Don't Tread on Us

Josey1

Don't Tread on Us Phil BrennanWednesday, Dec. 12, 2001 As I write this on Dec. 11 the nation is observing the three-month anniversary of Black Tuesday. In New York and Washington, ceremonies honor those who perished at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, renewing the nation's determination to bring to justice every last terrorist responsible for this outrage of all outrages.More than any other event in recent memory, the horrendous memory of Black Tuesday has invigorated and united America in much the same way that I recall Pearl Harbor making the nation one, with what Adm. Yamamoto, the architect of that sneak attack, called "a terrible resolve" to avenge that atrocity and to tell the world that America, ordinarily the friendliest of nations, can be a powerful and deadly enemy when aroused.That's a lesson the Taliban and Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda thugs have been learning in recent weeks, and one hopes that their soulmates around the world are also recognizing how dangerously foolish it is to underestimate the strength of purpose that resides within our national breast.The colonial flag that preceded Betsy Ross' Old Glory bore the image of a coiled snake and the words "Don't Tread on Me." Those who trod on us in recent weeks have discovered that those words still apply, with a vengeance.But Black Tuesday and its aftermath have affected the national mood in another way. The tremendous outpouring of good old American patriotism has destroyed the alleged justification the nation's liberals and their staunch allies in the media and academia have used to inflict the loathsome doctrines of political correctness and America-is-always-wrong on the people of this nation. Just look at those in this country who are now blaming America for Black Tuesday and you'll see they are the same people behind political correctness, Marxist ideology and just about every other movement to debase our institutions and curtail our freedoms in the name of collectivism and a Big Brother state.I heard a story the other day that I can't authenticate but which made a powerful point. Here it is as related to me by my cousin Bill, a retired Air Force officer and as fierce a patriot as you can find anywhere:"They walked in tandem, each of the 93 students filing into the already crowded auditorium. With rich maroon gowns flowing and the traditional caps, they looked almost as grown up as they felt. Dads swallowed hard behind broad smiles, and moms freely brushed away tears. "This class would not pray during the commencement - not by choice but because of a recent court ruling prohibiting it. The principal and several students were careful to stay within the guidelines allowed by the ruling. "They gave inspirational and challenging speeches, but no one mentioned divine guidance and no one asked for blessings on the graduates or their families. "The speeches were nice, but they were routine ... until the final speech received a standing ovation. A solitary student walked proudly to the microphone. He stood still and silent for just a moment, and then he delivered his speech: an astounding sneeze. "The rest of the students rose immediately to their feet, and in unison they said, "GOD BLESS YOU." "The audience exploded into applause. The graduating class had found a unique way to invoke God's blessing on their future - with or without the court's approval."As I said, I can't vouch for the validity of the story, but it is believable. All across the land Americans are defying court rulings that forbid the largely God-fearing people of the nation from paying homage to their Creator or acknowledging their dependence upon Him.That's the subject of this homily - and the moral it preaches is simply that when a people are forbidden to honor God and country, or forced to act in any way that defies common sense and past experience, or made to ban the use of our abundant natural resources to protect insects at the cost of humans, they must disobey. For far too long we have allowed ourselves to be tyrannized by a wacko assemblage of radical environmentalists, Marxists, greedy trial lawyers, anti-American members of the professorate, big-labor bosses, cynical politicians and a motley crew of liberal ideologues. The time has come to stand up to these would-be dictators of thought and deed.Speaking at Harvard University in February 1999, Charlton Heston said it this way:"In his book 'The End of Sanity,' Martin Gross writes that 'blatantly irrational behavior is rapidly being established as the norm in almost every area of human endeavor. There seem to be new customs, new rules, new anti-intellectual theories regularly foisted on us from every direction. Underneath, the nation is roiling. Americans know something without a name is undermining the nation, turning the mind mushy when it comes to separating truth from falsehood and right from wrong. And they don't like it.' "I've come to understand that a cultural war is raging across our land, in which, with Orwellian fervor, certain acceptable thoughts and speech are mandated," Heston said. He summed up his way of fighting this cultural war in one word: "Disobey."You simply ... disobey. Peaceably, yes. Respectfully, of course. Nonviolently, absolutely. But when told how to think or what to say or how to behave, we don't. We disobey social protocol that stifles and stigmatizes personal freedom. "I learned the awesome power of disobedience from Dr. King ... who learned it from Gandhi and Thoreau and Jesus and every other great man who led those in the right against those with the might. Disobedience is in our DNA. We feel innate kinship with that disobedient spirit that tossed tea into Boston Harbor, that sent Thoreau to jail, that refused to sit in the back of the bus, that protested a war in Vietnam. "In that same spirit, I am asking you to disavow cultural correctness with massive disobedience of rogue authority, social directives and onerous law that weaken personal freedom."But be careful ... it hurts. Disobedience demands that you put yourself at risk. Dr. King stood on lots of balconies. You must be willing to be humiliated ... to endure the modern-day equivalent of the police dogs at Montgomery and the water cannons at Selma. You must be willing to experience discomfort."But we must do more than merely defy the PC storm troopers - those Nazi-like goons who have nothing but contempt for their fellow Americans whom they regard as pawns to be moved around at their convenience. We must also set out to drive out of public office those wimpish self-serving officials and members of Congress who have allowed themselves to be subjugated to the will of radical environmentalists who use junk science and emotional appeals to justify keeping America dependent on foreign oil and wrecking the livelihoods of farmers, lumbermen and miners, by treating private property as their own and placing the interests of bugs, birds and bats above those of human beings.Aided and abetted by the socialist big media, these same legislators and officials have surrendered their independence and sold their votes to trial lawyers, the abortion industry, big-labor bosses, brave new world fanatics and a host of other special interests capable of pouring huge sums of money into their campaign chests. They must be held accountable and removed from office so they can no longer harm the public.Now that the events of Black Tuesday have removed the blindfolds masking the anti-American pursuits of those who have been dictating to us and telling us what we can say and do, an America whose patriotism and common sense have been awakened must drive these people out of the public square.Pray in public buildings, at sporting events, and in schools. If everybody does, what can the PC Gestapo do about it? Support the Boy Scouts of America when public officials seek to punish them for trying to protect their youngsters from sexual deviants. Stand up for those who lawfully protest the murder of the unborn and demand that those contemplating abortion be given the full story of the grisly procedures used by the billion-dollar abortion industry. Stand up for our Second Amendment rights to defend ourselves and our families, and defy those who would allow criminals to be armed while honest Americans are deprived of their constitutional rights to own weapons of self-defense.In short, take America back from those misfits who have co-opted the nation in the name of political correctness and Marxist ideology.This is an opportunity that may never come again. If we fail to take advantage of it, we may never get another chance to restore America to its rightful place as the land of the free and the home of the brave.Tell these corrupters of our morals, foes of our God-given liberties and would-be tyrants what the founders of this nation told King George III in 1776: Don't Tread on Us. Or else. ***Phil Brennan is a veteran journalist who writes for NewsMax.com. He is editor & publisher of Wednesday on the Web (http://www.pvbr.com) and was Washington columnist for National Review magazine in the 1960s. He also served as a staff aide for the House Republican Policy Committee and helped handle the Washington public relations operation for the Alaska Statehood Committee which won statehood for Alaska.He can be reached at pvb@pvbr.com. http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/12/11/215046.shtml

badboybob

Outstanding! Thanks Josey.