A Rallying Call to the Patriots of America

June 26, 2009

For many of us, this evening marked a very dark moment for patriots of the American Republic.

For too long we have fought an uphill battle to save our great and free nation from the treacherous hands of Socialism which endlessly seek to secure themselves around her throat with the sole intention of asphyxiating and killing her.

Many of us knew going into this struggle that there would be numerous battles, some of which we would win and some we would lose. Yet, for a strong majority of true patriots, we maintained a certain level of blind optimism that there were some things that could just never really happen. It was thought that America still maintained some level of common sense which would forbid her legislators from passing acts that would completely and utterly tear apart the fiduciary stability of her economy and her citizens. They believed that there was still some degree of accountability among law makers that would remind them that no office is truly secure unless the voters were content with their policies. The thought that Congress would ever pass legislation such as Cap and Trade (properly referred to as H.R. 2454) was as outrageous and unlikely as an enormous meteor crashing into and destroying the earth.

Tonight it appears as though those great American patriots were wrong.

Today's loss was a great one. And it is likely that many Americans like myself who believe that liberty is worth standing up and fighting for…well, we will forever remember exactly the moment we learned that the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2454, striking against our righteous fight a blow so powerful that it could very nearly have knocked the wind right out of us.

President Obama has indicated to us that the passage of H.R. 2454 is only the beginning.

Well, my fellow American Patriots, I have only this to say: bring it on.

What will be will be.

For just as our forefathers were not awakened to the evils of their government until they were taxed beyond reason, I believe our fellow Americans will not awaken to the swift winds of change blowing across this nation until they feel the opression of injustice in their own lives and pocket books. Our legislators believe that they can tax us into submission to the point that we are too weak, bankrupt, and disheartened to oppose their wicked transgressions against Natural Law. But I say to you: NAY, they are wrong!

The majority of the people of America have yet to awaken, but when they do, they shall be such a rallying and undefeatable force that no unruly and corrupt government can stop them. We are descended from a people who fought against the greatest and seemingly impossible odds, and yet proved victorious in the endless fight against evil and tyranny! We are a people who will not be denied our birthright of liberty and freedom from oppression. We are strong. And we shall take a stand.

Let not your hearts be sorrowed, fellow patriots! Indeed this may only be the beginning. And indeed this may appear as a heavy blow against us. But, as General George Washington discovered when battling the forces of King George III during the war for our Independence, we must be willing to lose a few battles in order to win the war!

Taxation will come. And so, too, will the usurping of personal liberty and blind justice for the citizens of our country. It is an evil we shall endure until the eyes of more fellow Americans are rudely opened until it appears that we as a nation of free people have nothing left to lose. And in that moment, that dark and grim and treacherous moment in which America seems all but lost, there shall cry out through the silence the voices of a people devoted and united in their fight against injustice! A people who have been pushed too far! A people who will no longer tolerate a government rank with greed for greater wealth and unequalled power, and citizens who are willing to throw down their livelihoods to abolish it, and to institute a “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.”

And so, my fellow Patriots, it is with the greatest love and respect that I now ask you to buckle down and prepare yourselves. Prepare for the battles, which shall be waged in the legislatures, in the forums, and in the communities of America. Prepare for the hardships to come. And, oh how they shall come. But be not dismayed, for the war for liberty and the very existence of our long-fought and hard-won Republic is only beginning.

Today was without question a dark day in the history of common sense and liberty. However, I believe we have yet to see the worst. But, my friends, always keep in mind the ancient and wise addage: "it's always darkest just before the dawn". Dawn shall come--in time. It shall come.

“'Tis not in numbers but in unity that our great strength lies,” wrote Thomas Paine only four and a half months prior to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. That message is true yet. Let us remember our own history and be inspired by the great words and even greater deeds of our forefathers, for we are of the same strength and nature as they and equally capable of defending the free nation they established for us. Let us call upon Divine Providence to guide us as did our Founders.

And let us not lose heart. The road ahead is long and dark, but let us be guided by the light of liberty’s flame. We shall overcome. We shall overcome. We shall endure the many perilous struggles that lay ahead, and we shall overcome until tyranny and injustice are no more.

"Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace-- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" -- Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775

Everything's Not Lost...?

“When I counted up my demons

Saw there was one for every day

With the good ones on my shoulders

I drove the other ones away…”

— Coldplay (“Everything’s Not Lost”)

I’ve spent the last few weeks battling demons, and I wish I could report to you a long and detailed list of my victories. Unfortunately, the best I can say is that I’ve reached a stalemate in which progress is stagnate at best. I’m struggling.

