Current events, politics, Uncategorized

True Patriotism in the Sea of Blind Allegiance and Loyalty

In this celebratory year that recognizes 250 years since the signing of our decision to be independent of His Majesty’s Crown, I look at the state of our nation. The day of Jan 6, 2021 saw irate right-wing militias attack what they perceived as an assault on freedom. Today, those same people now act and speak like a private army for a tyrannical leadership. And I would be amiss if I didn’t call out the left-wing groups that have acted in violence during the Trump regimes as the same type of blind allegiance. And the lefts sided administrations have gone against personal Liberty during its various times in office, as much as the right has. But this isn’t about national leadership. It’s about blind allegiance.

A look at a few points of our history. Thomas Gaddis (eventually a full Colonel in the Virginia militia) built Fort Liberty in Monongalia County. He later commanded Prickett’s Fort, Fort Scott, Fort Stradler, Fort Jackson, and Fort Lindley. He was by all definitions a Patriot to the cause of Liberty.

After the war he owned a tavern and distillery. Then the new American government used a tactic for finances that cause one of the main issues with the Crown. Taxes. The new government levied taxes on alcohol (the whiskey tax). Colonel Gaddis, and others, would have none of it and leading a group known as the ‘Whiskey Boys’ became involved with a conflict known as the Whiskey Rebellion. After Washington sent troops and the violence subsided, the tax was repealed by Thomas Jefferson in 1800.

I bring this up for a couple reasons. The first is his positions. First as a man who saw his duty to fight for Liberty from the oppressive Crown. The second, to show his loyalties were not blind allegiance but founded in the cause of liberty against any oppression but a government. First the Crown and then his own. That is PATRIOTISM. Blind allegiance follows a man not on principle, but on ignorance. Following blindly, whether the left like Biden or the right like Trump.

True patriotism follows the idea of Liberty. Nothing else. A true form of the Patriotism that formed a nation was one where calling that national leadership out when they were wrong.

John Adams stated, “But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored,. Liberty once lost is lost forever”. And we see this administration attempting to do that very thing, with help of Congress and the Supreme Court.

Edmund Burke said this, which now is more prevalent now than ever. “The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion”.

And this quote from James Madison may have seen the day of our time. “Liberty and order will never be perfectly safe, UNTIL a trespass on the Constitutional  provisions for either, shall be felt with the same keenness that resents an invasion of the dearest rights, until every citizen shall be an Argus to espy, and an Aegeon to avenge, the unhallowed deed”.  Argus means to be vigilant and espy means to see and catch something wrong. Aegeon was a Greek myth about a giant who was always powerful enough to punish them who crossed him. In Madison’s quote, he is likened to a person who see violations to the Constitution and seeks to destroy the perpetrator of such a crime.

Thomas Paine, who gave us the tracts of Common Sense and the Rights of man said this. “He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself”.

And today, in this political climate, It makes the words of Thomas Jefferson ring even louder. “Timid men…prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of Liberty”. Despotism is the form of government leadership where consolidation power is help by one specific person or group and rules with absolute power. Does that sound familiar? It should.

I have been called a non-patriot for opposing the current leading regime. But I have opposed the last few on many points of their administrations. Does this remove the term of Patriot from me. No. By definition in word, in ideology, and by the actions of my forefather, like Col Thomas Gaddis (my ancestor), I and many like me, meet the very definition of Patriot. The defender of Liberty no matter where the threat to it comes from.

So, for those that give blind allegiance to one side or the other, you are no more than a LOYALIST. Definitely NOT a Patriot in any meaning or sense of the title.

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Current events, faith, Human Right, Uncategorized

The Nation that Killed Itself

There are a few things I have learned in the 5 decades I have been on this rock. And usually, that wisdom tends to upset quite a few. One learns that when you speak through gained wisdom or a truth, that those that yell the loudest fit into 2 categories. The first is the ones who have to face in themselves what they have tried to hide. The other is one who has no true concept of decency or compassion beyond themselves. And nothing brings that out of people more than the discussion of Human Rights or faith.

