Got Freedom?
Live Free or Die. As simple as it is profound, it expresses the universal desire of people everywhere for freedom. The most basic right, taken for granted by many who have it, yearned for by those living in constant oppression. Freedom is what compelled every-day citizens in the American War for Independence, who had exhausted every means of redress, to take up arms to secure for themselves and all who followed their God given rights. Freedom is what compelled a man armed only with a bag of fruit to defy the advance of a tank column. Freedom is what compelled millions of Muslim women to walk many miles to vote for the first time in their lives and then proudly to display their purple-inked finger. Freedom is what compelled a 5-year old Iraqi girl, tightly clutching the Beanie Baby given to her the day before by US Marines, to risk her own life to point out a roadside bomb when those Marines returned to her village. Live Free or Die.
Patrick Henry once said, “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!” Today we are once again engaged in a noble struggle. Amid the negative press and constant barrage of anti-American rhetoric by pretend patriots in Hollywood, thousands of Americans have answered the call issued by Henry so long ago. Brought together by a profound belief not just in the importance of the mission, but also in the obligation we owe to all generations past and present, they toil far from America’s shores so that we at home remain free.
Rewarded in the press with fraudulently biased accounts of their deeds and obscene omissions of their true thoughts, they continue to answer Henry’s call. Abused by those who live free, they continue to fight to bring freedom to a people who have never known the right to disagree with their government. Victimized by the far-left history revisionists, they remain loyal to the cause and steadfast in their resolve vowing never to give the enemy the satisfaction of seeing America flee before its immense obligation.
There is no better cause than justice and no more noble service than in the armed forces. Henry said it best. “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!”
***Update***
I have long known that Henry’s speech was not recorded at the time he spoke it. The argument has always been that it was so eloquent, and he spoke so passionately, that it was easy for people to recall the words he spoke later. However, I have recently read a book by Ray Raphael called Founding Myths in which he argues that the words attributed to Henry were actually written by William Wirt forty or so years later. Wirt’s account of the speech is based on the recollections of only one person, who only attempted to reconstruct a small part (the “we must fight” part). The rest, presumably, is pure fabrication. It does seem likely to me however, that people would have remembered a catchy quote such as “Give me liberty or give me death,” making that part plausible as well. Either way, it has been rumored that I may possibly be related to Henry somehow, so I choose not to be disabused of my notion that Henry was in fact the originator of these lines.
Patrick Henry once said, “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!” Today we are once again engaged in a noble struggle. Amid the negative press and constant barrage of anti-American rhetoric by pretend patriots in Hollywood, thousands of Americans have answered the call issued by Henry so long ago. Brought together by a profound belief not just in the importance of the mission, but also in the obligation we owe to all generations past and present, they toil far from America’s shores so that we at home remain free.
Rewarded in the press with fraudulently biased accounts of their deeds and obscene omissions of their true thoughts, they continue to answer Henry’s call. Abused by those who live free, they continue to fight to bring freedom to a people who have never known the right to disagree with their government. Victimized by the far-left history revisionists, they remain loyal to the cause and steadfast in their resolve vowing never to give the enemy the satisfaction of seeing America flee before its immense obligation.
There is no better cause than justice and no more noble service than in the armed forces. Henry said it best. “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!”
***Update***
I have long known that Henry’s speech was not recorded at the time he spoke it. The argument has always been that it was so eloquent, and he spoke so passionately, that it was easy for people to recall the words he spoke later. However, I have recently read a book by Ray Raphael called Founding Myths in which he argues that the words attributed to Henry were actually written by William Wirt forty or so years later. Wirt’s account of the speech is based on the recollections of only one person, who only attempted to reconstruct a small part (the “we must fight” part). The rest, presumably, is pure fabrication. It does seem likely to me however, that people would have remembered a catchy quote such as “Give me liberty or give me death,” making that part plausible as well. Either way, it has been rumored that I may possibly be related to Henry somehow, so I choose not to be disabused of my notion that Henry was in fact the originator of these lines.
posted by exsubdriver at 10:49 AM
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