This Memorial Day is Why We Remember All the Others

2020--The Double Blessing of Liberty, Both Foreign and Domestick

"THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated."--Tom Paine, "The Crisis", December 23, 1776

"The choice is ours.

The power of the local, regional or state authority comes from the expressed consent of the people. As soon as the majority of people deny that consent, those officials and state authoritarians lose all of their power.

A non-compliant snowball becomes an unstoppable freedom avalanche.

Right now, through November 2020, every day is Saint Crispins day.

He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian.’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispian’s day.’
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he today that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

Do not look away.

The power of government comes from the people; or as we say in the U.S. “from the consent of the governed.” When the people lead, the politicians are forced to follow.

Without implied consent the municipal, state or federal government has no power. None.

Liberty is inherent.

The removal of liberty requires consent.

Those who construct the systems of control need to weaponize fear. Fear of arrest; fear of losing a business; fear of losing liberty or financial security. Local, regional and state officials rely on fear. As soon as we the people are no longer fearful, the control ends.

Throw aside the sense of discomfort and bear witness to the evil we oppose. Do not turn your eyes from the hatred focused in our direction. Stand firm amid the solace of our number and resolve to the task at hand."...….

This inspiring post by sundance on the Current Unpleasantness couldn’t help but make me think of Ronald Reagan’s seminal 1964 speech “A Time For Choosing”, made in advocacy of Barry Goldwater and liberty, and against Global Communism.

Now we face Communistic Globalism–both foreign and domestically, right here in our homes, our workplaces, our churches--indeed, in our very faces.

Although made for that day and that circumstance, like Paine's "American Crisis", it still holds up for us today.

Reagan: “As one commentator put it, he’d rather “live on his knees than die on his feet.” And therein lies the road to war, because those voices don’t speak for the rest of us.

You and I know and do not believe that life is so dear and peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery. If nothing in life is worth dying for, when did this begin — just in the face of this enemy? Or should Moses have told the children of Israel to live in slavery under the pharaohs? Should Christ have refused the cross? Should the patriots at Concord Bridge have thrown down their guns and refused to fire the shot heard ’round the world? The martyrs of history were not fools, and our honored dead who gave their lives to stop the advance of the Nazis didn’t die in vain. Where, then, is the road to peace? Well it’s a simple answer after all.

You and I have the courage to say to our enemies, “There is a price we will not pay.” “There is a point beyond which they must not advance.” And this — this is the meaning in the phrase of Barry Goldwater’s “peace through strength.” Winston Churchill said, “The destiny of man is not measured by material computations. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we’re spirits — not animals.” And he said, “There’s something going on in time and space, and beyond time and space, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty.”

You and I have a rendezvous with destiny.

We’ll preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we’ll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.

…You and I have the ability and the dignity and the right to make our own decisions and determine our own destiny.”

This Memorial Day is why we remember all the others. Because our citizen-soldiers gave it all for our freedom, and because that very freedom is hanging in the balance, right here and right now.

That citizen-soldier is now you, too.

Welcome. And remember. Always remember.

Honor

While Memorial Day will always be of, by and for the American people, I also wish to remember all those who stand in the Spirit of Liberty. They are our brothers and sisters from around the world.