Consider That Which Is At Stake And Take A Stand

Some forty-five years ago, perhaps the greatest American Patriot of our time summed up the choice that lay before the people in the 1964 Presidential race. While stumping for the Goldwater campaign, Reagan described the magnitude of the decision as follows:

If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth. And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except to sovereign people, is still the newest and most unique idea in all the long history of man’s relation to man. This is the issue of this election. Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.

Reagan saw so clearly then the reality to which the present generation of the American People are only now beginning to awaken. Throughout history, freedom is by far the exception rather than the rule. Tyranny has been the norm since the beginning of recorded history – likely as far back as cavemen scrawling on cave walls with charcoaled sticks. Only at a few brief points in time has man dabbled in democratic notions, formed Republics, and lived under a system of natural laws, respect for property, and acknowledgement of individual rights. All previous attempts failed. The Democracies denigrated into mob rule and collapsed, the Republics fell victim to corruption and the ambitions of men who had other ideas about how people should be ‘ruled’.
Our Republic, designed by men who spent their waking hours studying all that had been written of previous attempts at democratic rule, human nature, and philosophy, stands today as Reagan’s ‘shining city on the hill’. No doubt the lights of liberty have dimmed significantly with recent events, but the core of the American Experiment still burns on. People are beginning to realize what is at stake. America is exceptional – not as Chairman Obeyme said “American is exceptional in the same way that the British or French see themselves as exceptional” (paraphrased). Obeyme views us, the American People and our system of self-governance, as a European king would have viewed his subjects and such notions – with disdain. I don’t think this could be more plain. Our Republic is still intact, although probably fatally broken if some things aren’t changed soon, we need to remain vigilant and protect, with our last breath, that which remains. That is our duty not just to our forefathers, but to our posterity.
So, in the wake of the Brown victory in Massachusetts, don’t relax or believe that the Marxists will now just fold their tents and embrace the Constitution and the rule of law. They are committed and still in charge. We need to push back, continue to write letters, and demand that they be accountable to us, the American people. Remember, the federal government has no legitimate power other than that which is granted through the Constitution. As Jefferson reportedly said:

The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.

We all need to keep the pressure on through the November elections. Talk to everyone you know even at the expense of alienating them – if they aren’t interested enough to engage in thoughtful debate and take a stand against tyranny, then they are part of the problem facing this country. Stay vigilant and don’t get complacent, there’s a lot of work to be done.

-omb