When 56 brave Patriots signed the Declaration of Independence 246 years ago today, they declared themselves citizens, not subjects. For themselves and on behalf of generations unborn they drew a line between the Liberty of man and the authority of government.
The independence we celebrate now is the product of resolve and of bloodshed. It was declared by men willing to confront an all-powerful State, unafraid to be called “extremists.” To that cause they pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor.
And celebrate we should — but only if we take up the Founders’ purpose. Unless we honor their legacy of sacrifice, it’s just a three-day summer weekend.
The difference between “Independence Day” and “the Fourth of July” is citizen and subject, country and government, Liberty and obedience. It separates true Americans from those who can claim this exceptional privilege only by an accident of birth.
I’ll put a fine point on it — if, for example, you’re among those who wore a face diaper and submitted to jabs only because government officials told you to, skip the flag-waving and just have a cookout. You’re a disgrace to the 56 men who committed high treason on this day in 1776.
Samuel Adams was one of those men, and he had a few choice words for people like you:
“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom — go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!”
For American who understand the Founding, this weekend actually means something. We know we’re the guardians of Liberty and tradition. We know where we stand and we know what needs to be done. As Aaron Lewis said Saturday night,
“This is our country now. The old people are about to die, the young people don’t know what the fuck is going on — it’s our country. We are responsible for what happens from here forward.”
“Until we fucking stand up and do somethin’ we’re doin’ nothin’.”
We must follow the example of the Founders. The time has come to wrest our country from the grubby progressive hands of haters, fundamental transformers and reimagineers.
This is our country.
This morning Deb and I carried folding chairs to the end of our driveway, plopped down and enjoyed what certainly will be our last Independence Day parade at Second Chance Ranch. Like much of what we’ve been doing here lately, watching the hour-long procession was bittersweet. Seeing friends and neighbors — again, probably for the last time — was warm and wonderful.
But hey, nobody shot at us. That happened in Highland Park, Illinois — as I write this, reportedly six are dead, 38 injured. Details are sketchy at this point, of course, and I refuse to speculate about what I don’t know. We do, however, know a couple of things for sure.
The first and most obvious is that the madman attacked an essential American tradition — a parade on the Fourth of July. The targets were innocent spectators and parade participants. It doesn’t take Dick Tracy to profile the kind of person who’d do that.
The second thing we know is that in the unconstitutionally repressive state of Illinois, the city of Highland Park has even more unconstitutionally repressive gun laws, including a ban on so-called “assault weapons” and a law limiting magazine capacity to ten rounds (plus a ban on firearms capable of accepting a magazine holding more than ten rounds). Early reports are that the killer fired from a rooftop using “a high-powered rifle” — and typically that misnomer is applied to what Highland Park’s elites would consider an “assault weapon,” which has been verboten in the city since 2013.
“Gun control” doesn’t prevent carnage like this. It never has and it never will. Pointless and ineffective gun laws aren’t about saving lives — they’re all about controlling the People.
This incident has me considering another issue, along with a key difference between the Right and the anti-American Left. As we see time and time again, “gun control” only feeds progressives’ Culture of Death. By contrast, when the People in right-thinking states begin to ban abortion — and I’m thankful that’s already underway — those laws actually will save innocent lives.
But just like “gun control,” anti-abortion statutes won’t prevent murder. We can be sure that many thousands of women will flock to liberal states to kill their children, probably subsidized by employers proud to be accessories to murder.
While millions of innocent lives still will be saved, at the same time our sickened culture will enter an era of Death Cult tourism.
That’s a macabre picture I just painted, but we all know it’s true. Whether it’s “gun control” or institutional infanticide, I’m just glad I’m on the side of Liberty and Life.
Once the tail of the parade was past our house, Deb and I went back inside and descended into the basement. The dumpster leaves here in the morning, so we threw ourselves at the task — she went to work in the utility room and I tackled the workshop.
Ten hours later, having stopped only briefly for a sandwich, we were totally spent. The dumpster is all but full. There’s work still to do, but we did all we were capable of today.
Any other Independence Day we would’ve been hosting a big cookout at our place. Last year, of course, we celebrated in The Ozarks. This time we turned down several kind invitations, kept our eyes on the prize and did what needed doing.
Around 10pm we returned to the curb with our chairs and watched the town’s fireworks display, which is launched from the school grounds across the street. It was a solid show — definitely not the best, just good enough for a bright memory.
The last echo had barely faded when we noticed a hubbub near the city park a hundred yards down the street. Lots of cops were in the area anyway and several units responded quickly — clearly there was a growing altercation, thugs and thugettes screaming and running around and, as we old folks like to say, “actin’ a fool.”
We watched for a while, then retired to the house for the night. That kind of shit didn’t used to happen ’round here. Now it’s common, especially on the Fourth.
And that’s why Deb and I spent the holiday purging, pitching and packing — we can’t get to The Mountain soon enough.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB