4.19.2010

Patriot Day in America

I really need to know what some people in this country are smokin' to get high. I mean, they must be high right, to act the way they do? Last week, the polls showed the confusion within the Tea Bag movement, where the sign carriers claimed they aren't racist, they like and want to keep their social programs like medicare and social security, they aren't looking for jobs because they don't need them, yet, they are extremely angry and are taking to the streets in protest.

Well, today is Patriot's Day in some parts of the country. Patriot's Day commemorates the battles of Lexington and Concord that started the Revolutionary War back in 1775. Through the years other not so patriotic events have occurred on this day including, domestic terrorist bomber Tim McVeigh's killing of 168 Americans in Oklahoma City. McVeigh was ticked off by what happened in Waco Texas at the Branch Davidian Compound on this day. April 19th is also the day of the bungled FBI raid on Ruby Ridge, when the feds went after white supremacist Randy Weaver.

Some self proclaimed patriots, like the gun happy Restore the Constitution people are rallying in a state park to celebrate, as close to DC as they can, to show the government they like their guns and weapons and don't intend to give them up without a fight.

Not that anybody asked them to.

During today's five hour rally on federal ground, they can carry their guns in the holster, on their hip, and their rifles slung on their backs with no bullets in them. They have to rally in Maryland within site of the Capitol because DC has very heavy restriction on guns inside city limits.

Ever since Obama took office these folks have been buying up bullets and guns so fast, you'd think the Soviet Union was back together and was martialing forces just off the coast of Nova Scotia, preparing to invade America and take this country by force.

However, recent gun history in America, reveals the loosening gun laws over the past several years. The Supreme Court has already rejected DC's gun law as too harsh, Congress is set to eliminate the DC gun law altogether, and President Obama signed the new gun law that allows these folks to carry guns inside national parks.

In other words, the man who is being excoriated for trying to take away their guns, actually is the one who put those guns into their cold hands to begin with. As a matter of fact, the number of states that allow for concealed carry has risen from just 9, twenty years ago to 37 in 2010.

Maybe it's not something they are ingesting...maybe it's in the air... maybe Obama Derangement Syndrome is real......maybe I need to buy a gas mask or helmet for protection. Whatever it is, these guys are preparing for a war that no one has yet declared.

Which brings me to the other thing happening today. Last year, a group of people got together in Illinois at what they called a constitutional convention. These people drafted what they say are 14 articles of freedom.

They are presenting these articles to all lawmakers today at around 2 o'clock at state capitals around the country. You can go here to read them. I will refer to them as “they” because frankly, I don't know who these people are. I wasn't invited to their convention. I didn't take part in the crafting of the 14 articles of freedom, and I don't know anybody who did.

So who are these people purporting to speak for me, someone who has voted in every single primary and election in which she has been eligible to take part. That act alone has put me on every list possible for inclusion in making decisions about this country.

Yet, I wasn't even asked to participate. They didn't ask...but I'm a tell em anyway..

Their introduction states they want to adhere to the priniciples spelled out by the Declaration of Independence. But do they understand that the Declaration was a dream...it was not the reality and never has been....same for the Constitution....a foundation and a beginning...not the final drawing to shape the country.

Think about it....the founding fathers wrote both the Declaration and the Constitution for white men with property, period.....not poor people....not women....not Native Americans and certainly not Blacks, free or otherwise...Blacks were not human and enslaved...women were chattel with perks in today's parlance...and Native Americans were a nuisance and in the way of white domination and expansion in the new world.

Eleven of the first 13 men who were elected president of the United States were slave owners. Yet they based their documents on the phrases “we the people” and “all men are created equal.” It was a dream in the making, set far off into the future.

They were smart enough to realize that the future changes and so must their founding documents, change to coincide with changes in the population, hence amendments to the Constitution are sometimes necessary.

Living in the past, is living in pain. You can't go back.

Real patriots, understand that.

1 comment:

Joe R said...

Very nice post.