For me, they go together, which tends to upset both liberal and conservative. I have defended Human Rights for decades. My generation started with things like the end of nuclear weapons, end of Apartheid in South Africa, AIDS research, and famine. And for the younger generation, this was the things Gen X stood for. The term Boomers actually is the generation before mine. Please get it right. Because they fought for things like Civil Rights, the end of the war in Vietnam, and Women’s Rights. The generation before that (The Greatest Generation) stopped the regimes that slaughtered millions of Jews and Gentiles.

You are not the first generation to see an issue and demand change. But, the change you seek will not be won through the burning of cities, the ending of law enforcement, or screaming like fools because your safe space and preferred gender are not respected. And to be honest, there are more important things in this world to deal with than your feelings and self imposed ego of pretend superiority.

Why a people and culture that is almost 200 years removed from slavery, it is still a global issue. Things like forced child labor and the Caste system in India, the sex trade, forced domestic and farmer workers, and the mines that produce blood diamonds. So while you have the freedom to act like babies wanting a bottle because you can’t be called by the pronoun you choose, people truly suffer and die at the whim of those that think they have the right to commit these atrocities against mankind.

You scream that abortion is a Human Right. But the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1948 list the number one Human Right as the Right to Life. Because without life, no other right can exist. It matters because every life matters. You have no problem screaming that no life matters until all lives matter yet willingly defy science and demand the right to the most innocent lives on this planet.

The original founding of this nation and the laws they placed for the safety and common good, are solely based upon the Ten Commandments of God. For those who deny that fact need to read the words, speeches, and letters of our Founding Fathers.

And Conservatives you are just as bad. Nationalism, in historical context, has bred nothing but hatred. Germany during the early to mid 20th century is the best example of the evil that comes from a nationalist mindset. And no matter how you want to view it, the assault on the hallowed halls of Congress was not only insurrection, but treason. For the veterans and politicians that were involved in the assault, you defied your oath. Those that got jail time, probation, or nothing should feel extra happy about the light sentence. Treason against the government is a death penalty offense.

And Christians, you are the worst of all. The far right church has come to the point that you not only love the sinner but condone the sin. The far right church has come to the point of hating both. Yes, God loves everyone, hence the price of the Cross for redemption of man. But, like all other systems of justice, there is punishment as well as reward based upon actions of the person. But I find the far right church has forgotten whom they follow. As followers of Christ we are suppose to help those in need. Christ did not say only if they agree with you, only if they are from the same nation, the same color, the same gender, or the same anything as you. All he said was go help. Love those that hate and persecute you. Aid those that are hungry, weak, in jail, etc.

I am appalled at the people of this nation. The extremes on both sides scream and yell to force their viewpoint without regard how it affects the whole. But I’m more appalled at the majority in the center. Those that see the good options that lean both left and right as is warranted depending on the issue. Why? Because they are the majority but choose to remain quiet.

In another article, I will explain what I believe would be a good and centered position is on many things that cause contention in today’s political climate. And why they would work and the benefits. But right now, both sides need to get their heads out of their backside orifices and the center needs to get their heads out of the sand.

Every great power as fallen into the sands and abyss of time. Many from the inside not an outside enemy. And this nation is going the same way. I see and hear, God make this nation great again. He has lifted his hand of protection from this land because we have become what we once, as a nation, fought against. The Scriptures say there will come a time when man will be left to his reprobate mind and God will allow a nation to feel his wrath. We are there.

This nation will eventually fade into history and another shall take our place on the world stage. And it will not be from an attack or natural disaster. It will be from the combined extreme egos and mindset this nation now holds above logic and compassion. We used to be a nation that believed in the words on the Statue of Liberty in the poem, The Tempest. We used to fight for liberation of the oppressed. But we have allowed hatred of those from outside our borders and systems of injustice inside our borders to overrule common sense and common decency.

So when this nation falls, as it will if we don’t change our path and actions as a whole people, we shall have nobody to blame but ourselves.

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