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April 14, 2009
Some Thoughts on Tea Parties...
My husband and I are going to attend our local tea party, and I encourage everyone to think about doing the same (you can find location information at TeaPartyDay.com or TaxDayTeaParty.com).
There’s something very special about being able to participate in an event of this magnitude. On one day, millions of Americans across the fruited plains will gather near their homes; they will represent all walks of life, all ethnic backgrounds. Some will be natural born citizens, others will be naturalised. There will be the young and old, families with children, couples and singles alike. But we will all be united, despite these disparate origins, in our frustration at the punitive taxes that we are forced to pay and the poor representation we have suffered at the hands of our elected officials.
When my husband and I join our fellow Americans on April 15th, it will be a moving event. For me, I see it nothing less than a recommitment (by me) to the original goals of our Great Republic, a sign of respect to our noble Founding Fathers, and acknowledgement that the principles that this great land was founded on are sound and true. They are as real and important today as they were in 1776, when a group of men, attending the Second Continental Congress, enshrined some of the most beautiful sentiments ever expressed by man:
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 so one of the greatest stories of the human race began its inexorable march to resolution, driven by the supreme conviction held by the inhabitants of the American colonies that those who are governed are not mere playthings of the powerful, but the embodiment of power itself. That such a contract as exists between the government and the governed is a bond that the people enter into freely, but may choose to dissolve when their free will dictates that the mandates of the government are in precise conflict with the interests of the People, and in direct contradiction to the Rights granted us by God and Nature.
It was no small thing that our Founding Fathers did, in essence signing their names to a treasonous warrant that marked them and their families as enemies of the King. They were thoughtful men, among the most educated of their time, many of them successful in their chosen field, whether it be physician, farmer or businessman. They had a great deal to lose in the calculus of revolution and opposition to the British Empire, and a positive outcome - against the superior power and numbers of the British army - seemed inconceivable.
Their intelligence and moral feeling required them to act, to irrevocably enshrine the notions of Liberty as separate from the rule of Man, granted as it was by a power higher than that vested in one human by another. The very Nature of man demanded that he be left to pursue his destiny, and governments merely serve to ensure his unimpeded progress on that path. Our Founding Fathers realised that any government that hinders our progress through the imposition of unfair taxation, the passage of laws that contravene the Natural Rights that man possesses or by any other methods at its disposal, ceases to be a government that protects men and becomes a government that enslaves them.
So here we come, full circle. We arrive at a point in our history when the imposition of government regulations and the meddling of politicians interferes with our Right to conduct our affairs; where confiscatory taxation, passed with the purpose of controlling our destinies and stripping us of the Right to self-determination, has encroached improperly into our lives, stultifying our ability to make progress and threatening to subjugate us to the will and whim of others. I feel it necessary then to make a pledge, here, to myself, at this time; to affirm that I believe that Man is on the whole good, and he should be permitted to pursue his life as he sees fit, unfettered by unnecessary interference and legislation by the government, and that such unnatural interference includes, but is not restricted to, predatory taxation with the intent to deprive us of our just earnings.
We have been given a great gift in America, and we are on the cusp of presiding over its demise. No other country has been such a force for good as the country - OUR country - that took shape in the debates during that hot summer of 1776. No country has ever looked inwardly so often, testing its principles, struggling with seemingly irreconcilable circumstances, even going so far as to pit brother against brother in a war that threatened the very survival of the country itself.
Yet we are very nearly about to throw that noble legacy away, to trundle down the path that so many other countries have tried, towards a government not predicated on the notion that our rights are inviolate, but that they are granted at the discretion of the government and as such, may be rescinded at any time.
I hope this is not the case; that I am not one of the unlucky multitude left to mourn the passing of the greatest endeavour of mankind, forced only to look wistfully on the handful of golden years of Liberty that my life was fortunate enough to enjoy, as one might look upon a loved one that has passed from the present and resides merely in memory. It is my obligation to my country, and my morality dictates, that the very least that I can do is join the throng of those exercising one of those sacred rights that men, 233 years ago, fought and died to guarantee.
My God continue to bless the United States of America
Posted by hanyap at April 14, 2009 11:27 AM
Comments
... you are doing a very good thing!......
Posted by: Eric at April 15, 2009 5:07 AM