Greetings,
I live in Charlotte, NC, the city Lord Cornwallis coined "a hornet's nest of rebellion." I am a husband, father and fledgling Christian. I served the Republic honorably, trudge off every morning to a job I don't particularly care for and often have to stretch a dime into a dollar just to make ends meet. In short, my life could not be any more unremarkable or blessed.
To believe the Federal government and America's state-run media, however, I am incompetent. I am a racist and a terrorist, an extremist clinging to the ideals of a bygone era. The Constitution is not binding, it is merely suggestive. Unalienable rights are being usurped at every turn by an apparatus deriving its power not through consent, but by fear, intimidation, eavesdropping, fining and killing. Authority ultimately resides not with We The People, but with the millionaires we elect and the corporations they serve.
I am just one Citizen - what could I possibly do to counter such an evil behemoth? What difference could I possibly make? It's a frustrating and futile position. But then I looked back to our Founders, inwardly to my faith, and now here to this site. Lo and behold, my beliefs are not unique, they are legion, and I am not alone, I am in good company.
No lesser light than John Adams felt a similar epiphany, writing to his beloved Abigail with the stark realization that, "We are waiting for a messiah who will never come." It finally dawned on him that it would be up to him to act, just as it is up to you, here, NOW.
Should I play it safe and not rock the boat? Should I defer my duty to my sons and let them sort it all out? Thomas Paine wrote, "If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace."
Do I doubt that I was created with an inherently free nature, and thereby doubt my Creator? If I proceed with this endeavor, might I be cold, hungry, imprisoned or even killed? Dr. Joseph Warren, the forgotten founder and "greatest incendiary in all of America", spoke to these misgivings from Boston's Old South Church in 1772:
"If you, with united zeal and fortitude, oppose the torrent of oppression; if you feel the true fire of patriotism burning in your breasts…if you perform your part, you must have the strongest confidence that THE SAME ALMIGHTY BEING who protected your pious and venerable forefathers, who enabled them to turn a barren wilderness into a fruitful field, who so often made bare his arms for their salvation, will still be mindful of you their offspring."
What have I surmised from all of this? I am not isolated, I am empowered. I am a link in a chain to YOU. Though we have never met, I will proudly call you "Brother" or "Sister". I will do anything to help you, I will bolster your resolve, I will listen, I will protect, I will nurture, I will feed, I will dig, and if fired upon, I will fight.
"You were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only don't let this liberty be an opportunity to indulge your selfish impulses, but serve each other through love." (Gal. 5:13)
Yours in Liberty,
2nd Overmountain Men
Replies
So well put, I so identify with many facets of you. Thanks for the hopeful reminders and stark realities. I too have cast all in and look forward to locking arms with you.
Well said Indeed !