Interesting Times

That old Chinese curse--May you live in interesting times.  Up until now I had dismissed out of hand Panarin's assertion that the United States would fall into civil war within the next few years; and yet when I see the heat and hatred rising out of the different forums I frequent, I am truly beginning to think that our country is indeed in grave danger.

So who is going to stand up for the United States?  I'm not so simplistic to think it will be one party, one religion, one way of thinking.  I don't care for the politcally correct mandates for diversity, social justice and green oriented redistribution of wealth; but it is equally as clear that difference is good--otherwise the gene pool gets too shallow.  Ultimately the message that is most clear to me is what rings out of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  Freedom from tyranny.  Freedom from religious persecution.  Freedom of speech.  The ultimate right to bear arms to defend and protect you and yours, your life, your country. 

What was the Revolutionary Army?  A collection of farmers, shopkeepers, apprentices, lawyers and doctors, led by a gentleman farmer from Virginia who in the past was a failed surveyor.  But somehow the sum of all these people was far greater than the parts.  More battles lost than won, but the important battles were won, at great cost in both blood and wealth.  What was that phrase?  "Our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor?"  The spirit of '76 isn't so far away--it flashed back into being after 9/11, and even though it has been drowned almost out of existence by the rising partisan swamp of Washingtonian politics, I believe that spirit is still there, sparking quietly away until needed.



http://mausersandmuffins.blogspot.com/2009/12/true-measure-of-patriot-is.html

Brigid is a great blogger; her prose is eloquent and clear--but her message rings much more strongly than any other commentary I have read to date:

"Yet when we strive to hold true, to stand firm to our beliefs as free men, together, to carry our weapons and defend our land, the weak become strong, and the wandering hold together as one."  Brigid, 2009.