Past Thoughts For Today

D

David Schmidbauer

Retired Screen Name
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"They tell us, Sir, that we are weak -- unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of People, armed in the holy cause of Liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Beside, Sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of Nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, Sir, is not to the strong alone. It is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, Sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable, and let it come! I repeat, Sir, let it come!

It is in vain, Sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace!-- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the North will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our breathren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that Gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery! Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course other may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

- Speech by Patrick Henry March 1775

[This message has been edited by David Schmidbauer (edited August 13, 1999).]
 
A toast to the Speaker, To Patrick Henry, may we be as resolute.

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Ne Conjuge Nobiscum
"If there be treachery, let there be jehad!"
 
I think the lack of response to this thread speaks very loud.
I read a short bio on Paine not only was he a great orator but he backed up his word. He actually fought in the war and not as a superior but as a regular foot soldier. I only hope I can be half the man he was.

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"Solidarity is the Key"
 
Apathy from our silence? No Sir! Just change the numbers from 3 million to 80 million and what more could be said? What more could I add? I have not the eloquence to add anything further. But God grant that my sole be as resolved.

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Richard

The debate is not about guns,
but rather who has the ultimate power to rule,
the People or Government.
RKBA!
 
A toast to Patrick Henry and thanks to:
Gunny
Jim
GL
& Richard!
Sometimes silence is really golden!
Nuff Said? Hank
 
Of course, all of us will be considered quite 'radical' for celebrating this speech at this time, and for daring to compare his passions with what we should bring to the debate today.

Next time you go to a ball game and sing the Star Spangled Banner look around - and wonder how many of those people take even a second in a day to consider what 'O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!' really means.
 
Forgive me if this "dulls" the impact of Mr. Henry...however Schmit titled this thread past thoughts and this is apropos.....


A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot
survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less
formidable, for he is known and carries his banners openly. But the
traitor moves among those within the gate freely, his sly whispers
rustling through all the galleys, heard in the very hall of government
itself. For the traitor appears not traitor - he speaks in the accents
familiar to his victims and wears their face and their garments, and
he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He
rots the soul of a nation - he works secretly and unknown in the
night to undermine the pillars of a city - he infects the body politic
so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to be feared.

- Cicero, 42 B.C.

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"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!
 
When I read things that great men like T. Paine and others along the long road of history have stated, my brain goes into overload. I just keep thinking what was the one magic moment or speech or group of speeches or combination of events that finally made that event happen. Additionally I wonder if I'll see it in my lifetime.
I'm 47 Y.O. and I've been wondering about this since I was in High School. Hmmm maybe I'm really nuts. Maybe so but I only hope when the time comes I'm half as good as those who went before me.

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"Solidarity is the Key"
 
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am moved by the words of Mr. Henry as much now as I was when I first heard them from my father. The issue at hand however, is wether or not now is the time for the kind of action he advocated. In my humble opinion, the system still works. It has been allowed to go gravely off course however, and is in serious need of repair. Constitutional government of, by, and for the people is one of the greatest inventions ever, but it is also a very high maintenance item, demanding constant oversight by the people if it is to remain under their control. We have neglected our duty to watch over the fire the founding fathers started to keep tyranny at bay, and now it has become a raging destructive inferno, licking at the very foundations of our society. Do not forsake the system that was created with such hardship too easily however. It can be brought under control if we, and others like us excercise sufficient will. Our goal should be to educate people in a rational and reasonable manner. We must overcome the image we have been given by our opponents, and show the nation that we are like them, simple law abiding people, who wish to live in peace. We must refrain from sounding like angry fanatics, however tempting it may be to rant and rave. Lastly, we must make sure that infringements of freedoms are noticed, publicized, and opposed by all legal means to include peacefull civil disobedience if necessary. By doing so we can show people the costs of freedom lost and gain their support where it counts: at the ballot box. I read an earlier post by someone who said the time for revolution would be when we won at the ballot box, and had it taken away from us. I agree with him. Before we take the simple way out let's turn to the difficult task of changing from within. I still believe (perhaps incorrectly) that it can be done. Call me naive, but the system was created to change slowly, and only in response to steady determined pressure from a large group of individuals. It is our duty to provide that pressure. Unfortunately, it won't be easy or cheap, but freedom never is. We have our work cut out for us.
 
Good post, you old dinosaur. ;)

We must vote our convictions if we want to return to Constitutional rule.

(Ha! Surprised you! I didn't bad mouth the current, corrupt, political machine. :D)
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>(THE FEDERALIST PAPERS)

If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no resource left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government, and which against the usurpations of the national rulers may be exerted with infinitely better prospect of success than against those of the rulers of an individual State. In a single State, if the persons intrusted with supreme power become usurpers, the different parcels, subdivisions, or districts of which it consists, having no distinct government in each, can take no regular measures for defense. The citizens must rush tumultuously to arms, without concert, without system, without resource; except in their courage and despair. The usurpers, clothed with the forms of legal authority, can too often crush the opposition in embryo. The smaller the extent of the territory, the more difficult will it be for the people to form a regular or systematic plan of opposition, and the more easy will it be to defeat their early efforts. Intelligence can be more speedily obtained of their preparations and movements, and the military force in the possession of the usurpers can be more rapidly directed against the part where the opposition has begun. In this situation there must be a peculiar coincidence of circumstances to insure success to the popular resistance.[/quote]

---Alexander Hamilton (Federalist Papers #28)

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John/az

"The middle of the road between the extremes of good and evil, is evil. When freedom is at stake, your silence is not golden, it's yellow..." RKBA!

http://www.countdown9199.com
 
here's some ....
American--a man who likes to discuss the United STates Constitution despite the fact that he has never read it. unknown

Rome endured as long as there were Romans. America will endure as long as we remain American in spirit and thought.........David Starr Jordan.

I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon--if I can. I seek opportunity not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fullfillment to the stale calm of utopia. I will not trade freedom for beneficence, nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any master, nor bend to any threat. It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act for myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and to say, this I have done.
All this is what it means to be an American..........My Creed, Dean Alfange.

All free governments are party governments....Edmund Burke.
 
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 whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. …all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train 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 new guards for their future security -- Declaration of Independence

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary security deserve neither libery nor security." -Benjamin Franklin
 
Here's another,

"The seeds of liberty are watered by the blood of patriots."

(can't remember who said this)

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Joe Portale
Sonoran Sidewinder
Tucson, Arizona territory
 
Joe,

I bleeve you're thinking of TJ's quote, "The tree of liberty must from time to time be refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

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A vote for the lesser of two evils is still a vote for evil.
Vote Libertarian - For A Change.
 
D.C. bravo for that quote from Cicero, a .great patriot from the past whose words perfectly describe his declining Roman Republic and whose words perfectly described OUR traitors who will soon turn OUr Republic into a Roman type Dictatorship(Emperor Bill and his corrupt Senate) What is sad is that people today think of Cicero as only that gangster ridden town in Illinois! By the way, Cicero was murdered. Another lesson from the past. The same type of murderers are still around, but now they are alphabet soup types doing the dirty work of the enemies of this present day "republic"
 
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