Independence Day: America turns 233
Photo credit: (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Patrick W. Mullen III/Released)
How are you celebrating America’s 233 years of freedom? Do this first: Thank all our troops on the front lines and all our veterans who have served and sacrificed for that freedom. The photo above was taken in May in the Helmand province of Afghanistan, where U.S. Marines are continuing Operation Khanjar.
I’ll be counting my blessings along with thousands of others at the Dallas Tea Party at Southfork Ranch later today. Come on down if you are anywhere near the area. The Christian Science Monitor’s Patrick Jonsson has a good recap and overview of Tea Party gatherings across the country. Tea Party Patriots organizers write:
Independence Day is upon us, and the Tea Party Patriots have over 600 events planned all across the nation! From events expecting thousands of people, like Tulare, California, and Dallas, Texas, to small town parades across the nation, the Tea Party Patriots will be out in force celebrating the birth of the greatest nation on earth.
From Ketchikan, Alaska, to Fishkill, New York; from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Sioux Falls, South Dakota; from Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi to Kihei, Hawaii, and hundreds of other locations spanning every great state of this nation, we will be out in force at Fourth of July parades, tea parties, and fireworks displays. From the country fair, to mega celebrations in the cities, the Tea Party Patriots will be present.
As a public service reminder of the reason for the season, I’m reprinting the Declaration of Independence in its entirety. The transcription comes via the National Archives (thank goodness, Sandy Berger hasn’t swiped it yet!)
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton
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I had the distinct privledge of buying drinks and hanging out with about 20 Sailors in Perth the other evening. It really made me miss my time in the Army.
One year too many for Obama and crowd.
I just finished watching the first half of “John Adams” with my eleven year old son. He’s an American history buff, thank goodness; Lord knows he won’t be taught this subject in school.
It’s remarkable how over 230 years has passed and yet many parallels exist in today’s society as did back then. Do you fight for freedom, or do you submit and conform?
Do you hold together as a country, or do you allow a few weak-kneed individuals to hinder your defense and prosperity?
What would John Adams, Sam Adams, Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson think of Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Frank and Dodd? (I think I know…)
Nevertheless, happy Independence Day to all. May we manage to stay free and strong in this dangerous world.
God bless you all and God help us in our time of need. Regardless of the jackasses running this country we will prevail! USA, USA, USA!
Isn’t it amazing that when Liberals get together, all they talk about is how much they hate America – even when they are running it.
Conservatives, on the other hand, talk about how much they love our great nation even when it is being run by those who actually hate it.
At some point today, raise your glasses to the United States.
I’m with tbear44: USA USA USA!
Happpy Birthday USA! Today in her honor I will read aloud the copy of the Declaration of Independence. I will attend Mass today too and thank God for His blessing on this great nation.
“He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.”
Sounds familiar, only now they’re czars…
Happy Independence Day to all, may God continue to bless the USA.
Excellent point CiE!!
I am sure others have noticed that if you change a few names, the Declaration of Independence could be used by the people against our current leaders in D.C.
Have a safe journey to Southfork Michelle; convey all of our best wishes.
For all of our brave fighting men and women past and present, especially those engaged with our enemies this Independence Day I pray, May God the Father Almighty, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob Bless you and keep you safe.
Happy Independence Day to all!
USA USA USA…
Isn’t it amazing how good of a job they did sticking to the original book without adding a whole lot of liberal messages. Paul Giamatti really surprised me with that role.
Appointed without Senate confirmation thus accountable only to His ObamaShip. The first American Czar I recall was Energy Czar–during the first oil crisis in 1973; then we had the Drug Czar–is that like a Drug Lord? These super appointed/anointed Czars are a bad thing for a Republic-something to remember on the Fourth of July and others. We have been drifting towards an Imperial Presidency for years-stop it.
So we celebrate our Independence, remember to Avoid Foreign Entanglements and tell He Who Has Come: You may be a citizen of the world–I am an American. Get off my lawn.
