Happy Independence Day

On the eve of a far more significant July 4 in 1776, George Washington sat in his New York headquarters, preparing to defend Manhattan from the British.  He contemplated what lay ahead as word circulated that the Continental Congress had formally adopted a Declaration of Independence, a momentous step toward establishing a new nation.

Washington took to his diary to consider the gravity of the moment:

“The time is now near at hand,” he wrote, “which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be Freemen or Slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their Houses, and Farms, are to be pillaged and destroyed, and they consigned to a State of Wretchedness from which no human efforts will probably deliver them.” 

“Our own Country's Honor, all call upon us for a vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world.” 

“Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world, that a Freeman contending for Liberty on his own ground is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth.”

In triumph and in tragedy we stand united and defiant in the face of any who would challenge our commitment to our freedom and the future of our country.

Happy Independence Day

UPDATE:  Welcome readers of The Pirate’s Cove.  We thank the Admiral for the linky-love.

Their Gallantry And Devotion

We are bound together by hope in a land that is free through the sacrifices of our veterans, their gallantry and devotion to the light of liberty which has cast its glow upon us for two centuries.

It is fitting that on this Veterans Day we remember the words of President Ronald Reagan at the Vietnam Veterans Wall on November 11, 1988:

“Our young friends—yes, young friends, for in our hearts you will always be young, full of the love that is youth, love of life, love of joy, love of country—you fought for your country and for its safety and for the freedom of others with strength and courage. We love you for it. We honor you. And we have faith that, as He does all His sacred children, the Lord will bless you and keep you, the Lord will make His face to shine upon you and give you peace, now and forever more.''

WATCH LIVE: Paris Unity Rally

For Those Who Sacrificed So Much So That We Can Live In Freedom, Thank You

Mr. Jefferson Visits The White House

I understand, my dear sir, that you recently gave a very confused speech to university students upon their graduation.

You seemed quite fretful at the time.  Perhaps it was because you felt the winds of change rustling against your brow.  You lamented, nay, chillingly suggested to these impressionable young men and women that they had grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that you felt was at the root of all the problems of this great republic.

You sir, went on to say that those same voices would warn that tyranny is always lurking just around the corner.

I thought I should pay you a visit in an attempt to school you on the subject of tyranny; something about which, I am intimately familiar.

Need I remind you sir that the arduous work of the Founding Fathers to resist tyranny established the brave, creative and unique experiment in self-rule to which you referred?

I further remind you that King George III had established tyranny over our thirteen original colonies and it was his tyranny that helped us to forge The Declaration of Independence.

After our struggle to gain independence from The Crown, I along with the other patriots, worked to the point of exhaustion to create The Constitution, a document for which I perceive you have great disdain.

Indeed sir, I tremble at your vanity. My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.  You have accepted the kingly crown placed upon your head by sycophants and flatterers.

Experience has shown that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.

You sir, are not king of the world.  I listed twenty-seven abuses that King George directed at our colonies for the sole purpose of creating a tyrannical government.  You are following his path and the tyranny of which you spoke is well on its way.

Fate is fickle.  Soon you will learn that the citizenry much prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.

Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God?

It is a happy truth that man is capable of self-government, and only rendered otherwise by the moral degradation designedly superinduced on him by the wicked acts of his tyrant.

Your humble servant,

Voices Without A Vote

If They Could See Us Now

The Presidents by Georgia artist Steve Penley

America celebrated her 236^th birthday today.  The old girl is looking pretty haggard lately.

We’ve got cemeteries that consider placing the American flag on gravesites “excessive adornment” and unsightly.  A city in Oregon canceled its longstanding fireworks display because the noise might disturb nearby seabirds.  We even have an overrated, potty-mouthed comedian who took to his Twitter account to say, “Happy white peoples Independence Day the slaves weren’t free but I’m sure they enjoyed fireworks.”  He bashed the country that has afforded him success and millions in wealth.  I could go on, but you can see where I was headed.

Across the breadth and depth of his great land, there were parades in red, white and blue.  Old glory flapped proudly in the breeze. 

The examples above show that this nation is diverging.  Many Americans hold fast to the ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness while a growing number of our brethren plunge this country into disarray and despair.  I wonder what the Founders would think if they could see us now.

