This Fourth Of July – 2019

July 3, 2019 | Founders, General, History, Republic, Sovereignty

by Nicholas Testaccio

This Fourth we should take stock of what we were, what we are, and what we will be.

There is an effort, an agenda so to speak, to change what this nation has strived for in the past, what it has accomplished, and the turmoil that is tossing us all about.

John 8: 2-7

At daybreak he appeared in the Temple again; and as all the people came to him, he sat down and began to teach them.

The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman along who had been caught committing adultery; and making her stand there in the middle they said to Jesus, ‘Master, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery, and in the Law Moses has ordered us to stone women of this kind. What have you got to say?’ They asked him this as a test, looking for an accusation to use against him. But Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger. As they persisted with their question, he straightened up and said, ‘Let the one among you who is guiltless be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Then he bent down and continued writing on the ground. When they heard this they went away one by one, beginning with the eldest, until the last one had gone and Jesus was left alone with the woman, who remained in the middle. Jesus again straightened up and said, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’

This nation was formed in blood by a rebellious people who were sinners the lot. They were traitors to the Empire of Great Britain. Their acts were that of people who used any tool, method, and any other device they deemed necessary to sever ties with those who lorded over them.

After a long and arduous fight, the chains were cut, and a new nation began the complicated struggle to form a Union of independent States. The battle was just beginning for this country, for it was developing in a manner that was unique in all the history of the world. It was to be a Republic wherein the People would be sovereign, and thus hold the reins over government.

“In order to form a more perfect Union” clarity, and determination were essential as it was obvious to the Founders that this nation could not survive as Thirteen small countries at odds with each other. Some compromises needed to be struck so that they could secure for their posterity a form that could flourish with the knowledge that aid and comfort would be provided by a Union.

No one is perfect, and certainly no one is without sin. We are once again embroiled in a skirmish to save this nation from annihilation. This time the enemy is not Three Thousand miles away, but is here in the courts, the legislatures, and sadly the schools and universities that most of our children attend.

We face a foe that is so insidious that it has absolutely no qualms about lying, deceiving, and even fostering violence in order to secure its goal; a country of slaves as has been created in so many other places. We are being torn apart from within. Marcus Tullius Cicero stated, long before the land we live on became this nation, “A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague.”

The struggles that this nation has endured from the Revolution, through a Civil War, a great Depression, two World Wars, and civil strife is a testimony to the fortitude of those who came before us.

Now we are engaged in what appears to be the opening salvos of a true Civil War wherein race, creed, and ideology clash. The battle lines are drawn by the one side with the help of their “useful idiots” as soldiers causing discontent, and chaos. They are led by corrupt politicians who are on record calling for violence against the opposition. They are supported by educators who have a deep hatred for what they perceive as some injustice, or slight. They are bolstered by a judiciary that has long lost its mandate of justice for all.

The other side is led by those who have long ago forgotten how this nation came into being, and cower at the mere word that might have them perceived as some sort of villain. They “indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. *** [they] cry, Peace, Peace but there is no peace. The war is actually begun!”  – Patrick Henry

I am reminded of the words of Thomas Jefferson; “God forbid we should ever be 20 years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, & 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 a lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. *** What country before ever existed a century & half without a rebellion? & what country can preserve it’s liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? *** The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants.”

History repeats itself in a manner that is often frightening to this writer, and hopefully to others.

So, this Fourth of July I will look upon the words of the men who struggled with life and death to  form a new and unique nation. I will remember history as it was with all its lessons. I will remember the pitfalls, the mistakes, the successes, and the accomplishments that made a nation that strove through countless conflicts to give us liberty, and justice for all.