Tag Archives: American Revolution

Patrick Henry’s priest would’ve favored Give me liberty, or give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.

2 Replies

Some juxtaposition, don’t you think? Patrick Henry’s call to arms Give me liberty or give me death mashed up with the Goddamn Serenity Prayer: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. It sure puts passivism into religious perspective. It’s the fog of the opiate of masses, with church as enforcer of nonviolence, keeping the people down in advance of the king’s Dragoons. What a mockery serenity makes of poor fools eager to feel self-respect for docile servitude. It calls to my mind the impoverished parents who cripple their young so to be more effective beggars. Or who sell their children into slavery. What cretinous vile beings. Their desperation to be pitied of course, but their fate to be repudiated, not accepted with whatever boat-non-rocking serenity.

From The War Inevitable, March, 1775, by Patrick Henry
 
They tell us, Sir, that we are weak – unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power.
 
Three millions of People, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Beside, Sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of Nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, Sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, Sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable; and let it come! I repeat, Sir, let it come!
 
It is in vain, Sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentleman may cry, Peace, Peace! – but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the North will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that Gentlemen wish? 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!

Whose “Original Intent?” The T. Potty?

Leave a reply

According to the Beck fundamentalists, “The Original intent of the Founding Fathers” trumps all arguments. But, who exactly are they quoting? So here’s a simple how-to on interpreting right wing statements on this. It’s the Original Intent of people who were A very small group of very wealthy White Men. Many of them Slaveholders, all of them property “owners.”

That would be “property taken away from the original owners, at gunpoint and at Public Expense.” And any of the Original Owners who objected slaughtered. Also any people who didn’t exactly voice an objection to this Corporate Welfare giveaway of their tribal lands would be slaughtered as well, just because it made the killers feel good to do it. Those would be the ones who were not yet able to speak because they were babies.

The Elite Group didn’t even agree with each other, not one single facet of the Revolution or the formation of the U.S. government and laws was unanimous. NOT ONE. Even the right to free speech, opposed by such “Freedom loving libertarians” as John Adams, who had people jailed for any criticism of his Regime. He threatened to jail his fellow Revolutionaries like Hamilton and Jefferson as well. Not that Hamilton and Jefferson agreed much on anything.

The Bill of Rights, in fact, voted down by the majority at the Constitutional Convention. The constitution sans a declaration of Rights was rejected by the People. That’s why they’re the first ten Amendments.

People who were not property owners, not white or not male, even if they had Fought In The Revolution, actually, unlike the Adams family or Revere or Jefferson, who didn’t go to the battles and take arms against the British soldiers, forbidden to vote.

There was a big ol’ stinky issue over Freedom of Religion, to be sure. The Original Intent crowd say that the Very Narrowly Defined Small Group of Rich White Non-Combatants “founding fathers” (Praise Founding Fathers from whom all wisdom flows, praise them all creatures here below, praise them above ye heav’nly host, Praise Washington, Adams and all their ghosts) had quite a lot of Deists in their midst. As in, Not Christian. That would raise the ire of many of Today’s Worshippers of the Founding Fathers Myth.

In fact it does. We hold these truths to be self evident, that All Men except for debtors, tenants, Indians, blacks, apprentices or bondservants, and of course excluding the WOmen Are created Equal but some are more Equal than others and endowed by their Creator who half of the signatories to this document wouldn’t say was Jehovah or that He had anything to do with Christ with certain inalienable rights unless the Founding Fathers held them as slaves, or had liens on outstanding debts owed, which pretty much worked out to be “slavery” and among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness unless, of course, the Almighty Founding Fathers or their anointed replacements over the century decided otherwise. In which case you can F.O.A.D.

For those not familiar with the phrase, that stands for “F off and die” and you can provide the first word yourself…

Praise Ye the Founding Fathers, for they are Wise and Mighty!

John Adams had a man arrested for saying his ASS looked funny. Yet his Worshippers today burn in effigy the President of the United States, because they say he’s a “Dictator” and his policies (which don’t include, obviously, rounding any of these Jackasses up and tossing them in jail for threatening the President and any of their Fellow Americans who happen to disagree with their T. Potty “patriotism”) are called “Tyranny!”

Meanwhile supporting the actions of the Former President who WAS a dictator and DID have people arrested, beaten, tazered, etc, for wearing tee-shirts criticizing his Baby-killing Wars-for-profit and his very real and very Tyrannical Police State.

All in the name of the “Original Intent”.