The Ghost of John Stark: December 2012

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

On Rebellion in the face of tyranny

"In short, the flames kindled on the 4th of July, 1776, have spread over too much of the globe to be extinguished by the feeble engines of depotism; on the contrary, they will consume these engines and all who work them."--Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, September 12, 1821

"Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; 'tis dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if so celestial an article as Freedom should not be highly rated."--Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, No. 1, December 23, 1776

"Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing."--Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man, 1791

"Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God."--Benjamin Frankin, 1776

"If we wish to be free; if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending; if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained—we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms, and to the God of hosts, is all that is left us."--Patrick Henry, Speech in Virginia Convention, Richmond, March 23, 1775

"The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government . . ."--George Washington, Farewell Address, September 17, 1796

"God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty . . . And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."--Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Stevens Smith, November 13, 1787

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

On resolve

Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of. Our enemies are numerous and powerful; but we have many friends, determining to be free, and heaven and earth will aid the resolution. On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important question, on which rest the happiness and liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves.--Joseph Warren, Boston Massacre Oration, March 6, 1775

Our unalterable resolution would be to be free. They have attempted to subdue us by force, but God be praised! in vain. Their arts may be more dangerous then their arms. Let us then renounce all treaty with them upon any score but that of total separation, and under God trust our cause to our swords.--Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, April 16, 1776

Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.--Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833

Since private and publick Vices, are in Reality, though not always apparently, so nearly connected, of how much Importance, how necessary is it, that the utmost Pains be taken by the Publick, to have the Principles of Virtue early inculcated on the Minds even of children, and the moral Sense kept alive, and that the wise institutions of our Ancestors for these great Purposes be encouraged by the Government. For no people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffusd and Virtue is preservd. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauchd in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders.--Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, November 4, 1775

...And a reminder to us all;

The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.--Patrick Henry, speech in the Virginia Convention, March 23, 1775

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Revolutionary War Continental Army Major General. John Stark was born in Londonderry, New Hampshire. He served as a captain in Roger's Rangers during the French and Indian War (1752-1760). At the outbreak of the American Revolution, Stark became a colonel of a regiment of New Hampshire militia. His first action was at Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775, where his heroic action kept the British from flanking the Colonials on Breed's Hill. He was popular with his men and is remembered for his exhortations going into battle. He fought at the battles of Trenton and Princeton, but when he was passed over for promotion in 1777, he resigned and went home. However, when word of the capture of Fort Ticonderoga by British forces under General Burgoyne came. Stark was called back to battle and given the rank of Brigadier General in the New Hampshire Militia forces. Stark faced a British and Hessian force that was going to Bennington, Vermont to capture colonial supplies. General Stark rallied his men with the battle cry "Tonight the American flag floats over yonder hill or Molly Stark sleeps a widow". With this, Stark and his men won the Battle of Bennington. This led to Burgoyne's surrender after the Battle of Saratoga on October 17, 1777, which is considered the turning point of the Revolutionary War. At the end of the war, Congress promoted Stark to Major General. He returned to his farm in Manchester where he spent the rest of his life. He died in 1822, the last surviving American Revolution General.

I believe...

I believe that what I am witnessing in my own country absolutely disgraces the memory of those that sacrificed everything so that we could secure the blessings of liberty.

I believe the founding of this nation was a miracle,and unprecedented in human history.

I believe we have failed ourselves by not being jealous enough of our own freedom.

I believe democracy is incompatible with the concept of individual or minority rights.

I believe this nation was established as a constitutional republic.

I believe that individual rights are the reason this nation was founded and that any attempt to deny any individual their rights is an overt act of aggression.

I believe that self-defense is a fundamental,basic human right,and all arms control laws stand in opposition to that fact and are illegitimate.

I believe in self ownership and that no one has the authority to tell anyone what they may or must consume or purchase.

I believe that this country hasn’t operated under a free market system in over one hundred years.

I believe the failings we see in our economy today are the failings of socialism.

I believe what they call a public-private partnership today used to be called by its proper name,Fascism.

I believe that taxation of wages or income is modern day slavery.

I believe there is no such thing as a free lunch.Someone always pays the bill.

I believe that our own government is a much greater threat to our liberties than any group of individuals on the other side of the planet could ever be.I believe history bears out that fact.

I believe that at least 90 percent of what our federal government does is unconstitutional.

I believe that Madison was right when he said that if tyranny ever comes to these shores,it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.

I believe Thomas Jefferson was right on just about everything.

I believe Ronald Reagan did Americans a great disservice by banning open carry of firearms in California during his tenure as Governor,and by signing the Gun Control Act of 1986 as President.

I believe that we are witnessing the last vestiges of human freedom being stripped from us by evil conniving men and women who cloak their intentions with lies of fairness,equality,tolerance,moderation and sustainability.

I believe that those who wish to remain free must realize the truth that people can only be persuaded by reason or force.That when free men refuse to compromise their liberty,evil men ALWAYS resort to force,and that force must be met with force.

I believe that We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

(I didn’t write that last bit,but I believe it nonetheless).

I believe the hour is getting late…

Masterfully authored by On to Liberty

Legal Drone speak

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National Security Notice;

We are NOT calling for the overthrow of the government. In fact, we are calling for the reinstatement of our government. We are not calling for lawlessness. We are calling for an end to lawlessness and lack of accountability and a return to the rule of law. Rather than trying to subvert the constitution, we are calling for it's enforcement. We are patriotic Americans born and raised in this country. We love the U.S. We don't seek to destroy or attack America... we seek to restore her to strength, prosperity, liberty and respect. If you thinks that this makes us a "terrorist" you had better look at what the owners of the SS and NKVD did when those employees out lived their usefulness. Being a scapegoat for the crimes of your political masters is a legacy that lives far into the future. Don't be that tool of oppression...