233 years…. If the Founding Fathers came back today, for a visit, they would be amazed that we have lasted this long, since we were so weak at the time, amid a lot of strong countries, and the principles laid down were so radically new; yet saddened at the corruption of those principles for money and power. They would also be amazed at our status in the world. We nearly lost it all in our “2nd Revolution” in 1815. But, all in all, I think they would be pleased, especially Jefferson, that we hold his document so dear after all these years. But he and others, like Paine and Henry, would be saddened by the loss of states’ rights. Most were very concerned over a strong central government. I hope year 234 brings good news of our “reaching back” to the principles they set down. It’s something we can all strive for. Meanwhile, my flag is outside and waving. It’s my country and I love it still.
Wish I were anywhere close to Dallas, but I’ll be celebrating here in Wisconsin instead.
tbear44,
Dittos.
Have a safe and enjoyable 4th of July celebration everyone! I started watching the History Channels American Revolution last night and it is amazing the parallels in history we face today against our own bloated and despotic Government run by arrogant clueless bureaucrats thinking that they are a new class of royalty. For those of us attending the Tea Parties throughout this nation remember to avoid any “imperial entanglements” by playing nice with the local authorities.
May God continue to bless this country as he watches over our troops risking their lives on foreign soil protecting those of us at home while setting other people free of the despotic tyranny of the Taliban!
Happy Independence Day all. God bless America
The Declaration of Independence is as valid today as it was when it was written. Far too many liberal educators see it, and our Constitution, as ancient history, they do not teach them with the zeal they were taught years ago. If they teach them at all.
On this Birthday let your voices be heard as they were heard in England over 200 years ago. Let the tyrants of today fear our voices, for they must know that there are people here today that are just as willing to “pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor” in order to take ‘our’ country back from the socialist tyrants and make our government conform to the ideals ‘we the people’ have fought and died for these past two centuries.
I plan on attending the Tea Party in Woodbridge today. I thank God for my blessings and I pray for our men and women in harms way. Today the Shield of Freedom stands tall (Semper P). My standard is flying high.
Have a great day everyone
No taxation without representation!
The only thing the elected officials in my state represent is a rubber stamp for Nancy Pelosi.
Odumbo will probably appoint Al Franken to be the Czar Czar–will keep him busy and reduce his potential distraction to all those esteemed colleagues on the left.
May God continue to bless our nation and protect our troops in harms way as we reflect on this day. Be safe everyone and enjoy your day.
I hope that a year from now we will be able to wish ourselves a happy 234th — but I’m having serious doubts.
I’m sure anyone who’s deployed to Iraq has met these fine people. These are folks who “get” it.
Stayed up way too late watching the History Channel as well. Seems our locals have always held those that would impose tyranny in contempt. It didn’t work then, and won’t work today. The worst of times always produces leaders that will steer us away from those that hold hopes of destroying our freedom.
God Bless the United States of America, it’s citizens and our men/women of the armed forces.
Happy 4th of July all! We are blessed living in the greatest nation. Sometimes we disagree but we all love this great county, the United States of America, young and old! If you think of it as you are going about your day donate a couple of cans of food at your nearest food bank. The food banks are having trouble keeping up this year. It doesn’t matter if you are right or left, rich or poor, white or black, and young or old … it is the right thing. Happy 4th of July, the United States of America!
Happy Independence Day!! The Declaration of Independence is just as relevant today as it was 233 years ago. I was able to see the most interesting exhibit at the Library of Congress on the creating of the US and how the Declaration was created. I urge everyone to go online to view that exhibition, I think you’ll find it fascinating.
Creating the US
I see entirely too many parallels between our government today and the tyrannical government of King George III. In a way it is disheartening because there are many people who have the attitude of choosing the evil you know as opposed to the one you don’t. OTOH, I am heartened by everyone who reaches back to the Founding Fathers and embraces their principles and ideas. I truly think there would be many more of us embracing those principles if they were not so ignorant of the danger of their complacency.
