Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death

Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775.
No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, 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 for the last ten 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 those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These 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 have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten 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 free– if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending–if 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; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. 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 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? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The 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, 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. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable–and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen 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!

Moreover, I’m sure your remarks reflect the thinking of many who are growing more and more frustrated at the direction our country is taking.

All I ask is for people to refrain from anything that could be readily interpreted as encouraging violence — or any other illegal acts. Not only is doing so wrong in itself, but such comments could be seized upon as an excuse to shut the site down.

But it’s a fairly low bar. And it is rare that I even have to post a gentle reminder.

Anyway, I’d hate to lose you after you have finally gotten better with your punctuation.

As such, until such a time that I can contribute in a more intellectual manner and take some of that patriotic fervor out of my system, I will implement a self imposed exile from posting for an indeterminate amount of time. I know I am a hot head, and I am giving the public the wrong impression as to why this site is the best.

But, I will not jeopardize the content or quality of this site, nor put you or your readers in the unenviable position of being held responsible for allowing the left to write this blog off as a haven for right wing fanatics. I apologize profusely for being a part of lowering the expectations of others who possess the insight and patriotism to put forth their views in a more acceptable manner.

I will return only when I feel that I can contribute solid arguments without any of the inflammatory rhetoric that would cause harm to your endeavor. I do this out of the great respect I have of you personally, and I dont want to put you in an adversarial position for any reason.

That being said, to all posters…..it was a good run, but I think this blog has surpassed my ability to contribute in a meaningful way. I will miss you all. SG….thank you for allowing me to get this far…what I do, I do for S&L and for the people here, and for you.

Keep up the good fight…you are doing it the right way.

My post was out of that fervor that always comes with doing that which is necessary only after all other options have been exhausted, and were based solely on a last resort “what if” kind of scenario.

SG, I will temper my statements in the future so as to lessen the possibility of being labeled an extremist. I am not a right wing nut job. I am simply a conservative with the resolve and fortitude to remain steadfast in my unrepentant belief in our Nation’s freedom.

I don’t always have the time to go through all of the comments on this site and remove any untoward threats of violence or revolution against our elected representatives or any talk about overthrowing our system of government.

But nevertheless understand that this is not a site for such rants — and it will never be.

Such talk does not do anything but drive sensible people away and discredit our arguments.

I have recently banned one long time member who could not abide by the simple request to not post such comments.

I will not hesitate to ban others.

Here is how I say it……..the catastrophe we are currently experiencing is not going to get better until it gets considerably worse. The indoctrination perpetrated by the education system, media and political con-men is so thorough that the walking-zombie liberals in this country aren’t close yet to waking up from their hypnotic nightmare and coming to grips with reality.

But the irony is that they voted it upon themselves, and at some point the salvageable youth will wake up and realize that the crushing burdens of debt, redistribution and loss of freedoms will be borne by THEM, even moreson than us. (I exclude the majority of reparation-dependants who are incapable of reasoning it out.). At that point, the tide will turn.

The wild cards, imho, are whether or not the damage can be reversed and whether The Moron will have already played the War card, which I expect to come very soon.

Our job is to hold the line and continue to encourage articulate spokepeople to explain why the future of the country depends on preserving the freedom that has already made the USA so great.

In that sense, I’m not as discouraged as Brad seems to be.

Second – Brad – that is exactly what the Fiberals (and for that matter radical islamic terrorists) want – for you to say – Oh wtf, it’s going to happen anyway.
Nope, not in this house – to say that is to stereotype all politicians, political parties and basically our entire Government in one single position.

How Typical Fiberal Person of you. I, for one do not paint them all in the same stroke. Some are good, just too junior or not heard, some are outright crazy from all the power, some are just raving socialists and I still think that the majority are in-between – lousy leftist/centrists/moderates (i.e. can’t take a stand) on some issues (tend to be financial) and mostly centrist/right on other issues (tend to be social).

It is the fact that too many on the conservative/right side took the promotion of McAmnesty and sat out – now we have a hard-core socialist POTUS, a Fiberal held Congress and a 5/4 Court that is one disease/accident away from making the 3 Branches of the American Government – all Socialist/Leftist.

They can take my guns from my cold dead hands.

As I told my ex husband 17 years ago – if I am to burn in hell for eternity I will gladly do it for my children than for you or any other man.

And I Am a Child of God – therefore I do not fear death.

I can’t figure out why Freedom, ‘give me your tired and hungry yearning to be free’, opportunity rich America is such a threat to these people? While my gut wants to shoot to kill, my soul says – if you hate it so much – do us a favor and just leave.

LOP – I got that bumper sticker – pretty much sums up what the next 1406 days are going to be about.

Take away our right to vote by continuing the fraudulent dishonesty that passes for elections now, and the people will take that right back. Washington knows, it hears the rumble of discontent, and is beginning to see the real population of this country standing up and saying, “NO MORE”, and they are hoping it just goes away like usual…..Washington has never heard conservatives taking to the streets, they honestly dont think it could happen. They are hearing it now, and desperate to figure out a way to keep their power and appease the “new” crowd of dissidents, but since it means giving up their positions of power and greed, they are left with few choices that appeal to them. They wont succeed, because unlike liberal and leftist protesters who protest for personal ideology and a cut of government funding, the Conservative movement is going to fight for the very thing we have always fought for….FREEDOM from tyranny.

[...]

Have faith….it will be fixed. And it will be fixed within the next four years come hell or high water. A word to those who just cant be a part of it, support those who can. There will be no fence sitting this time. And no, we will never, ever, lay down our arms. Come what may, this will be America again, and we will return to the UNITED States. So take heed those of you who depend on coercion, fraud, dishonesty, greed, and power….there is a movement afoot to replace you with people who want a country, not a kingdom.

And if you think that “we” dont have the resolve to do so, that it is all just talk and posturing, welcome to the ranks of the Washington elitists who make the same mistake. Personally, I hope that everyone who thinks like that deludes themselves even longer, it gives the conservative movement more time to act. The resolve is there, and while we havent reached the edge of the precipice, one can see it from here, and once pushed over it, there will be no turning back. We live on the cusp of history, all of us. And fifty years from now, people will be reading about how we stopped the march of Marxism, or they will be reading our epitaphs.

Please don’t keep a Fiberal lie going – it does no one any good and it’s what lead to The One ™ soiling the POTUS.

I mean, stop resisting the inevitable. If the Democrats eventually ruin this country, perhaps letting that happen isn’t such a bad idea. The quicker the better I think.

Lay Down Your Opposition, is what I meant. Never give up your firearms [...]

I’ll keep my Cash, Guns and Freedom.
You can keep your Change!