Partick Henry 2008 - Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death

CONSERVATIVES FACE THE SLOW, COUCH-BOUND DEATH OF COWARDS IF WE REFUSE TO ENGAGE A WAR ALREADY WELL UNDERWAY

In the years leading up to 1775, the British had continually tightened their grip on the colonists. The efforts of the colonial governments to engage the Crown and the Parliament to present grievances, or to even open a constructive dialog, had
met with no more than polite smiles to their faces, derisive sneers behind their backs, and a massive military build-up to deal with the increasingly restless American population seething with resentment.

The American colonists were the worst possible sort -- highly educated, well-read, well-informed, and having had a taste of freedom and self-reliance unparalleled at that time. They were smart, savvy, and hacked off. But While the citizens were arming themselves and forming militias, the colonial governments were loathe to act in any way that might incite the Crown (with some exceptions - the Parliament had already declared Massachusetts in a state of rebellion). On March 23, 1775, the Virginia legislature met in a church in Richmond, rather than the Capital at Williamsburg, to avoid confrontation with the British. How typical, but Henry was having none of that.

Patrick Henry proposed that an organized company of infantry or calvary be formed in every VA county. Several speakers got up to preach moderation, to await replies from their most recent proposals to Parliament, and various forms of inaction. Henry spoke last, and it is said that both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson sat in stunned, jaw-dropped silence after this speech. 15 months later, Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence, which echoes the words of Patrick Henry. And well, we know what Washington did.

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I bring this up here and now because America has for the majority of a century been in a slow descent into oligarchy and tyranny, of freedoms traded away for comfort, of confiscatory taxes by a government that spends our treasure like a drunken whore on ever-more corrupt and useless things, a self-sustaining and ever-more bloated and leftist bureaucracy. It is all at the hands of the American left, abetted by a highly partisan, dishonest, and outright treasonous press corps.

The Left has been at war with us, frankly since the New Deal. In recent times they have used courts to impose their will on us, in ever-bolder assaults on th Constitution and upon decency. The press browbeats middle America, Christianity and any form of moral order. The Republican Party has devolved into Dem-lite as they parlay away those freedoms which remain. Boys and girls, it is high time we faced it. We are in danger of losing EVERYTHING the Founding Fathers held dear, and which we SHOULD hold dear. The Democrat Party plays low and dirty, while we respond with calls for comity, civility, compromise. Bah! Send them to hell, I say.

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Hear excerpts of Patrick Henry, [EPU in brackets]:

MR. PRESIDENT: This is no time for ceremony. The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offence, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the majesty of heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings. Mr. President, it is natural to 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. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? 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.

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry [Democrats] for the last ten [40] years, to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves, and the House? Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with these war-like preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies [Fariness Doctrine] necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled, that force [the courts] must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These [leftist judges] are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask, gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us; they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry [radical leftists] have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? [The Wuss Party, apparently] Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten [40] years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves.

Sir, we have done everything that could be done, to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne. In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free² if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending²if 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!

They tell us, sir, that we are weak [facing further losses in both Houses]; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary [and not getting judges confirmed]. 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 [PC policeman] 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[sound familiar?]? 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 [100, maybe, if we motivate them]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. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations[oh, but we can't mention God in any meaningful way, even in the Wuss Party]; 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. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston[and California, where the courts have usurped yet again]! The war is inevitable²and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen [Republican Senators] 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!

So, while the national elections play out in 2008, which we can only minimally control at this late date, engage the war that has been going on for decades. Democrats and squish Republicans OWN your city councils and school boards, even in Republican cities and suburbs. Go to your first public meeting. After you get through picking your jaw up off the floor, aghast at what is going on under your very nose - THEN go to war. Fight them, oust them, replace them with soldiers of conservatism.

THAT is what Patrick Henry would have you do.

cross-posted at www.redstate.com