I’ll be celebrating this glorious day at the Memphis Tea Party, at a most appropriate place, Patriot Lake. Have a great day everyone!
Went to my tea party in Midland, MI last night. Took hubby and my conservative schnauzer too
It was great and didn’t get to go back in April. I am energized and proud to be a conservative govt. special education teacher! Happy Independence Day.
Thank you thank you THANK YOU to all soldiers and servicemen and women that have served and protected our great country!!!!
Barry Hussein Soetoro and family are still celebrating Juneteenth they could care less about the 4th of July.
This is one thread that lgm will probably not be interested in.
Therefore, Happy Birthday USA, land of the free and home of the brave! God bless us all (and forgive us of what we did last November).
And with a gay pride month hangover.
In honor of this great country. This morning I put up the Betsy Ross flag and under it the Gadsden flag. Happy Birthday America. Now it’s off to the TEA PARTY.
Question: Why did the current National Archivist (someone who presumably has free reign within the National Archives) choose to have Clinton-nominated Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg speak at his Investiture as the Ninth Archivist of the United States on March 7, 2005? Ginsberg’s words are haunting to me, knowing that the archivist could destroy any record of our past that they find “inconvenient”:
Truth: This new Archivist of the United States, Allen Weinstein, a man who wrote a book on Soviet Espionage, joked in his own remarks that day:
Question: Has Dr. Weinstein’s “essential work” as Archivist been to complete the job that Sandy Berger started?
It is astounding to look back and see how far the vision of our Founding Fathers has taken us. Our Constitution has stood for 220 years with only 27 amendments, ten of them that first year alone. Our contributions to the arts and sciences have immeasurably enriched civilization. Indeed, our scientists have won hundreds of Nobel Prizes. We set a standard of living the rest of the world aspires to even in these hard economic times. I’ll leave my gripes for another day. Today is to celebrate being an American.
“God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside Her,
and guide Her,
thru the night,
with a light from above…”
Happy Independance Day to all of you Patriots out here. May God Bless each and every one of you. Please do not forget our brave men and women who are in harm’s way at this very moment fighting for our freedom.
oh no couldn’t do that…he only wants czar’s who answer directly to him and not congress or anybody else for that matter…can’t have a member of congress as a czar…the commodian would have to give up his hard fought senate seat…
Good words ErinF, for keeping us on the march.
America, God bless her and maybe through all the trials of today, He will make her stronger.
This is becoming increasingly applicable in the USA. Many of the complaints against King George are being perpetrated against the American people. Unless we stand up to correct this, the rest of the list will eventually apply. We can correct it now with a lot of hard work or wait and suffer unimaginable pain later.
Stress:
Cause- the unnatural suppressing of the natural urge to choke these +@#% Liberals into unconsciousness.
Treatment-choke these +@#% Liberals into unconsciousness.
I hope this helps.
Off to the Tea Party–enjoy the Fourth.
***
Reading the Declaration Of Independence and the Constitution should be done by all persons every 4th. of July. Clear, concise, a declaration of war–made by American Patriots who fought and died to give us our liberty.
***
This Congress was one you could believe in. Not there to enrich themselves and their cronies at taxpayers expense. Not trashing our country–undermining it from within and helping out our real enemies in the world.
***
The 1776 Patriots would cry if they could see how far into the sewer our “democratic’ / liberal / socialist / marxist / communist Congress has fallen.
***
One name is missing from the list of the signers of the Declaration. George Washington didn’t sign it–he was too busy MAKING IT HAPPEN! He was one of the guiding lights of the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention that gave us our freedom. No midnight amendments, no lack of discussion, no “sweetheart” deals put into a document that was voted into law without having been read and fought over by all members.
***
Thank you George Washington–and thank the Patriotic Military who gave us this country–and still fight and die to protect it.
