Dark times

It was once written that “these are the times that try men’s souls”.

Those words were written by Thomas Paine in “The Crisis”, and later read by George Washington to his embattled troops prior to dealing the Brits a crushing blow, the first victory of the war of Independence.

Up to that point we had lost every battle.  Lost many many lives.  All but defeated, those who knew themselves as free refused to fall, refused to fail.  They understood that just because defeat after defeat had been dealt them, they were right to fight.  To give up was the only way to ever loose, to fight was to win, despite the outcome of the battle.  So long as they lived free and fought hard, they won.  Fortunately for us they also had the advantage of some brilliant minds, so that even beyond that great heart and willingness to fight, was a victory, full and true.  We are free because of them.  It would seem that those simple words were written in passion, but perhaps even more important was how they were read and who read them. 

We need a Thomas Paine writing for us today.  Someone to stir us, to drive us with the written word.  To contrast the way we COULD be, with the way we ARE.

We need a George Washington reading for us today.  Someone to speak to us from a place we understand, in a way that could wake the most asleep.  To guide us in thought and action to a place of greatness once more.

Sadly, there are no Thomas Paines.  If they are out there, they have been silenced.  There are no George Washingtons, if they are out there they have been detained.

WE must write, read, speak and literally STAND for ourselves.  Don’t wait for someone great to come and lead you to freedom.  Stand up and take it back.  This is indeed a dark time, and it is in these times that each and every one of us has an obligation to shine just that much brighter.  Don’t wait for a strong leader, BE a strong leader.  That passion for freedom did not die with those men so long ago, it lives today, in me, in you, and in so many others.  So long as we refuse to give it up, they can not take it.

Fight, with everything for everything.  Every word of our constitution was written with purpose and passion, and it must be upheld.  We live in a dark time when those in power have forgotten where that power came from and instead decided that they can decide who gets what and how much of it.  This is not the American way, this is not freedom.  It is socialism.  Once more we find ourselves in a battle against a giant disconnected government that seeks to control us in every way with no regard to what we feel.  We’ve lost another battle, but the war rages on.

There can be no victory save that which is vigilantly and constantly upheld.  It falls to us, not a historical figure or a fictional hero…you and I must fix this.  For the sake of our souls, and the sake of our children.

There can be no defeat save that which we ACCEPT.

Those Un-Worthy among us.

 

They were a heretical and treasonous few whom first fought against their country.

They were traitors in their day, they were mad men incapable of seeing the good of their government. Yet by my reasoning and to those like me they were Patriots, the first of us willing to stand against the wrongs established through numerous generations.

Those before them had not been free, they did not know what it meant to be free, but they yearned for it, they longed for it like nothing else before. They knew to the core of their beings that they DESERVED to be free of the oppression and control of a distant and out of touch government.

How different are we now? We were BORN FREE, but were content to live as slaves. We were handed what they could only hope for, and through inaction, we’ve squandered it. Their vigilance and courage gave us leave to be apathetic and to tolerant the many infringements upon our liberty. We’ve taken for granted the very things our forefathers gave their all to leave to us, and all of the world would still like to take from us.

How different will our children be? They will never know what it means to be truly free, and never even know what they are missing. We will have nothing of value left to hand them, and they’ll know nothing of the values we’ve abandoned.. Our decadence and ignorance will become their burden. Our greed. and foolishness will be their undoing, though many are not yet born.

For generations we have been watching our liberties and freedoms slip away, and have done nothing to stop it. We’ve seen the value of our lives diminish, as we’ve lived our lives without value. And we’ve done nothing to stop it.

Those things we once proudly made, we now indifferently buy. The ingenuity and spirit that drove us are nearly extinguished. That which was once a cause to celebrate has become politically incorrect to speak of. Those liberties given to us BY GOD are now looked down upon as archaic. “Don’t Tread On Me” has become a doormat.

Do we deserve it? If free men will build the shackles then put them on their own wrist, should they not be slaves? How far is this from what we’ve done? Giving congress the power to write their own rules, the President the power to appoint whom he will to do as he says, and then we hearken to their every whim as they chip away at our constitutional rights. These once appointed few are just steps divided from a corrupt parliament, and an indulgent King. And we’ve allowed them this. Through corruption and deceit the concept of election is all but lost, and those in power tend to stay in power, though they offer the illusion of choice to keep us complacent and paying our taxes.

We’ve allowed them to grow bold, as we’ve grown weak. When they would push,we do not push back. Where they’ve claimed new power, we do not challenge.

Our chains are forged, our shackles made, will we put them on? And in so doing damn our own children, and forfeit the basic rights of all mankind that never again upon this earth shall there be a freedom like the one we’ve LOST?

NO! We can’t! Our children, and our their children after them are counting on us as we’ve depended on those before us. We must stand, and we must fight with the only true weapon we’ve ever had: our VOICE. Those same few who first stood for freedom did not stand alone, countless others took up the cause and the weapons of their day and fought for OUR FREEDOM. We must do the same, but not with guns or violence, but with those gifts afforded to us by that great act of insight and altruism. Free speech,

We must not RE-ELECT anyone whom has acted at odds with our best interest.

We must not RE-ELECT anyone whom has refused to hear our words, despite their own.

We must not RE-ELECT anyone whom would consider private interest at any level.

