This Fourth of July

The more I learn, the more I am convinced that we are standing on the ledge of an abyss and it is only a matter of time before we loose our footing. But from this abyss there will be no recompense, no resolution and no safety from harm.

This government is working feverishly to destroy all our rights. Of course when I say government I mean the people who swear an oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution.

I know that they all operate under the assumption that “the people” will never rise up in armed conflict. That is the security by which government officials levy their taxes, regulate our property and license our very sacred vow of marriage.

They understand that they can continually destroy our rights without fear of retribution, although, from time to time we are thrown a tidbit, a very small one at that. Perhaps the court will rule to allow us to have some obscure right, which was ours from inception. It was never theirs to grant, nor was it their place to question at all.

Some look to Gandhi, as the guide for peaceful negotiation, but his legend is simply a tool of government. The British had already raped India, and found it no longer represented gain, and what purpose serves a troublesome nation thousands of miles away when it has already been sacked? Instead the arrival of Gandhi on the scene allowed for another piece of propaganda to be actualized, and stored for future use.

We are a pathetic lot that clings to a notion of some higher moral perspective. We believe ourselves better than those who would subjugate, aggravate and prosecute us at any whim of their evil desires.

Perhaps it goes beyond our infantile notions and extends to that most grievous character that from time to time plagues us all, fear. Fear that we might actually have to defend our self from the transgressions of others. Fear that our high account of our nature is purely one of desire and not reality. Fear that in this mortal body we may have to account for our blatant ambivalence. We would much rather take the course of common ignorance and herd with the masses rather than speak the truth.

“The questing before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate.” Stated Patrick Henry in his speech before the House of Burgesses, on March 23, 1775. So with all due respect I will continue on in my address to anyone who has the patience and yes the stamina to listen to this view, which may so radically differ from the minds and hearts of others.

It is not without long hours of study, and equal amounts of petition that I have come to my conclusions. I have asked by what method we operate, and receive no answers. I have asked my brethren to clarify the matter for me, knowing full well that I cannot be the only person who recognizes the fraud by which we stand. To my many queries I am assaulted with the same fictions by which this government now casts chain upon chains on our existence.

I have read, and re-read, the Constitution and its accompanied Amendments, Papers and resolute speeches. In all this time I have wondered by what method my fellow citizen draws his conclusions. Is it in the body of the text of the Constitution? For as the plain language stipulates, “We the People” have granted so little power to the government as to be enumerated in but eighteen small clauses under Article 1, Section 8. And further to our restriction we expressed our disdain at the mere utterance of government intervention in those Ten Amendments we call “The Bill of Rights.”

Mr. Henry goes on to challenge his fellow delegates; “Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.”

Am I a lustful man that I cherish my freedom, and that of my children? Am I an envious man that I would question all authority in order to maintain that freedom? Am I a prideful man who, when his life has expired, can look at himself and exclaim that he did whatever was necessary, to the core of his heart, to battle and destroy the transgressions that are now so blatantly laid at our feet?

In the cause of Schultz vs. Washington County, the court has once again denied our Right to Petition the government for “a redress of grievances,” an issue to which they have no authority to deny under the First Amendment.

Some may say the authority of the government should never be questioned, and I would say that it should never go un-questioned. “Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss… We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrance’s have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne!” Henry later argues.

Instead, we would rather remain delicate in our nature and make fierce arguments about the law and its meaning. That we above all else will maintain the high moral ground while the enemy below erodes, denigrates and steps upon every liberty we once held so dear. History indeed teaches us, “that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.” The Declaration of Independence signed Two Hundred and Thirty years ago.

But this Fourth of July, I will sit and lament that which has become the norm rather than the rarity. We are a slave to whatever instance of justification a bureaucrat or a judge may lay upon our plate. And by no means are we exempt from the jealousies of a fellow citizen, or citizens, who are willing accomplices to the corruptible structure of power that makes revenge a simple ascertain of a fictitious wrong. It has become an Orwellian nightmare of extraordinary magnitude, but we resolve it in the mere contemplation that I will be left alone if I am willing to comply with the myriad of rules and regulations impossible to reconcile. The millions of laws that the most honest of legal scholars could not find Fundamental tenor.

At once we were keen to challenge any authority and our Forefathers stood resolute to the encroachment upon our liberty with the strength to sacrifice all for a belief. At the other end we come upon this soil as people so blind to the truth that we could never call forth the courage and fortitude to lay down our lives.

Mr. Henry admonishes us to our delusions. “They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?”

On this Fourth of July, we stand irresolute, weak, and clinging to the proposition that someday, somehow there will be a redress of grievance and all will be right with the world. I say it will not happen as long as the agents of government know so well our fears. I say it will not happen as long as the agents of government slowly, but surely, with building fervor, slap each individual down and watch as the rest of us cower in the corner, thankful that we were not the unfortunate victims.

I am one man who shouts across the land that the enemy is coming, and they are coming in a fashion that our Founding Fathers could never have imagined. This Fourth of July, I will contemplate the inevitable because I am open to see what is before me. I have no illusion as to what bravery my fellow citizen may enlist because that trait has long been sanitized from our psyche.

I can only hope that Mr. Henry watches over us, and his words will become the cry of liberty rather than a lament of generations to come. On this Fourth of July, I will search for that spirit which cried out for courage; “It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. 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!”

‘Nick’