Copyright © 2000 By Lewis J. Goldberg Editor, PlanetGoldberg
"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."
--Samuel Adams
The PG Editorial for the Fourth of July last year started with the same Sam Adams quote, so we may now think of it as tradition. Sadly, Independence Day has become a day not to recount the glorious sacrifices of the Founding Fathers and to give thanks for our blessed freedoms, but to inventory our losses to the Enemy. The Fourth is the time for a status report from the front of a losing battle. This year's report is presented with great remorse, for indications are we are losing even worse than last year
Who are we and what have we lost?
We are the people who love liberty, and have a grasp of what it was that so many died for over 200 years ago; yet we are also those basking in liberty, understanding not what it is.
We are students of the constitution, many of whom carry it in their shirt pocket; yet we are also those who never read past the preamble.
We are 'history buffs' who tire not from analysis of past events, much to the boredom of many around us; yet we are also those who never learned of anything prior to FDR, and think he was a Founding Father.
We are Christians who love the Lord and await His return; yet we are also of other faiths or no faith, finding common ground.
We are home-schoolers, seceding from the government schools to raise the next generation of leaders; yet we are also parents who cannot manage home-schooling logistically, and do our best to instill liberty and upright values in our children in the face of tremendous opposition from the Enemy.
We are "gun nuts," with more rifles than could reasonably be used in a hundred "deer seasons;" yet we are also the defenseless.
We plead guilty to the labels hurled at us from the Left. We are "extremists," "right-wing fanatics," the "far-right." Guilty as charged...and proud of it. Yet we also are the quiet folks who just want to be left alone to pursue their dreams in peace.
In short, we have lost almost everything important. The First and Tenth Amendments lie in ruin, with the Second, Fourth, and Fifth under heavy assault. Why is the Bill of Rights "everything?" Because it was placed in the Constitution to serve as a measure to protect the "inalienable rights" recognized in the Declaration of Independence. Now that it is firmly established that our "inalienable rights" are indeed "alienable," we freely worship, bear arms, or own property at the pleasure of the Federal bureaucracy rather than as a "right." This is a fundamental shift in the law. It is over...the war is lost.
What, then, can we do? The war is over only in the sense that the venue we have fought in for so long has failed us. It is corrupted beyond repair. Even many within the system who are allegedly on "our side" have succumbed to the "dark side." There is, however, another answer.
It is, of course, the essence of the event which we celebrate every Fourth of July: it is revolution. If we do not consider this as a viable option to our political predicament, then we besmirch the labors of brave men like George Washington, Patrick Henry, and Samuel Adams --- who provided the apt quote at the head of this column.
The Founding Fathers, for the most part, were leery of a centralized government, and were fond of the notion that men should be free to caste off oppressive government, to form a new one more suitable. In the Declaration of Independence, they said, speaking of government: "...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." Make no mistake, what these men were talking about was rebellion and revolution. Without rebellion and revolution, we'd all seem pretty silly blowing up fireworks on a hot July day.
We rejoice in disobedience to the government every year at this time, but it has become an empty bacchanal; another excuse to swill beer and consume a lot of fat and carbs. We have become content in our little prison, and that whirring noise is the sound of the Founding Fathers spinning in their graves.
There was another generation of heroes who tried to preserve the spirit of 1776. They are called the Confederates. You won't hear much good about them in the mainstream history books: they were written by the military victors. The only thing you'll hear about consistently is that they were slave-holders, as if all of them owned slaves. You won't hear that Robert E. Lee wouldn't own slaves, though he could have easily afforded it. The Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, was darned-near an abolitionist and wrote really good love letters and poetry. There are a thousand poignant and touching stories of Southerners' love for freedom, God, and country --- but they all are relegated to the "kook-bin" of the history stacks.
The very word "Confederate" has been corrupted into a derogation. The prefix "con" means "with" as in "union." It is taught in the schools as if the "con" meant "against" as in "pro and con." Until the Civil War era, the United States was often referred to as "our great Confederacy," and until the Constitution was ratified, the government was regulated by the Articles of Confederation. The Confederate States of America was formed to preserve the legitimate government of the United States, not to tear the Union asunder for the sake of a small cadre of rich slave-holders. To say that the Confederate soldiers fought for slavery would be equivalent to saying that today's average man would leave his home and family to take up arms in protection of Bill Gates' portfolio.
So, the question is, what are we anyway? If we worry about what the press or the average liberal in the street says about us, then please...let us end this facade of freedom and liberty, and succumb to the chains of socialism whole-heartedly. If we're going to give up everything to an oppressive government, let us do so with eyes wide open, and earn some brownie points with our "superiors." We may be allocated a nice job when such things are meted out according to merit by the central authorities. However, if we really mean it when we shoot fireworks on the Fourth; if those cheap incendiaries really signify the "rockets' red glare" and "bombs bursting in air," written of by Francis Scott Key, then we owe it, not only to the memories of the Founders, but to those Confederate heroes and to our children as well.
If we truly fight for freedom, and do not shy from charges of "revolutionary," then we must understand that we may travel down a very rocky path. The press may call us names...some of them may even be true. Kook, weirdo, right-wing militiaman, traitor, zealot, freak. This nation was founded on the blood of patriots, supplied by the "kooks with rifles from the hills," the "paramilitary weirdoes with two bad shoes, and even fewer good teeth."
If you fight the revolution in a quiet way, you will still be met with terms of derision. Home-schoolers, who have seceded from the public schools, are called anti-social, ignorant, and spoiled. Their parents seen as a little "off." Put a "Love My Country --- Fear My Government" sticker on your car and you're a wacko, racist, bigot, homophobe. Never you mind...Thomas Jefferson would hug you --- not "them."
We cannot know when the revolution will begin, but it is certainly not far away. In the PG Editorial of May 22 of this year, we examined why Conservatism and the Confederate causes are really different manifestations of the same movement. The events transpiring in Southern politics of late possibly signal the first dominoes starting to wobble. Our government, as the British in the 1770's, is pushing us to the brink.
Be prepared.
Oh, and Happy 4th of July!
I welcome your comments and questions.