***
Keep the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution handy–we may be needing it again soon after President Obama (PBUH) and his minions finish trashing our country.
***
I’m going to the nearby Las Cruces, NM. TEAPARTY this afternoon–El Paso, Tx. wimped out on ours. I attended the April 15 th. event here–and though it must have looked a lot like 1776 when the American People woke up and took back their liberty. TEAPARTY DOWN, DUDES–AND DUDETTES!
***
John Bibb
***
It is with gratitude to my patient web-developer, and no small sense of hope and gravity, that I announce on this most fitting of days…
http://starvethebeast.net/index.html
is launched. It has polishing to be done, and I expect will be expanded soon.
But here it is.
I would value your input.
The ultimate irony: a Black, liberal, Plantation, President.
For me today is ‘Flag Remembrance’ day.
Happy Independence Day, Everyone!
(And thanks for printing the Declaration of Independence. I haven’t had a chance to look for it in the Washington Times yet.)
Happy 4th, everyone.
God Bless America.
Watching the American Revolution on the Hisotry Channel. The winter at Valley Forge is being shown. We owe those patriots more than we can ever imagine.
God bless their memory. May their sacrifices never be forgotten.
*** Happy 4th of July! ***
GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!
I’m not much in the mood to celebrate. We can’t board an airplane without ID and a body search. We can’t drive a car without 3 pieces of paper in our possession. The government watches all our electronic financial activity. They monitor all our web visits. Watch this,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULhWst1SBYc and tell me that printing political material is safe.
Land of the free? Free from what? Free to pick our leaders? Anybody who watched the media manipulate the last election and still believes we small-government types have a chance in Hades must believe in miracles.
Our forefathers died so that the liberal whiners of today could drone on about how Europe is so much better than we are?
Sorry, but I’m not celebrating today. I’m crying. Call me when the revolution starts, and I don’t mean Iran’s.
Rags,
This is a bold step. I pray for your – and our – success. I did notice a typo on your faq under faq #1:
“I cannot be done”
should be
“It cannot be done”
On July 4th, 2009 at 1:19 pm, MarcoPolo said:
Marco, I think you need to look around you and see all of the blessings you have. Every generation of Americans have faced challenges.
Now it is our turn. Be resolute and principled. Our freedom will only be lost when we allow someone to take it. I doubt you will let anyone will do that to you.
Happy Independence Day.
I for one will be flying my flag up side down this year for the first time in my lifetime.
The Congress and our President do not care about the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence any longer.
They are busy forming the New World Order and systematically destroying the middle class.
I for one think if the founders were able to come back today they would be disgusted that the USA has been turned into a fascist police state run by elitists.
Thomas Jefferson- “I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical”.
IMHO-I think we have reached the point where we are going to have to refresh the tree of liberty once again.
That this day marks the beginning of the end of American Progressivism, I wish all freedom-loving Patriots a happy and fruitful Independence Day!
I am starting a tradition in my home…we will watch, as a family, the movie,
Live Free, or Die Hard
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!
Bless those 56 men that started the greatest country in the history.
T
Thank you, Jet. I appreciate your prays and support.
The typo is one I commonly make, and I’ll get it corrected.
I hope you will consider signing up at some point. Please remember, this is an to be an organization that includes as lot of people, and they don’t all have to go the whole nine yards.
I will continue to value your comments, and any input that you could offer.
I think it is high time for a little revolution.
Hartford, CT Tea Party update–about 2000 attended. Event usurped by CT Libertarian Party. After bashing Bush, promoting drug legalization and defunding the military the crowd booed them off the stage. No mention of cap and trade, Obamocare etc. etc. One good critique of Dodd.
Two of my favorite movies for any day including the 4th of July:
The Patriot-Mel Gibson
John Adams-Produced by Tom Hanks
BTW
Not a word about all the Tea Parties being held today on FoxNews and other state run media.
