| I write this plea to the People of America, the | | | | make those decisions on an informed basis, I can |
| rightful wielders of the most powerful weapon | | | | tolerate it. If, however, a citizen shirks their |
| bestowed upon the human race... freedom. | | | | responsibility to be informed and refuses to |
| Freedom was not a gift OF man, but TO man. | | | | become engaged in the activities required to keep |
| Over the two-plus centuries, since the Founders | | | | this Republic great, I find myself even more |
| penned the documents, that we should hold dear | | | | disgusted. "Public virtue cannot exist in a nation |
| second only to the Book from which they were | | | | without private, and public virtue is the only |
| inspired, our freedoms have been whittled and | | | | foundation of republics. There must be a positive |
| threatened by the very people that should be | | | | passion for the public good, the public interest, |
| protecting it. The Founders, however optimistic | | | | honor, power and glory, established in the minds |
| that the People would never let this happen, | | | | of the people, or there can be no republican |
| warned about the possibility and provided guidance | | | | government, nor any real liberty: and this public |
| in how to avoid it. There may be those that say | | | | passion must be superior to all private passions." |
| "we're still free" or "times have changed"... I | | | | John Adams, letter to Mercy Warren, April 16, |
| subscribe that these same people are of the ilk | | | | 1776. |
| that have caused the continuous decline of our | | | | Ask yourself if you're a valuable member to this |
| great nation. Notice I say "our great nation" and | | | | society, if you're doing your duty as a citizen and |
| NOT "once great nation". I contend that we are | | | | if you're content to let others decide your future. |
| still the greatest nation on earth, and have every | | | | Or do you care more about which sports team |
| opportunity to right the wrongs that plague us. | | | | will win, and what vampire is cuter? Become |
| We have seen our Constitution trampled on in | | | | engaged, or become a slave! |
| 20th and 21st centuries. Taxes, privacy, arms, | | | | "If a nation expects to be ignorant - and free - in |
| speech and the pursuit of happiness have been | | | | a state of civilization, it expects what never was |
| under assault since the legacy of our founders | | | | and never will be." Thomas Jefferson, letter to |
| faded in the minds of the sleepy populace. What | | | | Colonel Charles Yancey, January 6, 1816. |
| we face in 2010 is a challenge, and opportunity, to | | | | "A popular Government, without popular |
| recapture the energy of our ancestors and turn | | | | information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a |
| this nation back to the course the patriots bled to | | | | Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps |
| set. I am not eloquent, nor gifted writer, enough | | | | both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: |
| to articulate the argument on my own... so I will | | | | And a people who mean to be their own |
| lean on the words of the men who wrote our | | | | Governors, must arm themselves with the power |
| Declaration of Independence, Federalist Papers | | | | which knowledge gives." James Madison, letter to |
| and other important documents that helped | | | | W.T. Barry, August 4, 1822. This is a charge we |
| frame our country. We can repent of the great | | | | were given by our founders. We owe it to |
| American "Sin", allowing Man to steal our God | | | | ourselves and our children... we owe it to the men |
| given rights, and become enlightened, once again, | | | | that risked their lives to provide us the liberty to |
| that we can continue to shine as a beacon of | | | | be here! Until such time that the public once again |
| freedom throughout the world. | | | | becomes involved in our processes, and stands |
| In a speech to the New York Ratifying | | | | firmly against policies that violate the intentions of |
| Convention, Alexander Hamilton stated "Here Sir, | | | | the framing documents, we have the guiding |
| the people govern". That statement is so | | | | words of James Madison on which to rely... |
| profound. As a youth, I learned that the | | | | "As the cool and deliberate sense of the |
| government is of the people and by the people. | | | | community ought in all governments, and actually |
| But, until I reached my mid-twenties I didn't | | | | will in all free governments ultimately prevail over |
| understand that concept as was intended by the | | | | the views of its rulers; so there are particular |
| framers. It is statements, like Mr. Hamilton's, that | | | | moments in public affairs, when the people |
| are repeated and with such passion that lead me | | | | stimulated by some irregular passion, or some illicit |
| to the conclusion that we have violated a great | | | | advantage, or misled by the artful |
| trust placed on generations that followed the | | | | misrepresentations of interested men, may call |
| blood shed during our Revolution. I can promise | | | | for measures which they themselves will |
| that my generation, and several preceding, does | | | | afterwards be the most ready to lament and |
| not even grasp an inkling of the responsibility we | | | | condemn. In these critical moments, how salutary |
| have as American citizens. Many Americans have | | | | will be the interference of some temperate and |
| a disdain for even talking about government and | | | | respectable body of citizens, in order to check |
| politics. Often times, less than half of those eligible | | | | the misguided career, and to suspend the blow |
| to vote actually do it. Interestingly enough, just | | | | mediated by the people against themselves, until |
| less than half of those that DO vote, happen to | | | | reason, justice and truth, can regain their |
| be recipients of the freedom sapping programs | | | | authority over the public mind?" |
| invented by Constitution-trampling types we have | | | | James Madison (likely), Federalist No. 63, 1788. |
| continued to elect. Most Americans have no clue | | | | As we engage our fellow Americans and once |
| what is written in the Declaration of Independence | | | | again light the flame of passion for our great |
| or the Bill of Rights, let alone the changes that | | | | Republic, we will see that passion flourish... |
| have been made to these founding documents. | | | | "Enlighten the people, generally, and tyranny and |
| These things culminate in the first great offense, | | | | oppressions of body and mind will vanish like |
| we citizens, have paid our founding fathers... the | | | | spirits at the dawn of day." Thomas Jefferson, |
| refusal to be an enlightened and engaged people. | | | | letter to Dupont de Nemours, April 24, 1816. |
| "Promote then as an object of primary | | | | We should not be looking for the power-obsessed |
| importance, Institutions for the general diffusion of | | | | Administration to provide us with the |
| knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a | | | | enlightenment, nor the oppressors that are |
| government gives force to public opinion, it is | | | | borrowing our Congressional buildings. We can dust |
| essential that public opinion should be enlightened." | | | | off our library card and check out the |
| George Washington, Farewell Address, September | | | | Constitution, Bill of Rights, Federalist and |
| 19, 1796. Let's remember the percentage of | | | | Anti-Federalist papers. |
| those that vote and let us, again, remember the | | | | "Without wishing to damp the ardor of curiosity or |
| percentage of those that are dependent on the | | | | influence the freedom of inquiry, I will hazard a |
| Government. Are you engaged? Are you | | | | prediction that, after the most industrious and |
| enlightened? How can we possibly expect to keep | | | | impartial researchers, the longest liver of you all |
| our liberties, and maintain the status of the | | | | will find no principles, institutions or systems of |
| greatest nation ever born, if we are not involved | | | | education more fit in general to be transmitted to |
| in the decisions that drive our future? I often | | | | your posterity than those you have received |
| state that I am disgusted with politics or, better | | | | from your ancestors." John Adams, letter to the |
| yet, the politicians that roam our hallowed halls. | | | | young men of the Philadelphia, May 7, 1798. |
| That stated, I don't allow those feelings to tune | | | | Join me in a pursuit of knowledge. Join me in a |
| me out from the schemes and power grabs that | | | | renewed excitement for what our country |
| are propagated every day. I understand that | | | | represents. Let us remind the world that we are |
| many in the populace would fundamentally | | | | the greatest beacon of freedom on earth. |
| disagree with my political leanings, but if they | | | | |