Long Before 1776
Four-and-a-half centuries before the Declaration of Independence, the Scots sent this message to the Pope:
As long as a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be subjected to the lordship of the English. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.
Declaration of Arbroath (1320 A.D.)
You see, the Pope had declared Robert the Bruce to be an illegitimate king and demanded that the Scots submit to Edward II of England. The Scots said, “No.” And under Robert the Bruce, they fought and won their independence against overwhelming odds and the vastly superior military might of Edward. Their spirit is memorialized in song:
O, Flower of Scotland,
When will we see your like again?
Who fought and died for
Your wee bit hill and glen?
And stood against them,
Proud Edward’s army
And send them homeward
To think again?
“O, Flower of Scotland,” by Roy Williamson
Do not forget that the Scots feared the power of the Pope more than they feared Edward, because the Pope had the power to excommunicate them. They feared losing, not only their lives and their property, but their very immortal souls.
And yet they stood.
They stood for the truth that the right to be free comes from God, not from any foreign king, not even from their own king, and certainly not from Rome. They understood that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered and died to give us the freedom to choose for ourselves and to live with the consequences of our choices. This does not come from any president or from any congress. This comes from God.
There are those who seek to take away our freedoms today. Some despise these freedoms so much that they wish to wipe us from the earth. They do not seek to peacefully coexist with us—they want us dead or enslaved. This enemy is easy to see.
There also those who seek to take away our freedoms in dribs and drabs—here a little, there a little. And we let them, because we are afraid. We want someone to take charge, to fix it. We want someone to make it all better. We want someone to just take away the pain. And so we submit to small, “reasonable” restrictions. After all, the government knows better than we do what we need, right?
And no, I’m not just talking about guns:
I’m talking about a local government that tells me when I can and can’t water my own grass. They don’t know that I’m fighting white grubs and so I need to water one patch right now to get the insecticide into and under the soil. But they know better than I.
I’m talking about the school board that decides that my grandchildren need to be taught that polar bears are dying because my wife drives an SUV. They don’t know or care that my wife needs 4-wheel drive in the winter to feel safe or that the conclusion about polar bears is based on pseudo-science driven by a political agenda and money.
I’m talking about the government that passes regulations that limits my choices in healthcare and decides which doctors I can see.
I’m talking about the city government that decides I must pay for a license to write books in my own home.
I’m talking about school boards that ban “To Kill a Mocking Bird” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, because someone might be offended (and of course, children should never learn what life was really like in the past).
I’m talking about school boards that decide that teaching children to read and write in cursive is no longer necessary, because the rising generation should not be able to read old diaries or documents.
I’m talking about a government that decides that schools should skip teaching U.S. history prior to the 20th century (coincidentally, the beginning of the Progressive Movement).
I’m talking about federal governments that sets emissions standards that make less wealthy people unable to license otherwise working, reliable vehicles.
I’m talking about governments at the federal, state, and local levels that seek to penalize idiots who refuse to stand for the national anthem. (I don’t agree with these whiny millionaires, but they have a right to be idiots and deal with the consequences of their idiocy, and of course, whine about that too. I don’t think we should be giving tax breaks to these idiots either. In any event, they have the right to make whatever idiotic statement they choose and deal with the backlash and loss of revenue. Did I mention I think that they’re idiots? Well, I will fight to the death to protect their right to their idiocy.)
I’m talking about a government that makes me take off my belt and shoes and submit to x-ray screening and/or an invasive “pat-down” search of my groin in order to board an airplane.
I’m talking about governments that say a boy should be allowed to shower with the girls, and if the girls don’t like it, tough. (Private businesses can do what they want, and I will take my dollars elsewhere.)
I’m talking about a government that takes my tax dollars and gives it to private companies to enable those companies to slaughter unborn children and sell their body parts.
I’m talking about…
You get the idea. I could go on, but I won’t.
Our rights come from God—not from any man or woman or body of men or women, elected or otherwise (ESPECIALLY otherwise). But it takes courage to recognize that and to stand up for those God-given rights. It takes courage to say, “No more,” to declare that we will not submit to any further chipping away at those rights.
I believe in obeying the law of the land. I also believe in actively working within the constitutional system to change oppressive laws that chip away at our freedoms. I want more speech, not less, even if that speech is offensive. I want my grandchildren to have access to books that are politically incorrect. I’m sick to death of having to choose the lesser of two evils. I’m sick to death of immoral cretins who demand our loyalty because of the letter (R or D) behind their name. (“We can’t let the OTHER guy or gal get elected, because they belong to the wrong party!”) I’m sick to death of politicians and unelected officials who exploit crises to further enslave us. I’m sick to death of elected officials who made promises that they have not kept (if they ever truly intended to keep them).
No more. You will never get my vote again, even if I have to vote for someone who has no chance of getting elected because he or she doesn’t have an R or a D after their name. And I invite all other Americans to do the same.
“We are fighting, but for freedom alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.”
To which I say a resounding, “Amen.”
Do you hear the people sing?
Singing the song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums,
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes.
Les Miserables, “Do You Hear the People Sing?”,
by Jean Marc Natel, Alain Albert Boublil,
Herbert Kretzmer, Claude Michel Schonberg