Disgusting, FoxNews is becoming just like the rest of the media.
You would think with 600 tea parties this would be big news and a ratings grabber for them.
Just a quick report on two TEA Parties I attended in the Houston Area:
The North Houston TEA Party was in a venue outside of Conroe, Texas, that was covered but open. Hence is was just hot…as opposed to HOT.
I have asked for a head-count, but so far nothing has been forthcoming. I will try to reach the organizers again today. From my very inexpert observation, it was pretty well attended. There was a LOT of coming and going, though. I was somewhat disappointed in some of the presentations. I saw NO broadcast media presence, but I could have missed them.
The Houston TEA Party was held in an open park, with very little shade available. It was HOT. Many people in attendance, though again I was not able to get anyone to give me a head-count. Like the first, much coming and going. The presentations were better, IMNHO. No broadcast media were present, by my observation. I did not see any local news, since I left at the end of the event and had a long drive home.
There is another event in Katy today, but I have decided I have to tend to my own knitting today.
As I value yours, rags. But I have to say I’m apprehensive on this course for a couple of reasons:
I believe strongly in the rule of law, and don’t believe at this point that the system is irretrievably broken. Though I agree in principle with Starve the Beast, I would not participate until lawful options were exhausted. A new conservative party? A genuine conservative leader unRINOing the GOP? Don’t know for sure, but am not yet ready to break the law.
I also doubt this will gain a strong grass roots following, partly because of the reason above, and partly because people will be fearful of repercussions. Will a substantial number of people be willing to put their businesses, reputations, careers, credibility etc. on the line to make this stand – based on assurances that a vague legal team will be available to help them? My guess is not likely.
I’m with PasadenaPhil re: the “We’re so screwed” camp. The death of conservatism was proclaimed in ’60, ’64, ’76, ’92 and of course now. I don’t buy it. All the noise about Dear Leader’s super high approval rating is a myth. Looking at all the president’s ratings since FDR, Barry’s job approval at 6 months in is well below average and sinking fast. People are turning in droves from Obamania.
Just my 2 cents. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m heading to the Atlanta tea party. I think we agree there.
To both those propositions, I heartily agree.
It is BECAUSE I believe in the rule of law I have chosen this course. This is not anarchy…quite the opposite. But there is a hierarchy of laws, in my mind, and the fundamental law is our charter (the Constitution). We are faced at times with which law to abide. For us to say we must abide any law is to admit that we are slaves.
Our system is not irrevocably broken, or I would be a fool to attempt to work within it to amend it.
The goal here is not to destroy anything, but to correct it, using the procedures the system…our Constitutional system…offers us.
On July 4th, 2009 at 2:59 pm, Ragspierre said:
That, of course, is the great question and the great gamble.
“We pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor…”
How many Americans today have those words written in their hearts?
How many would risk even a few hundred dollars in fines?
How many of us have the sand to simply say “no” when it manifestly needs to be said?
I don’t know. I can only hope that the ideals so many espouse here are not merely rhetoric, and that they have retained the spirit and capacity to fight what they know is wrong. To that end, I am working to provide a tool we can use in a moral way.
Thank you very much. I cannot think of my children and grandchildren and do nothing.
Re: rightisright
Here is a link to your passage,
Price Paid
Ragspierre
About 4500 people in Conroe on Thursday night, a hot, beginning of a Holiday weekend in which still this many people showed up!
Thanks Michelle for the column and hope you enjoyed Dallas. We have two REALLY strong movements in Houston, one in North and one Downtown and hope you will join us at one or the other some where along this course.
Rule of law is what this all about, the same rules that Jefferson and countless other founders envisioned.
We stressed numerous times at our party and will continue to stress, this is not Dem or Rep, this is about priniciples.
Stand up people and get out of you home and make your voice and more importanly your presence felt!