Malo Periculosam Libertatem Quam Quietum Servitium

"A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise, and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be the constant companion of your walks."

--Thomas Jefferson

"The idea of hereditary legislators is as inconsistent as that of hereditary judges or hereditary juries; and as absurd as an hereditary mathematician, or an hereditary wise man; and as ridiculous as an hereditary poet-laureate."

--Thomas Paine

“If men, through fear, fraud, or mistake, should in terms renounce or give up any natural right, the eternal law of reason and the grand end of society would absolutely vacate such renunciation. The right to freedom being the gift of Almighty God, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave.”

--Samuel Adams

"Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories."

--Thomas Jefferson

"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

--Benjamin Franklin at the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

"We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debt, as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our calling and our creeds...[we will] have no time to think, no means of calling our miss-managers to account but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers... And this is the tendency of all human governments. A departure from principle in one instance becomes a precedent for[ another]... till the bulk of society is reduced to be mere automatons of misery... And the fore-horse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression."

--Thomas Jefferson
"If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no resource left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government, and which against the usurpations of the national rulers may be exerted with infinitely better prospect of success, than against those of the rulers of an individual State. In a single State, if the persons entrusted with supreme power become usurpers, the different parcels, subdivisions, or districts of which it consists, having no distinct government in each, can take no regular measures for defense. The citizens must rush tumultuously to arms, without concert, without system, without resource; except in their courage and despair."

-- Alexander Hamilton, a.k.a. Publius

"It is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts...For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and to provide for it."

--Patrick Henry

"If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny."

--Thomas Jefferson

The people cannot delegate to government the power to do anything which would be unlawful for them to do themselves. ... whenever the Legislators endeavor to take away, and destroy the Property of the People, or to reduce them to Slavery under Arbitrary Power, they put themselves into a state of War with the People, who are thereupon absolved from any farther Obedience, and are left to the common Refuge, which God hath provided for all Men, against Force and Violence. Whensoever therefore the Legislative shall transgress this fundamental Rule of Society, and either by Ambition, Fear, Folly or Corruption, endeavor to grasp themselves, or put into the hands of any other an Absolute Power over the Lives, Liberties, and Estates of the People; By this breach of Trust they forfeit the Power the People had put into their hands, for quite contrary ends, and it devolves to the People, who have a Right to resume their original Liberty.

--John Locke.

"The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards; it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors. They purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood. It will bring a mark of everlasting infamy on the present generation – enlightened as it is – if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of designing men."

--Samuel Adams

"Ever since I arrived to a state of manhood, I have felt a sincere passion for liberty. The history of nations doomed to perpetual slavery, in consequence of yielding up to tyrants their natural born liberties, I read with a sort of philosophical horror; so that the first systematical and bloody attempt at Lexington, to enslave America, thoroughly electrified my mind, and fully determined me to take part with my country."

--Ethan Allen

"A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement."

--Thomas Jefferson

“It is the duty of every patriot to protect his country from its government.”

--Thomas Paine

"A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned, this is the sum of good government."

--Thomas Jefferson

“I am as Resolutely Determined to Defend the Independence of Vermont, as Congress are that of the United States, and, Rather than fail, will Retire with hardy Green Mountain Boys into the Desolate Caverns of the mountains and wage war with human Nature at large.”

--Ethan Allen

"Learning is not virtue, but the means to bring us to an acquaintance with it. Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful. Let these be your motives to action through life, the relief of the distressed, the detection of frauds, the defeat of oppression, and the diffusion of happiness.”

--Brigadier General Nathanael Greene

"[a] strict observance of the written law is doubtless one of the high duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to the written law, would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the ends to the means."

--Thomas Jefferson

"Whoever looks upon them as an irregular mob, will find himself much mistaken. They have men amongst them who know very well what they are about "

-- General Hugh Percy, on the actions of April 19th, 1775

"Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of the day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period, and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers (administrators) too plainly proves a deliberate, systematic plan of reducing us to slavery."

--Thomas Jefferson

"Dr. Thomas Young wrote to Adams reporting that, upon the news that the British had seized a supply of colonial gunpowder from Charlestown, tens of thousands of colonists had taken up arms and marched in that direction, from as far away as Connecticut. Samuel Adams replied to him, "I have written to our friends to provide themselves without delay with Arms & Ammunition, get well instructed in the military Art, embody themselves & prepare a complete set of rules that they may be ready in Case they are called to defend themselves against the violent attacks of Despotism."

-- Samuel Adams

“Scarcely have our minds been able to emerge from the astonishment into which one stroke of parliamentary thunder has involved us, before another more heavy, and more alarming, is fallen on us. Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period, and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate and systematical plan of reducing us to slavery. When the representative body have lost the confidence of their constituents, when they have notoriously made sale of their most valuable rights, when they have assumed to themselves powers which the people never put into their hands, then indeed their continuing in office becomes dangerous to the state, and calls for an exercise of the power of dissolution”.

--Thomas Jefferson

"If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin."

--Samuel Adams

“Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property... Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them.”

--Thomas Paine

"The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite."

-- Thomas Jefferson

"The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their Houses, and Farms, are to be pillaged and destroyed, and they consigned to a State of Wretchedness from which no human efforts will probably deliver them. The fate of unborn Millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this army — Our cruel and unrelenting Enemy leaves us no choice but a brave resistance, or the most abject submission; this is all we can expect — We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die: Our own Country’s Honor, all call upon us for a vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world. Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions — The Eyes of all our Countrymen are now upon us, and we shall have their blessings, and praises, if happily we are the instruments of saving them from the Tyranny meditated against them. Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and shew the whole world, that a Freeman contending for LIBERTY on his own ground is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth."

--George Washington

"Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils."

--General John Stark