Think back to the year 1775. The anniversary is coming up again on April the 19th. You remember. It's not September 11, which is our new so-called Patriot day according to House Joint Resolution 71. Why did the Minutemen go out to confront the British? What forced their hands and drove them to stand and die? The shot that was heard around the world was fired because the Minutemen and their families thought they would never be free of abusive British control unless they took up arms to decide the issue. What could make them do this? The British were their business partners and military allies. The king had given them their lands. Why bite the hand that fed them?
To understand their outrage, we need to consider the terms life, liberty, and property. Enough Americans held these sacred that a war was started when property and liberty was threatened. Then in those times, life and liberty were understood to be the same thing. Today, the majority of Americans would think these ideas were wild and dangerous, wouldn't they? But that's what American colonists figured: when the British taxed and disarmed them, they were taking their lives too.
Today, with congress lining the pockets of Wall Street with our future prosperity, can we say that we are free? With an economy so controlled that detail after detail are managed by government offices and regulations, is property a useful word still? With wars being started and fought far away over mistaken threats while our own borders go undefended, are our lives safe?
If you agree with how your tax dollars are being spent, you may still want to consider what I am saying. What if you did not agree? Put yourself in the shoes of Americans who disagree with the war, or resent the intelligence complex's growing awareness of individual Americans.
What if you disagreed?
You couldn't do anything to stop it, could you? At least you might understand just how powerful the United States federal government has become. Those who oppose its actions in foreign wars, taxation, social policy, and the gradual loss individual liberties believe that American government is out of control and heading in the wrong direction.
The battles of Lexington and Concord were fought over much less.