I know we are all busy people. Dear God, how I know! I am all too familiar with how our personal lives can get in the way of things which are – on a bigger scale – far more critical to the personal safety and happiness of everyone living in America right now. However, the world does not stop turning (or changing, for that matter) just because we need to stop and tend to our personal lives for a while. In fact, the rate at which progressives are progressing seems to hasten to a break-neck pace the very moment we turn our attention away from current affairs and politics. Coming back to the world after a recent and extended respite, I despair even more.

And I begin to wonder about things.

I wonder if the people of America are at all concerned about the way things are changing and the dangerous speed at which these transformations are happening. Is it that we are too laissez-faire to take an active role in preserving what we have, or are we as a nation just too blahse-faire to care whether or not remain a people united under the banner of liberty? Is the “American way of life” getting too much in the way for us to be concerned about preserving that very same way of life? Must we absolutely lose everything we cherish to the extent that we no longer have luxuries by which to be distracted before we are willing as American citizens to fight for what our Founding Fathers sacrificed so much and for so long to give us?

I have always struggled with the delicate balance between being overly serious with matters I feel passionate about, and just kicking my heels up and having a good, simple, carefree time. Recent history has taught me that my best means of achieving any sort of balance is via a bit of vice-laden therapy: tossing back cheap white wine and chain-smoking my way through whatever is left of a pack of Menthol lights. The likelihood that I, and those around me, may all have a great time increases greatly, yet I end up no closer to answering the questions that plague me.

Is it possible that I simply care too much?

When I say that I care about our Founders, I don’t mean it in the same sense as a gooey sentiment printed across a crunchy Valentine’s Day candy heart. I mean that I really, truly, sincerely care about the people they were, the lives through which each of them struggled, and the consequences of every choice they made and how they affected my own life today. The more I read about each of our Founding Fathers individually, the more moved and awestruck I am by the real and genuine people they were. These weren’t superheroes in leotards and capes charging out of the clouds to rescue hapless damsels in distress. They were real people. They suffered real challenges. They were imperfect in their personal lives, in many ways just like you and me. They had flaws, some of which created tension between them, though they were able to see past those flaws when necessary for the sake of independence. They were not gods among men in any way, shape, or form. But where the pursuit of liberty and freedom from tyranny was concerned, they were thankfully guided by the wisdom of many of the great thinkers who had preceded them and, quite likely, by Divine Providence, herself.

Therefore, all things considered, I feel quite obligated to these very individuals to uphold and protect the very thing they fought so hard to provide for us. And I wonder just why so many people appear not to feel the same way…

Perhaps people show a lack of interest because they never really had to fight for what they have. Things of great value always come at great cost, do they not? Yet, the luxuries and liberties we have enjoyed in this country for so long were hard fought and provided to us by our predecessors. A vast majority of us played no significant part in obtaining the freedoms and liberties we so enjoy, and it seems to me that the most logical explanation of our current situation is our own lack of any kind of laborious effort. We’ve never known the suffocation brought on by the cruel hand of tyranny wrapping tightly around our throats as if it was the horrendous yoke of slavery (that we know only from history books). We’re spoiled. We take everything we have—everything that our forefathers suffered and fought to provide for us—for granted.

And it’s time we put this destructive cycle to rest.

Not everyone believes in an afterlife. I do. And my concern is in coming (at some point) face to face with our Founding Fathers—and even my very own forefathers who may have fought in the same Revolution that provided me the life I now enjoy—and having to answer one question: what did I do with the Republic they established for me? Will I be able to even look them in the eye knowing that for so long I remained ignorant and silent as others sought to tear it apart? Will I be wrought with shame and unable to answer for my actions or lack thereof? Will I perhaps shrug and inform them of just how busy I was with personal matters and how little time and knowledge I could spare for the sake of my fellow countrymen? Or will I be blessed with the opportunity to stand among them and claim that I did all that I possibly could to uphold the principles, values, and integrity of what they so graciously founded over two hundred years ago?

Some may call me crazy for even wondering such things.

I consider them crazy for not doing so.

Perhaps it’s time we all start using a little foresight, because there will come a time when we all must answer to our own deeds and misdeeds.

I’m not a fan of Dr. Phil, but he once made a statement that has resonated with me ever since: When you choose the action, you choose the consequence. He was right. And now it’s time for us to choose. While the actions may not seem desirable, we must consider the consequence, and use that to tip the balance scales in favor of doing what’s right. It may be painful. It may require hours and hours of heavy and burdensome labor.

But it will be right.

And—or at least I believe — it will be worth it.

