, and was not going to sit quietly while Obama and the leftists go about gutting the America of the founding. He decided to go after a Congressional seat that has been held by Democrats for over 100 years. And the latest polls suggest he’s going to win, big.

Pantano’s story in many contemporary minds may sound too much like a Hollywood script to be true. But that says more about contemporary minds and Hollywood than it does about truth. Pantano may in fact have an extraordinary biography, but the love he feels for America and her ideals is just as passionately felt by millions of Americans of more or less extraordinary backgrounds. That’s because the American ideal of individual freedom and responsibility under God is anchored it truth itself, and we know it and feel it. It is not a temporary man-created theory with plusses and minuses; it is RIGHT, and God-given.

As we said last June, a story like Pantano’s has a ‘resonation-factor’ that is off the charts with the vast majority of Americans, who are rallying and will continue to rally in droves to anyone willing to step up and say what they are feeling about this unprecedented assault-from-within on America. You’ll be hearing more about Pantano as November nears, and we wouldn’t be surprised if more elections and higher offices await Pantano. He’s a new American hero.

Paul Gable

June 27, 2010