When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world...
I remember being absolutely thrilled by those words when I was just a little kid. "Those brave brave men," I thought. "They must have been so afraid, facing the greatest military power on earth." Young boys always see themselves as brave, but I remember wondering what I would have done. Could I have found the courage to walk away from a warm hearth and loving family into the bitter cold of a Revolutionary winter?
America faces a dark hour this Independence Day. To be sure, we have faced darker hours before — the bloody ground of 150 years ago; the trenches of Europe in the War to End All Wars; the Great Depression; the Second World War. We are an incredibly resilient people. And yet today we are dispirited, exhausted...and yes, even scared. Those who hold power have made a decision to fundamentally change this country, to alter the compact between America and her people.
I think what we need on this Independence Day is some of the courage of the Founders, the courage to hold freedom in our hearts every day of the year. In her most recent book, THE BAD ATTITUDE GUIDE TO GOOD CITIZENSHIP, Claire Wolfe concludes thusly:
If we can't succeed in "doing something" about problems, the default position for a lot of us is to sit and bitch. Or keep trying the same unsuccessful methods over and over again — and that way lies madness.
Rather than banging our heads, we need to change our minds. Having changed our minds, we will see more clearly how to change our methods.
That's the key: Attitude is everything. To wit: A bad attitude toward would-be rulers and their flappers, enforcers, and sycophants, but an inner attitude of independence.
Then it's up to us to express that independent spirit in action — action that shifts our focus from the negative ("what those bastards are doing to us and how to stop them") to the positive ("What can I do?" "What can I be?" How can I make a difference to people right here?").
...
No matter what happens, they don't own us — if we don't let them.
Enjoy your Independence Day, remember our military who have bought this freedom with their lives and remember that you ARE free!
16 comments:
Words to live by. Thank you!
Very well said. There is a general sense right now in this country that things a just bad. Feels like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. In times like this we should reflect back on men who were willing to give everything, so we could inherit the ideals this country was founded upon and know there is real HOPE.
Hello Michael and thank you for posting these words which give us all some sense of direction today. I read your last statements with growing curiosity and I have heard similar statements from others in radio media, so it’s not just you. The statement or remarks referring to the suggestion that somehow we active citizens of the internet, political news magazines and talk radio are somehow asleep, that we are just staring out the proverbial window and watching our country go by on a freighter to China. I do not plan to stop here with my questions but this is a good place to start; 1. When a law abiding citizen has sent in financial donations to campaigns and submitted protest letters (via the N.R.A, Gun Owners of America, Citizens For The Right To Keep and Bear Arms, etc.) and our politicians still do what they want with their votes despite the fact that they ran a conservative campaign, they have proven they will do what they want, what should a law abiding citizen do? 2. When the current administration in Washington, D.C. has made sounds that they may forego or ignore the formality of Congress raising the debt limit and they will keep on spending anyway, driving our country even more toward the edge of the cliff, when our elected officials do not care about the voters and blatantly break Congressional laws and are not held accountable what does a law abiding citizen do?
We sir, who have been in the fight for these past three years, in my view deserve more respect than we are getting and it is about to make me lose my temper. You and others may think that we your audience are simply not getting out and spreading the message, that in some way we have not delivered the message, that we have opted to sit home and play with our Wii game instead of hand write letters to the N.R. A protesting their dirty back room trade-offs with Senators so they will not be held to a gag law attempted to be passed through Congress, then sir you are doing us a great disservice. We have been and will continue to push for our liberty and freedom but at this point, to be considered somehow “not doing the job,” because the country is still heading off the cliff, no sir, I will not take the blame for it and neither should anyone else who has listened to Glenn Beck for two years describe and explain in painful detail how our country has been hijacked by communists. I thought that was stuff that was way behind me in the sixties and now I find out that my government is running over with them like ants and our politicians are corrupt to the core. Please do not make light of my previous Pollyannaish outlook, I had trust in my country and in its leaders because I believed they loved America as much as I did and I have gone through the heartbreak of finding out that is not the case, that the safety and sanctity of my country is now at a point of civil war. That God and the name of his son, Jesus, cannot be uttered on the steps of the Capital Building without being told to move along, that such religious practices are not allowed.
If anyone out there thinks that this American takes any of this lying down, then you have very little faith in your fellow patriot. I do not blame anyone else other than those who are in power and use their title and power to adulterate our laws and misappropriate our troops into harm’s way well knowing they will be dead or mortally wounded and they don’t blink twice about it. I have exercised my legal methods to their ends and none of that has proven fruitful, I ask sir, what next would you suggest? What fool-proof way do you know for changing the process of a corrupt government and a president who is not of American origin and has dodged every attempt to prove his legitimacy for the seat of power he occupies? If you have no good suggestions then please do not push the blame off on us, we are just as frustrated and just as exhausted and just as scared. I will pray for a plague to strike those who go against God’s justice, He will decide whether He wants to honor that prayer or not. May God have mercy on them if He does.
