As the article comes to a close, revolution (…”oh dear heavens, did he use the R-word?!”) was touched upon in a very appropriate manner. This isn’t some careless call to arms, nor is it a clumsy use of brazen rhetoric. The author gently reminds his readers that some form of revolution is inevitable when people finally decide that they will no longer be party to an agreement where the other side does not uphold the terms. Further, he echo’s John F. Kennedy’s famous line that “those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable” by reminding the reader that it was King George’s decision to make the revolution bloody, not the Patriots!
At this time of almost unending usurpation of power by the Federal government, it’s important for us to reflect back on statements like…
“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes“
and
“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.“
Do we sit back and continue to say, “Thank you sir! May I have another?!” Do we continue to play the role of the abused person in a terrible relationship by groveling at the feet of our Lords of the Potomac, beg for them to follow the Constitution this time and thank them for their generosity when they throw us the scraps and watch us fight over them?
No? Maybe? Not sure…? Could it upset the apple cart and put our comfortable lives at risk?
The signers of “The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America” would probably affirm that it would. But fortunately for us they mutually pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor (with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence!) so that we wouldn’t be forever subjected to the tyranny of the British crown.
Right now, we are at a very unique period in time where we soon must choose either liberty or tyranny. While both options will be very painful after the hole we’ve dug ourselves in, if we choose the former, there is the possibility to come out the other side with the pursuit of happiness intact.
As for me, I will not accept tyranny and sincerely hope that you will not either. If so, it is up to us to work diligently to get back on the path toward the Framers vision of a Constitutional Republic with a division of powers (i.e. federalism) by employing state-based solutions (e.g. Nullification, Article V, Interposition) to reign in the runaway Federal behemoth. However, it is also time for us to take that scary leap and start the conversation by asking the question, “at what point does separation make sense?”
- Separation of Church and State - July 4, 2013
- How Power Is Delegated and Reassumed - May 31, 2013
- The Mary Jane Mess (Part 2) - March 21, 2013