If Patrick Henry Could Speak Today — ‘Liberty or Death!’ …
While the chains being forged to restrict our freedoms and usurp our liberties are not those of the literal kind, they continue to be hammered out by the ruling class in the smelting pot of D.C. The chains of taxation and rivets of over regulation continue to bind Americans, dampen our spirit and crush our liberties. These laws imposed on Americans under threat of prosecution are written by a handful of elites that all too often find themselves exempt.
“Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication?” These very actions have been the path of many conservatives for generations. Despite these actions the unrelenting, insatiable beast of government continues to grow fat. Our protests are met with an “insidious smile” from the ruling class. Our grievances are “spurned, with contempt, at the foot of the throne.” Is there room for hope if we wish to be truly free? By using the means which the God of nature has placed in our power, we are not weak and we do not fight our battles alone. Liberty is a holy cause and an invincible force. “There is no retreat but in submission to slavery.” The chains continue to be forged, “their clanking may be heard on the… “ streets and in the halls of D.C.
It is absurd to view the actions of our government in any light other than oppression, subjugation and tyranny. “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 others may take; but as for me, GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH.”
(This is a very condensed version of Patrick Henry’s speech given on 03/23/1775. It contains my personal revisions to reflect current politics. Quotations mark the exact phrases Mr. Henry used. The full speech can be read here http://www.wallbuilders.com/libissuesarticles.asp?id=54 . I hope you take the time to read the actual speech and think about it in today’s terms, as I have. Our nation is in dire need of real leaders and this kind of inspiration derived from the wisdom of our Founders. God Bless America.)
Image: Peter F. Rothermel’s “Patrick Henry Before the Virginia House of Burgesses”; date: 1851; source: http: //cgfa.sunsite.dk/r/p-rotherm2.htm; public domain
Ron Collins was born in ’70. Raisin’ chickens and shootin’ groundhogs by 5. A little bit hillbilly, a little bit city boy, but always an unashamed and politically incorrect American. Best advice he took from his father: “Find your heroes among American History not Hollywood or the sports arena.”