Right on, brother. I gathered up two buddies, and we celebrated our independence by going to the range and polishing our skill with the tools that made and keep us free! And it was good...
Voting and writing a couple of letters is not enough for everyone to do. That is only minimum duty. Becoming active in the political process by actively getting out and supporting candidates, digging past the fishhooks in our pockets to make unsolicited political donations to worthy causes and, yes, running for office and exposing lying politicians when none else will, that is perhaps doing enough.
God uses people. If one is in His will in prayer and doing the things He leads one to that is enough. If we are in the flesh then we are being destructive and outside his will.
The nation was not won by the top down. It was won by the bottom up...grass roots were organized. It was not won by someone supporting a winning candidate, it was won by men stepping up at personal risk to become leaders and the supporters, the followers, they followed the leaders. Leaders who were willing to lose hearth and home and the dearness of their own lives and loved ones.
Thanks for leading Michael. Now who is next to lead? Oh you say, leading requires too much effort and pushes people out of their comfort zone and exposes them to risks...and some certainty of going backwards economically. I'm getting my affairs in order to run for an office in the next couple of years...first I'm getting the children grown out of the house because the legitimate death threats will come in. We all need to dig in, meet the political operatives, make a cold call to the people leading organizations that will return the US to the nation it was by leading, supporting and participating in ways other than from the comfort of home, the boob tube and the voting booth.
In my state, I know a person of modest means, someone you would not suspect to be a leader at all because he is a mid-level hourly employee of a utility company in his mid-thirties who has the RINO party making concessions to him to make major choices of plank for them within the state....all because he is a leader. A leader of a handful, less than five. They have offered him guarantees of support to responsible elected state positions that make him a shoe in for election but he has refused. The thing the politicians hate the most, being exposed. He only has truth and the internet working for him and he has literally brought them to their knees with the efforts of only a couple of men. So, 1 guy can do it, be a leader. Get your affairs in order, contact the political movement of your choice with a cold call, introduce yourself and help to lead the nation. Sitting around voting sending in donations will not do it...lead, file suits in court against corruption, heck run for dog catcher and be an example of truth and honesty but mostly pray and hear God and follow him.
Keep it up Michael. You are leading in the manner you are sanctified for and you are reaching people. If you hit a sore spot, then I suspect you are doing your job. I've observed when you throw a rock in a pack of hounds the hit dog hollers loudest.
One other thing. We should not feel so smug in giving up and sitting on our hands waiting "for the inevitable" when the politicians will not heed our letters and desires doing instead their own will outside the law. This is not new, we are nothing special...history is repeating itself.
Our founders sent letters to the King of England. He ignored them. He ignored the agreements, contracts and covenants in place and served his own will and purpose. Our founders were not rebels as is sometimes portrayed, they went the legitimate route and when in the course of human events it became intolerable their cause was just.
So someone is not responding rightly to your letters and you want to quit? Get past it and do something that works knowing your cause is righteous.
Stop following. Life is a great adventure...you can follow quietly in defeat into bondage or risk it....like the great men who forged this nation.
Lead!
Well said, Michael. I fear for our country and our future liberty.
Thank you Rastus, I will think about what you've said about leading. What I recognize about the founding fathers is that they did not always get it done the "diplomatic way," it came down to fighting and much fighting they did. It seems to me part of my problem is listening to the buzzing sounds of whiners in my ears that jump up and down and say something needs to be done..Now! Truth is, this will take some years of work to right the wrongs done today. I will do better at not letting the whining noise fall upon me. To not let the rock thrown into a pack of dogs land on me as it were. Thanks.
yes man there is a general feeling at this moment in this country that things are just bad. It feels like there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Don't worry "Happy Independence Day"
thanks to share...
As I read the previous comments I cannot but agree. I am not a writer but just one of the few who care. The question is not how do we (preaching to the choir) change this course. It is more a question of how do we change the rest of the people who have no interest and don’t care in what is going on. It is those people who need to get involved, it is the entitlement mentality, it is those who will only vote on some preconceived notions (our family always votes.....), it is our seniors (I am one) and yes, it is also our unions who have been bought and paid for. I know mentioning unions will stir the pot but don't get me wrong I am not anti-union. However, what union leadership is doing is no different than what is going on within our government.
We must all stand together and get the message out to those who are not involved…we need to get our government back to basics. Our Revolution was started in part due to no representation in government. Is that any different now when our elected officials decide what is good for us, when they pass a 3,000 page bill that no one has read, spend money they do not have and above all do whatever they need to get re-elected.
To serve the people is an honor and calling not a job with great benefits.
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This cannot really work, I feel so.
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