In a supreme act of courage and defiance 236 years ago, our Founders knew that government must be limited to protecting the peace and preserving our liberties.  They set up a system of checks and balances so that government operated through the consent of the governed—of the people, by the people, for the people—We The People.

Bill Frezza, writing at Forbes, laments the lost legacy of Independence Day:

Why do we still celebrate Independence Day? Is it a lingering habit, a mindless bit of nostalgia, a time to indulge in fireworks and barbecues, devoid of any deeper meaning? Can anyone honestly argue that our nation still honors the values, or practices the principles, for which our Founders fought? 

Today, most Americans have been trained to be embarrassed by the “extremist” individualist ethos that made the protection of liberty the primary purpose of government. They have been taught to apologize for the shortcomings of the “rich white men” who led the revolution. A majority of Americans now subscribe to an expansive view of government as both great provider and beneficent leveler. Its primary purpose is to redress unequal or unhappy outcomes, regardless of their source, through wealth redistribution on a scale so vast that it mocks the concept “private property.” 

As for the causes of revolution, we’ve lost sight of them, too. King George III was a champion of laissez-faire compared to the modern cradle-to-grave entitlement state. The swollen capital city named after the man who won our freedom now claims the prize for erecting “a Multitude of new offices” bent on sending out “Swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.” If there is a field of endeavor that the federal government does not yet regulate, subsidize, or penalize, just wait. A new law is only a “crisis” away.

Freedom, liberty, justice and equality comprise the bedrock on which this nation was founded.  We stray from it at our peril.

What Will You Do Without Your Freedom?

“We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their ploughs but to secure liberty for their souls.”—Robert J. McCracken

Right Jabs For Freedom

Politics is not a playground, it’s a battlefield.  Here’s the news you can use from conservative bloggers, not the corporate-controlled stenographers from Central Planning.

Richard Nixon, often accused of being an imperial president, never approached the extent to which we now see President Obama taking extra legal acts to silence his opposition.

Joe Biden’s secret mission.

…if you think Bush using his Constitutional authority to replace U.S. Attorneys is a giant scandal, but shrug your shoulders at the federal government sending guns to Mexico, where drug cartels use them to kill a U.S. Border Patrol agent, then you are a hopeless partisan hack who is literally willing to overlook murder to advance your political agenda.

We all know Chávez is a buffoon, but, as Roger Kimball said, the ridiculous is no laughing matter.

Oh, wait. It’s pink people.

…isn’t it curious that while on his daily fundraising binge Monday, Obama himself had someone privately foot the tab for security at a New Hampshire stop after the locals decided they’d had enough of this freeloader campaigning on the public dime.

So, America bailed out GM and GM has since bailed on America.

What if Hillary Clinton and a couple of deputies in the State Department, The National Security Council, Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the White House, and maybe Senators Durbin and Feinstein were all complicit in Fast and Furious? What if Hillary led the strategic planning? What if the administration wanted to restrict our Second Amendment rights and both she and Barack Obama told us that 90% of the weapons used in crimes in Mexico came from the United States…

What exactly is being purchased with all these Food Stamps? Our rulers won’t say.

No possibility of fraud here! Nothing to see! Move along! 

As the so-called Arab Spring brings yet another Islamic government hell-bent on introducing Sharia law—rather than anything resembling freedom and democracy—it's become glaringly obvious that in its wake the world has not gotten better for anyone, save medieval Muslim fanatics…and nobody knows it better than the almost 50% that voted against Morsi this past weekend.

Take a good look at what you disrespected.

It's never a bad thing when your enemies escape into a delusional state, to a world of their making in which they are in complete control of everything. It makes it more likely that they will cede at least some control over the real world. And it's not only an admission of defeat, but of emotional and mental fragility. Adults don't need to build fantasy worlds to escape the effects of their failures on their precious self-esteem. That's for overgrown children who are used to getting trophies for just showing up.

I wonder how understanding and patriotic they will be when Taxmageddon hits.

Everybody paaaaanic…wait, what? .02 inches worldwide? .08 inches from Hatteras to Boston?

…Brian Williams is a big reason for our national ignorance.

The background music has been the constant refrain that everything wrong is Bush’s fault. Obama continues to sing this tune like some aging vaudevillian barnstorming in the Catskills, desperate for one last round of applause.

More of that homosexual tolerance we keep hearing so much about!

As we ready ourselves to celebrate the Fourth of July, let's remember that nothing has been more dearly purchased than our freedom.