“So if you ever feel neglected

And if you think that all is lost

I'll be counting up my demons, yeah

Hoping everything's not lost…”

— Coldplay (“Everything’s Not Lost”)

Hallelujah, Pass the Dramamine

"The truth is often a terrible weapon of aggression. It is possible to lie, and even to murder, with the truth. It is easier to fight for principles than to live up to them." -- Alfred Adler

As more and more time passes, it becomes increasingly obvious to the observing eye that irony is overtaking common sense. It used to be that people who adhered to certain values were consistent in their struggle to uphold and promote those values. Now, it seems that every nutjob with an ounce of determination and lacking in sincere virtue is acting independently of his or her cause under a banner of "moral decency" in ways that are completely contrary to their stated purpose.

If the world continues this trend of spinning more and more out of control, I'm going to have to invest in some Dramamine in order to survive it all.

The fact that today a notorious late-term abortion doctor, Dr. George Tiller, was gunned down by someone who is most likely a self-proclaimed proponent of the Pro-Life movement is enormously ironic. How exactly do you reconcile slaying a doctor under the banner of promoting life? Innocent, unborn babies have a right to live and should not be murdered at the hands of doctors, yet it is okay to murder doctors who perform these types of abortions? Really? What that indicates to me is that the gunman is not so much concerned with protecting the safety and sanctity of innocent lives but actually wrought with hatred for someone who allegedly terminates life. What we all need to understand is that murdering a murderer gets us nowhere. That, my friends is common sense. Whether or not you agree with late-term abortions, and whether or not you consider such practices a form of murder, I can see NO justification whatsoever in shooting down a doctor who performs them.

How is that noble? The action pretty much puts the gunman in the exact same category as the baby-killing doctor that he so despises for reasons that are likely based on his own religious and moral beliefs. Yet, I would be potentially accurate in assuming that whatever faith or belief system the shooter embraces would incontestably condemn outright murder regardless of whatever irrational reasoning is behind it. No matter how you try to reconcile the facts, you can't.

Yet, that's not where the irony ends.

Dr. Tiller was gunned down inside the Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas, where he served as an usher during a typical Sunday worship service. So (if I have this right), this doctor goes to work Monday through Friday and terminates pregnancies in which the unborn infant is considered mature and viable enough to actually survive outside the womb if it were to be born at that time. He kills babies. Then he spends Sunday mornings in church, worshiping the Lord Almighty in sincere piety? Really? Wow. Though it is unarguably NOT my place to pass judgements on another person (because I truly cannot say whether or not Dr. Tiller believed what he was doing was good and right and noble--only God can say what truths lie within the hearts of men), I honestly have to admit...that's ironic. I suppose Christian piety just isn't what it used to be.

So, what is the point of it all? Well, I'll tell you. If you strip away the political motivations, the inflammatory details, and the reprehensible matter of both sides of this story, what it all boils down to is a lack of virtue. An inability to follow through with one's own belief system. If you believe that all life is valuable and should be protected because of what your faith dictates, then you should also believe that it is wrong to walk into a house of worship during a Sunday morning service and gun down a man who reportedly terminates innocent lives.

Most belief systems in this world profess that after death we shall all face a final and supreme judgement at the hands of a God, creator, or supreme spirit of some sort. That's very nearly a universal truth. Dr. Tiller was absolved of any wrongdoing by a jury in March of this year. Likely this murder was the result of one individual's outrage that "Tiller the Killer" would be let off the hook for what many deemed as criminal acts. So he escaped punishment in this life...if what he was doing truly were acts of murder, he would eventually be judged accordingly. Or at least that would be the accepted teaching of Dr. Tiller's (and quite possibly the gunman's) Christian faith. The shooter, however, was too shortsighted to understand that. He apparently determined that judgement had to be passed in this life and he elected himself the executioner of that sentence. The gunman had no faith.

Whether or not Dr. Tiller himself be a murderer is not for me to decide. A jury ruled his actions non-criminal two months ago and absolved him of the charges. Perhaps what the doctor did for a living really did save the lives of some women who would have been dangerously at risk should they deliver the infant they were carrying. I can't say. I don't have all the facts. But God does. And I'll leave it up to Him to make the final determinations.

What I do know is that the man who walked into the Wichita Reformation Lutheran Church this Sunday morning to execute a doctor in cold blood during a worship service...well, he IS a murderer. The justice system will determine his fate in this world. And should he walk free after his trial is over, then God will determine it in the next.

And, people, can we all just start actually LIVING by our personal value or belief systems instead of just striking out at others under the holy banner of righteousness? Perhaps a little personal consistency would make this world a much better place and people would not feel so driven by outrage that they have to break their own moral codes to get what they inaccurately deem to be justice.

Instead of fighting for our principles, how about we just start living up to them for a change?