The “strong grass movement” has already occurred and is continuing as we type, so I hope you will get up and jump in with us. I do agree with you that when push comes to shove, there may be some resemblance to a local militia in the fight for independence, but with the loss of jobs, income and our way of life I feel the response will be a counter-effort that will be unstoppable.
UPDATE:
Homemade icecream is curing, hot dogs are fixin’ to roll around the grill, bbq coon just came off the spit, kids are sorting thru their fireworks, chili con queso’s in the crockpot, and Old Glory is flapping in the southern breeze! Y’all stop by…plenty to go ’round!
You would never know today was Independence day in NYC= everything is open as usual. except there are like 10 people in the street.
This is my second independence day celebration this year. I mention this only because of the contrast. I was visiting my dad in Israel in April and happened to be there on their memorial day which is followed by indepenence day. all stores and restaurants are closed (except in the arab neighborhoods). Memorial Day is absolutely heartbreaking. It begins on the night before with an air raid siren and everyone stands still for the minute that it blares. There is an official ceremony followed by 24 hours of documentaries and mini bios on all of the tv stations of the soldiers that have fallen since 1948. The whole country is shut down and they focus on their fallen heros. I never felt anything like it. I couldn’t help contrasting how memorial day is celebrated here. i wish it was more like that instead of commercialism. At the end of the day there is another siren, there is another ceremony and independence day begins. the next day is all about cookouts and fireworks.
i find today to be horribly depressing. i never thought i would see this country go down this road. 3.5 more years of this?!?!? ugh.
Sounds good, Jangar. My wife is not American (Indonesian) and very interested in American history. She’s been glued to the tv watching “The Revolution” on the HistoryChannel, taking notes, and ceaseless in her questions. I’m cooking tex-mex tonight. Tomorrow will be with my daughters and g-children for a cookout. Anyway, she’s walked and toured all the Revolution’s battlefields (including Hubbarton) as well as many CW battlefields. I say this because she is an example of an immigrant who loves her new country and wants to learn all about its principles; something many born-American citizens find boring. I feel the average American citizen couldn’t hold a candle to her in a discussion of the FFs and its beginnings. Conservative? You bet. Say the words “Clinton” or “Obama” around her will get a frown for you. I get depressed over the state of things today, but she is always optimistic. She struggles many times with English, so she leans on me. I lean on her for her optimism. Makes every 4th a day to remember.
Gosh, what a blessing in your life!
I’ve had the wonderful experience of attending a naturalization ceremony. I felt as though I was in the company of MY people. Some of the folks there had gone through hell and high water just to be there, and many of them had family who died in the struggle.
It is not an experience I can repeat often, because I cry like a baby.
My regards to you and your worthy wife.
Good sign for Palin today. McCain issued the following statement two hours ago:
McCain never would have made such a statement unless the GOP was concerned that she is about to work outside of the GOP. Stay tuned. I think this is going to get interesting. The establishment was united in trashing her every move and every statement and had her trapped in Alaska. Now she is free to roam the country and can demonstrate to everyone how much of a following she really has.
As to today’s Tea Party in Pasadena, I counted about 150-200 in attendance and like the others I attended, spirited but well-behaved, family picnic atmosphere (so there MSNBC perverts!). That’s actually pretty good considering how hard it is to park out here. It would have been better had the activities been conducted closer to the street so people could read the signs and honk their horns in support. I didn’t see any new signs we haven’t seen before hence no pictures to submit.
The Good news: My wife and I attended the Tea party gathering in Hillsboro, Oregon today. There were about 300 of us plus 1 Pomeranian. We marched in the 1 1/2 mile long Independence day parade,and this was by far the largest group. At the Tea Party rally afterward there were about 500 people.
The bad news: This group of Tea Party supporters are the only people in the state that are against higher taxes, and government infringement on individual rights. And
PravdaThe Oregonian will of course report our numbers today were in the low teens.Our Founding Fathers fought against “Taxation without representation.”. Today, with all the government entitlements buying the votes of those who are all to happy to receive them,it should be “No representation without taxation!”.
