I hope that "1776" is as much an encouragement and
inspiration to you who read it
as it was to me writing it.
Some people at work have somehow
found some of my articles on the Internet, and
asked me to explain my views to them. Some topics
we discussed were gay marriage and special gay
'rights,' abortion, the effectual terrorism by a
handful of black 'activists,' and other
conservative concerns. These co-workers are by and
large good and decent people they're public
servants. Yet, after explaining my views, many
would incredulously look at me with a complete
lack of apprehension of the seriousness of our
situation in America today. Some simply said, "I
don't care." I began to get discouraged. However,
I have found my reason to continue the fight in
1776. So will you.
We
have lost our common sense and our sense of honor.
It used to be that a man's word was his bond. In a
country where Christianity has been downgraded to
a back-alley appetite, laws have rushed in to fill
the void. Where no moral certainties exist, legal
restraint becomes a necessity.
Look
at the situation in France this past year.
More than two weeks of meaningless violence and
rioting, most of it is being committed by Muslims.
Are Muslims entirely to blame? Not
entirely, although some evidence is coming
to light that some of this inexcusable and riotous
behavior was not spontaneous, but to an extent
planned. Maybe they were simply waiting for an
excuse?
In the current American discourse,
very few people are willing to point to the root
of the problem, that France is getting a mere
foretaste of what they've helped create by their
decades of secularism, sexualism, and socialism.
It's but a foreshadow of what's to come, should
France or any country persist in the
entitlement culture of moral relativism and
inclusiveness, to the exclusion of all else. Merit
has merit, so to speak, and I don't need to walk
in their shoes to know that their behavior is
wrong.
Is
Paris burning? Maybe it should be. A nation
once known for Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity,
as well as the Age of Enlightenment, has turned
into a nation of Decadence, Depravity, and
Insignificance. The new Age of Inclusiveness has
alienated and excluded the good among us. It has
marginalized the excellent; it has demonized the
moral. This is nothing new. It is happening here
in America, too. It's been happening over the last
forty years or so, but only a few among us have
been willing to speak out strongly or often
enough. We are only a blink away from the French.
We are well on our way to the Eve of Destruction.
We have genuflected to the Left for far too long.
It is time for this dance to end.
Mark my words: America is in
for much of the same, or worse, if we don't change
and fast. The decades of increasing Liberalism
and moral relativism have left American but a
shadow (a "penumbra," as the Supreme Court so
arrogantly pined) of its former glory. We still
lead the world, but now we lead in decadent areas
like Gansta rap, porn, gay 'rights,' and all
manner of permissiveness and gratification. I'm
not judging here I've been part of the problem
too. But we all need to wake up.
We're not just a sleeping giant
as many suggest America has become a giant
made sick by years of self-indulgence in all
manner of ill-begotten pleasures. Sam Tsang,
author of the new book From Slaves to Sons
(ISBN 0-8204-76366), says that "We are not the
sleeping giants that we flatter ourselves to be.
Rather, we are a fat and sick giant, made obese by
secularism and our national rejection of God."
Yep, we still lead the world, but we're leading it
into a dark valley where light barely penetrates.
The deeper we go, the less the light. You see
where I'm going with this. At some point, we'll
not be able to find our way out. Worse yet, we'll
get accustomed to living in darkness and eating
from the filthy valley floor. After a while, it
might all even seem pleasurable.
Darwin (until he was on his
deathbed) talked fondly about evolution, and he
was more right than he could have known: we as a
people are de-evolving, becoming less civilized,
less wise, less able to control our lower natures
and society as a whole. We have become lost within
ourselves.
I've
searched for some time for an appropriate military
analogy to illustrate our present crisis and the
desired response to it. I thought of D-Day or the
Battle of the Bulge. All grave and desperate
battles to be sure, but not quite what I was
looking for. The answer was before me all the
while, yet I failed to see it. After reading the
excellent book "1776" by David McCullough,
it hit me.
But first, some history:
The American Revolutionary War was fought in the
years 17751782, with the critical year being
1776. The winning of this war with England gave us
our freedom, and established us as an independent
nation. Prior to the war, the soldiers of
America's revolution were comfortable in their
everyday lives. More than two thirds of them did
not want the upcoming struggle with England. Many
were loyal to the king. Most of them were
untrained in the arts of war. After the conflict
started and well into the war, the father of our
country, George Washington, had still never led
men into combat! We were short on supplies and we
lacked sufficient weapons. Britannia ruled the
waves. England was the greatest military power on
earth, and we had no navy (or army) to speak of.
In the minds of many, we were nothing more than
untrained rabble. England looked on us and our
situation in 1776 with complete disdain.
My friends, that's exactly where
we find ourselves today.
To
the British, the men of 1776 (as I like to call
them) appeared to be an untrained, undisciplined,
and uncommitted group of rebels. To the forces of
moral relativism and secularism seeking to destroy
and reshape our country today, we must
likewise appear to be an untrained and uncommitted
force. Well, maybe we are untrained and
under-mobilized, but George Washington's army
still won the day after much travail, and so will
we, if we step up the fight with great resolve.
Many of us have never been in a fight like this
before, but neither were most of them back
then.
Just like the men of 1776, many of
us simply don't want the fight. Neither do I. And
like many of them, we may not even yet believe
wholeheartedly in the justness of the cause. (Or
if we do, we can't see any way we can win.) But we
are in the thick of it anyway. How we respond will
determine the future of America. Did the men of
1776 fight and die in vain? Will this era in our
history be the death of the West, or the rise of
the best?