We must not RE-ELECT anyone whom has ever spoken down to us or lied.

We must not RE-ELECT ANYONE.

Their power comes from us, and it’s up to us to take it back. They have time and again proven unworthy of it and incapable of doing what is best for us. NOW IS THE TIME to take back what is ours, and strip them of the power that we’ve foolishly given them.

The REAL State of the Union

   During his State of the Union Address we heard the President of the United States tell us that, among other things, if we understood health care we would want it.

 That ladies and gentlemen is the very definition of AUDACITY.

 The blatant disrespect and disdain for the average American citizen that would allow him to speak down to us as though we were not as smart as he and his colleagues. To tell us that it was partially his fault for not explaining the health care bill well enough, or in terms that we common folk could understand.

 What I hear in this is that despite the countless hours of TV, radio and hundreds of written publications we’ve been bombarded with, he thinks we are still not informed enough to “get it”. He plans to try again, perhaps using smaller words the next time, since we are obviously unable to understand the current dialect.

 He went on to say that the longer the discussions went on, the more people didn’t like it. The longer it was debated and explained, the more confusing it became, the more complex it appeared.

 I propose the opposite.

 That it is not our ignorance or misunderstanding that leads us to oppose this massive leap toward socialism, it is our understanding of this bill and our love of freedom that compels us to stand against it. The longer it was discussed; the more informed we became. The more it was drawn out into the light; the more we could see just how bad it really was.

 What we know:

-This bill was prepared by people outside the senate, whom we neither voted for nor acknowledge.

 -This bill started at over one thousand pages and has only grown since. Suggesting that it goes far beyond “confusing” and into the realm of intentionally convoluted. Many of those in the house and senate STILL don’t know what’s in it.

 -It would be purchased at a cost too high to compare to anything in our history. This on top of an already record setting deficit.

 -Many of the votes they got in favor of it were achieved through intimidation and bribery.

 -The handful of sessions held to deliberate were one sided affairs and closed door buy offs. Bipartisan? C-span? Websites? Did I miss something or were those just convenient things to say but not do?

 -The White House and Senate have been in a mad rush to get this passed before we have an opportunity to shift the balance of power in the senate via the coming 2010 elections. This suggest that they know without a doubt that if we the people got to choose, we’d choose against it.

 -Commonly held opinion states that malpractice or “tort” reform would be one of the most effective means of suppressing the cost of health care, yet their bill does not touch this. Suggesting that their plan ultimately has nothing to do with cost or legitimate reform.

 -They say that it is budget neutral and will ultimately save us money. How? This massive new entitlement will not be free, and the last time I checked money does not grow on trees. It comes from somewhere, that somewhere is our TAXES. What they mean to say is that it will be budget neutral for THEM. The rest of us will get stuck with an enormous bill our children will ultimately have to sort out decades from now.

 -Should this pass it will almost immediately bankrupt countless insurance firms and put companies out of business who would have otherwise provided insurance. Doctors and Hospitals would necessarily have their incomes slashed and have to cut staff. Thus adding to the already crippling unemployment we now face.

 We heard him say in one breath that he plans to be fiscally responsible, and in the next that they plan to spend even more than they already have. That they will freeze spending….next year….after the damage is done.

 At one point he stated that he inherited a huge deficit, and at another admitted to almost doubling it in ONE EIGHTH THE TIME. For all the faults of those previous 8 years, at least the money was spent trying to defend us. In the past year they have achieved NOTHING that the American people want and spent trillions doing it.

 Think of it like this; If they are financially responsible for our health care, then they will by necessity decide for us what we are entitled to receive and not receive, by design they will have to dictate what we need and don’t need. This may be done out of the best of intentions, but it is the very antithesis of freedom. The beginning of the end of our great nation. When we begin letting them decide what is best for us and how to pay for it, we become servile, depending on them. Depending on the same government that taxes us is tantamount to socialism. This is not what was intended in our constitution.

 The government should depend on us, and we decide what is best. “We the people” is how it all began. “The Government” can not be how it all ends.

 Even now I write this knowing that it will not be read in many places because the freedom of speech has been so heavily infringed upon that the media has fallen prey to the elitist way of thinking: If the Whitehouse didn’t say it, it doesn’t need to be said.

I am only one man, one voice.

I don’t have a TV or radio show.

I’m not running for any office.

 I am exercising my freedom of speech, and testing the waters all across this country. If you are reading this then congratulations, you’ve found an outlet for free speach.

  I ask that freedom loving Americans everywhere write to their newspapers, to their Senators and Representatives, to the White House, even their local news channels. Tell them how you feel.

Explain to them that it is freedom which made their position possible. The same freedom that they themselves are quenching now, and that we must not stand idle as they do so. That their ratings continue to drop because they are not listening, TV, radio, and politicians alike.

We are not ignorant, we are angry.

Remind them that they work for us. Newspapers, television, radio, and those in Washington exist to serve us…we do not serve them.

Tell them not to speak down to us and explain things again and again simply because we don’t agree with it. Disagreement does not mean that we don’t understand. Stop repeating it, that behavior is childish and insulting. WE DON’T AGREE because you are wrong.

Remind them that they do not have the authority to force us into things we do not want. This is the United States of America, and we will not be ruled by force.

 I thank you for reading this, and pray that you will exercise your freedom as well.