Happy birthday America!
A good friend of ours had a baby girl at 1am this morning …little firecracker!
As Rush put it – Happy Dependence Day (53% of) America
That’s great, Jangar. “Little firecracker” will be a good nickname.
I see that Michael Jackson will be replaced, in the news, by Steve McNair. Seems a day doesn’t go by lately, without someone well-known, passing away.
Allow me to give that a little context, via the embedded link:
For those who won’t follow the link…
“The Light From Above“.
Less than four months before John Hancock put his signature on that document, he put his signature on this document:
The Library of Congress Document Image
The Library of Congress Transcript
reverenddon, not sure of the point you were trying to make if any in your reply to my post about “the signers…” . Your reply can be taken as to make the accusation my post is a lie referring to the 56 signers. I did not say what happened to these men was a direct result of their signing the document, it was to make people remember these men for the most part made great sacrifices of themselves and their families in general. Was that an attempt on your part and “snopes” to call these signers frauds?
Also a word to the wise, when using data from “Snopes” do so with caution, that site is not necessarily friendly to the conservative thought, but may be friendly to your way of thinking. Snopes plays with their words, semantics, their words not so much to refute the subject directly, but to leave one wondering what is the truth without being bold enough to call the subject a falsehood, while all the time wanting the reader to buy each and every word of theirs.
It’s good to see that people here know that the USA is 233. I attended a ceremony in Philadelphia earlier today in which Gov. Ed Rendell said four or five times that we were celebrating our 209th birthday. The kids sitting with me caught the mistake right away and, depending on their ideologies, had to stifle giggles or groans.
Well, sorta…
We were organized under the Articles of Confederation for 11 years, until 1787. It was the generally recognized failure of the Articles that led to the Constitutional Convention.
I have no idea where anyone got 209 years…
Spent the first part of the day skyping with our son in Iraq. We then went to the local parade where we marched with the Blue Star Mom’s and then with the Knights of Columbus followed by a relaxing BBQ.
God Bless all the men and women serving our Great Country. Happy Birthday USA!!!
Obama: Happy Birthday Sesame Street, Hammy , Happy Birthday America.
http://deerlakevideo.com/never-forget/
Radical Pelosi type Liberals don’t bother clicking the link below because you still won’t get it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VgKdlWAYyw&feature=related
I was thinking about Tom Hanks today after watching part 4 or John Adams.
Hanks leaves me confused.
How does a person pour his heart and soul into such pro-American projects as John Adams, Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, and then turn around and use his prestigious name to get a socialist, marxist, muslim dictator-wannabe into the Oval Office, thereby deteriorating everything our Greatest Generation (and patriots before WW2) shed their blood for?
I just don’t get the man. He’s an enigma to me, and unfortunately I have lost respect for him after he came out so loudly for obama.
On July 5th, 2009 at 4:00 pm, ErinF said:
John Adams-Produced by Tom Hanks
I was thinking about Tom Hanks today after watching part 4 or John Adams.
Hanks leaves me confused.
How does a person pour his heart and soul into such pro-American projects as John Adams, Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, and then turn around and use his prestigious name to get a socialist, marxist, muslim dictator-wannabe into the Oval Office, thereby deteriorating everything our Greatest Generation (and patriots before WW2) shed their blood for?
I just don’t get the man. He’s an enigma to me, and unfortunately I have lost respect for him after he came out so loudly for obama.
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HI RAGSPIERRE–good luck on your new enterprise web site.
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Also–there are still a lot of people who pledge their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to defend our country and it’s Constitution.
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They are the U.S. MILITARY–I took that oath as a 23 year old Army draftee 45 years ago. It stuck–and I will honor it until the day I die.
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John Bibb
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$
Can’t believe we allow this to happen in the USA!
http://tinyurl.com/mcumhn