Also like the men of 1776, we tend
to perceive ourselves as lacking enough of the
proper tools. Enemy forces like the ACLU,
Planned Parenthood, various homosexual advocacy
groups, and People for the American
Way, among others, are arrayed against us with
huge monetary war chests and decades of legal
experience. They are well organized and committed.
They attack based on emotion rather than reason
because they have no valid line of reasoning. Look
at all the attention they've been giving to things
blown out of proportion like Abu Ghraib. We're
actually compromising the war on terror to appease
our critics under the wicked guise of political
correctness! It has nothing to do with reality. It
is an illusion. We've grown weak and spineless.
Our national backbone has grown soft and
inadequate. We are giving away the store.
Like the
English in 1776, liberals believe they are in the
right; but they are not. The British continued to
abuse and extort the colonials more and more, and
like the English, modern Liberals have mutated
from once being a good and sincere force into a
tyranny bent on crushing all rebellion. Will we
continue to allow this misguided but powerful
minority to sacrifice America on the altars of
tolerance and secularism?
In the Battle for New York, 1776,
the outnumbered Americans were surrounded by the
British and forced to flee. Likewise, we today
have been running from the forces of immorality
and secularism for years. No more. Here we must
stand, and now we must fight.
According
to the military tradition of that time, the
British won the earlier battle of Bunker Hill
because at the end of the day they had possession
of the battlefield. We may have taken some severe
hits in our modern day Bunker Hill, but we will
have our Yorktown!
American General Henry
Knox said in 1776, "There can be but one choice
consistent with the character of a people
possessing at least a degree of reason. And that
is to separate to separate from the people who
from a total dissolution of virtue among them,
must be our enemies an event which I devoutly
pray may soon take place; and let it be as soon as
may be." How perceptive. There can indeed be
but one choice consistent with the character of a
people today possessing at least a degree of
reason: we must vigorously oppose our foes. The
apostle Paul said in 1st Corinthians 10:15 "I
speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves
what I say." Judge for yourselves, but judge
rightly.
At some point yea, at this point,
it should be perfectly obvious to us that
appeasement and negotiation with our enemies are
no longer options. They don't work. Like the men
of 1776, the only option now open to us is war.
Hopefully, it will remain a war in the courts and
in the democratic process of electing legislators
and government leaders who will demand the
reclaiming of America. In this period of
onslaught, we must not flinch. We must not be
deterred or intimidated. And, most importantly, we
must not quit until the battle is
won.
Abortion
is the disgrace of modern America it is the
man-made holocaust of our day. General Washington
said on July 2nd, 1776, "The fate of unborn
millions will now depend, under God, on the
courage and conduct of this army." On us
today, on you and I, the fate of unborn millions
rests.
We
are now in the winter of our discontent our
individual and collective Valley Forge. At Valley
Forge, General Washington rightly wondered, "If
the army does not get help soon, will we fold and
disband, or boldly march forward?" Some of our
more petty disagreements must be put aside. We
must unite and remain united, for the battle ahead
will be tough enough.
At Valley Forge there was cold,
hunger, disease, and despair. Raw winter weather
stung and numbed the soldiers. Food was almost
nonexistent. The future promised only more
desperation, starvation, and death. Some simply
couldn't take the cold, hunger, and uncertainty
any longer. Every day and night, death and disease
descended upon the American volunteers. Relief was
nowhere to be found. It was so bad that even the
energy to find relief was scarce. Desertions were
commonplace, and such apostasy is evident in
America today as well. Many have abandoned the
fight. I too, have wanted to abandon the fight,
because it seems like most Americans are not
listening, but I have found reason to continue the
fight. The men of 1776 inspire me. I will not
yield, and I will not give up.
In the midst of their misery at
Valley Forge, God did not abandon them, nor will
He abandon us if we look to Him for help. At the
worst point of that forging and transforming
winter, General Nathanael Greene somehow found the
desperately needed food and supplies. Almost
overnight, Baron Friedrich Wilhelm Augustus von
Steuben assisted General Washington in
transforming the threadbare American rabble into a
determined and disciplined fighting force that
would soon defeat the greatest military power and
threat to American liberty on earth. We will do
the same if we persevere.
At
Valley Forge, we read of words like "misery" and
"sacrifice." The concept of suffering for freedom
isn't always easy to understand in our modern age.
Battle is not something we want to embrace.
Nevertheless, just as in 1776, it is a reality
that it is now at our very doorsteps. Like the
young America of 1776, it threatens our very
existence.
In
June of 1778, after many months of what looked to
most like a winter defeat coming on the wings of
fate, a new army was born out of great trial and
necessity, and they were eager to defeat the
British. This new American army streamed out of
Valley Forge toward New Jersey on the wings of
Providence. They had been transformed from a band
of ragtag rebels into a fighting force that
changed America and later the world. We will do
the same if we do not grow weary. Nay, we must go
beyond even that, to look into our own Valley
Forge. We must endure and then emerge a force that
will take back America from the enemies who seek
to shape her into something the men of 1776 would
not even recognize and would, in fact, abhor.
They
speak to us from the ages from the blood-soaked
fields of Bunker Hill, Long Island, and ultimately
Yorktown; they call out bold and timeless words of
encouragement to us. Their deeds speak volumes. We
must force ourselves to remain in the fight and
move forward, step by step, until victory is
won.
Therefore, we are not without
example in the fight for our nation. During the
Revolutionary War, Congress minted a gold medal in
Washington's honor, accurately stating that
"...an undisciplined band of husbandmen, in the
course of a few months, became soldiers."
Stay in the fight.