Independence Day – July 4, 2015

Independence Day – July 4

In the Year of Our Lord, Two Thousand and Fifteen
and of Our Independence, Two hundred and Thirty-Nine

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Gary Hunt
Outpost of Freedom
July 4, 2015

Two hundred and thirty-nine year ago, a handful of men, expressing the sentiments that had already been expressed in over ninety similar declarations, committed to paper a consolidation of those documents that had preceded it, and the will of the people of the 13 British colonies of North America.

After over five years of combat, rag-tag farmers, fighting against the greatest military force in the world at that time, prevailed in a war they believed, with honor, to be “the right thing to do.”

Just about one hundred and fifty-four years ago, again, a test between those who believed that they were right was pitched against others who believed that they were right. The contest, this time, was between those who wanted to preserve a Union and those who believed that States had rights that could not be subordinated to a simple majority in opposition.

This war lasted less than five years, and the side that lost, though they had fought, with honor, because it was “the right thing to do.” And, the side that won also, fought with honor, because it was “the right thing to do.” However, the losing side forgiven by the winning, first at the surrender next by a general amnesty by President Lincoln, and finally, by amnesty granted by President Johnson, because that, too, was “the right thing to do.”

They were also recognized as an honorable foe by those who fought on the winning side, and most of the general population of the northern states, because it was “the right thing to do.” Among all, there was no animosity, except by a handful of those in Congress who chose to punish those who had done what they believed to be “the right thing to do.”

Eventually, Congress relinquished and allowed the punishment known as “Reconstruction” to expire, and we were, finally, whole, again. History recognized that both sides had done what they believed to be “the right thing to do.” And, the country continued to progress, in relative harmony, for another century. During that century, twice the United States was called upon to aid European nations, and to defend herself, because they believe it to be “the right thing to do.”

Since that time, we have started many wars, and we have lost all of them. Perhaps it is because we have left to the government the determination as to what “the right thing to do” is. It is not the will of the people, for they are simply encouraged to wave the flag.

It is the people that have allowed the representatives to become leaders, rather than our “representatives” to follow our will. And, we have allowed then to make the decisions that have lead our country to the despair, the distress that we now find ourselves living with.

For the first time since the end of World War II we find ourselves faced with the question as to just what we need to determine as “the right thing to do”, just as the Americans were called upon to do, in the past.

If we are seeking an answer, perhaps a single sentence from the Declaration of Independence, that first instance of having to determine what “the right thing to do” was, will provide the guidance that had since been lost:

But when long trains 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 for new guards for their future security.

2 Comments

  1. Ray says:

    The north fought with honor? REALLY???? I guess the theft of every southern possession. The theft of every bite of food. The theft or slaughter of every farm animal. The violent occupation of every confederate state by black federal troops until 1877. The endless rape and humiliation of southern women by the federal “armys of hell unleashed”(Mary Chestnut,- 1875) until the threat of a second civil war caused the nearly all black federal rape gangs to be removed. The rigging of state and federal “elections”. The forced imposition of both unconstitutional laws and the illegal manifestation of constitutional amendments by executive fiat. I would guess then you think that was “honor”? Or maybe you believe W.T.Sherman’s “total war” was somehow “honor”. Maybe you have no clue what that word means. Or it could simply be that you don’t know what you are talking about. Given the appalling state of our education “system” that seems most likely. In any event it all but invalidates your assertion as to how many “patriots” are willing to fight for liberty. Because if you don’t know history (you obviously don’t) I must question whether you have any grasp of the state of men’s hearts and minds.

    • ghunt says:

      Many of those who fought for the North fought with honor. The diaries of some of those who joined early, to save the Union, were honorable. Ironically, it appears that most of the abolitionists were less than honorable.
      I grant your point, to some degree. However, there is little doubt that Grant was honorable at Appomattox. The dishonor goes, primarily, to the Congress.

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