"These are the times that try men's souls."
Thomas Paine, one of many patriots in America's fight for independence, wrote that famous opening sentence in The American Crisis, and it is indeed a fitting statement for our times, I believe. While I did not engage in gavel-to-gavel viewing of either political convention, from the social media comments and slanted media reporting of events in Cleveland and Philadelphia, I have come to the conclusion that the "great American experiment" is in its final throes of life.
The pundits drilled into our heads that the Republican party was fractured and its eventual presidential nominee is too much a "loose cannon, angry, unprincipled and shady businessman" who has no experience for the "top job in the land." On the other hand, it seems that the Democrats were more fractured and divided: Bernie supporters were very openly told to "get over" their beliefs and support an "untrustworthy, lying, unscrupulous" woman who has never worked outside of government in her life (even her legal career was attached to some government entity or another), but somehow has the experience for the "top job in the land."
America has drifted very far from the early years of our republic and the reasons why our ancestors embraced the noble cause of freedom, to the point that we now find ourselves at a crossroads. As over the top as this may sound, that crossroads will take us either to renewed freedom or total enslavement.
Consider: the continuation of Mr. Paine's opening paragraph describes in very simple, yet clear, language how tyranny grows in a society, and, in my opinion, like a cancer in the human body, "is not easily conquered." Once given an opening, tyranny becomes an all-consuming monster until, left unchecked, fully enslaves its victim....in this instance the United States. For some perspective we only have to look at the spread of government influence in our lives to see that our situation is dire.
Mr. Paine wrote, focusing his attention on the "tyrant" Great Britain, that she "has declared that she has a right (not only to tax) but 'to bind us in all cases whatsoever.'" Is there not a resemblance today? Has not our federal government become the Great Britain of our age?
When our elected representatives, in the early part of the 20th century, allowed for the creation of the Federal Reserve System, with the power to tax, the nation put itself on a path to destruction. For in that one action, Americans were placed on that slippery slope to slavery. Mind you, it was not easy; even cancer has a difficult time progressing when the body itself is healthy and strong. So, with the help of a Congress that has abdicated its Constitutional authority, this tyranny -- this cancer -- has metastasized to other parts of our national body and now we find ourselves bound in just about "all cases" -- all aspects of our lives: education, housing, public welfare, health -- there does not seem to be a part of our lives that does not have the stench of this tyranny on us.
The very sad thing is that the failsafe, that antidote called the Bill of Rights which is the chemotherapy our country needs, is somehow too costly and painful for Americans to embrace. States rights? ....they have none when the Supreme Court reverses decisions on matters that are Constitutionally reserved to the states. Freedom of speech? ....well, that depends on what you say. Religious freedom? ....only (it seems) if the religious beliefs are subjugated to the will of the state. The right to keep and bear arms? ....only if you report everything to some government body to regulate.
It goes on and on, and "we the people" have an ever-diminishing voice as the cancer of tyranny, emboldened by division and class warfare, now rapidly moves to take the very breath of liberty from us.
Perhaps we as a nation have come too far from those days of our ancestors, and we have obtained too easily the freedoms previous generations of Americans fought to preserve, and therefore, as Mr. Paine says, we "esteem it too lightly." While the trendy idea would be to place blame of some sort or another as to why and how this happened, it is really in our own best interest to remove ourselves from the comfort zone of victimization and toward the active task of treating this cancer before it consumes us.
Should we as a nation truly believe in the ideals of freedom, then we must, as Mr. Paine again says, embrace that our current situation is that of our own making and that "by perseverance and fortitude we have the prospect of a glorious issue;" and freedom will yet ring again between our borders; but that, by doing nothing, "by cowardice and submission, the sad choice of variety of evils - a ravaged country -- a depopulated city -- habitations without safety, and slavery without hope" will be our lot.
I know that many will not subscribe to the picture I have painted of our current reality, but I hope some will see that my heart and affection for what was bought by the price of blood and nurtured by the dreams and ideals of our ancestors is true and pure. I can only add that at this crossroads, we can somehow find our way back, or, to conclude with Mr. Paine, we shall "look on this picture and weep over it! And if there yet remains one thoughtless wretch who believes it not, let him suffer it unlamented."
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