The F@t Patriot

I must confess that I love this land. Every bit of it is wonderous. I love it's diversity- From the industrial north to the pleasant south. From the swamplands through the Great Plains, from the deserts of the southwest to the cathedrals of the Rocky Mountains... It is all so grand and ever-changing. Do we ever stop to think about how it came to be? There is no other place like it, anywhere. And beside it's great swath of land, it is a place where it's people live free. Freedom. Freedom to live, freedom to succeed, and yes, the freedom to fail.

Freedom. There are so many factions condending for the definition of that word. So many crying out for supposed justice in the face of some wrong-doing, So many people re-defining the very context of the word, that it becomes a very confusing issue- But at it's heart, it is not. American freedom is a very simple and straight forward thing.

The big rule of thumb:

Freedom by it's nature comes with responsibility. One must be responsible for one's self to be independent, and part of that responsibility is to repay the debt which was created in the formation of our freedom.

It is our formost responsibility to remember whom we are beholden to:

This debt is first laid out in the Declaration of Independence, the signing of which we all recognize as the start of our freedoms by it's celebration as our Independence Day (July 4th):

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies
In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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.

This is the first official document of the United States of America and it begins with a universal declaration that our rights (and the rights of all men generally) are given to us by God and by God alone, and therefore no one but God can rightfully take them away.

It goes on to list the grievances against the British Crown- The reasons for the separation...

And then ends with the actual declaration of independence, and calls upon God Himself to witness it:

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Read it all right here.

Our fathers were beholden to God.

Twelve years later, on September 17th, 1787, our fathers laid down our laws explicitly in the Constitution. It's purpose is defined in it's preamble:

The Constitution of the United States of America

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

While the Constitution does not mention God very much, it does declare itself binding to all agreements and contracts made prior to it's own establishment- That including, one would think, the Declaration of Independence (as it was declared and witnessed, it is binding in it's own right).

Our fathers went out of thier way to declare themselves beholden to no one on this earth- cutting all ties to all entities (in the Declaration) except for God, upon whom they placed their faith.

We are beholden to our fathers.

Yes, we have the power to rule ourselves according to these documents written by our fathers, and we should exercise our power, as is our right. But while the Constitution is an admirable and honorable document, the ideas it expresses are not made sacred by the little rows of letters on the page. They are made sacred by other rows of gleaming white:

Arlington National Cemetery

As I said above, it is our formost responsibility to remember whom we are beholden to.

In the first place, we are beholden to Almighty God for the freedoms we have been given.

In the second place, we are beholden to our forefathers who did the tough work of establishment.

In the third place, we are beholden to those who gave their lives to make it so.

These are the things which form the wellspring and the root of our great nation, the very essence and life of our freedom. If one recognizes this fact, it is a simple thing to understand how to pass it on to the only others we are beholden to: our children; that they might experience the full and complete liberty that our country is capable of.

Anything, be it law or custom, cultural or societal, which would attempt to block the root from the Wellspring, or which would attempt to cut off the root from the trunk cannot be healthy for any reason. To remove the root or the Wellspring from anything assures it's death, as anyone can surely see. It is only common sense.

The pages in the sidebar attempt to show the reader the things that everyone once knew by default. Things which were taken for granted. But now, in our day, these things are no longer held sovereign in our hearts as a nation. We do not understand the terms used. Things like "sacred honor" have no meaning to many of us anymore.

If you have come to the conclusion that things don't make any sense in today's world, I hasten to ask you to read further in the major articles in the sidebar, and to listen to the voices of your forefathers... to those whose rights you now own. Would that we could do as well as them, as we walk along in their shoes.