Archive
America: 246 Years of Freedom
Dear America,
You don’t know me, but I am just a jolly American citizen who believes what you stand for: freedom. I do not profess to know everything, but this much I know, that despite her faults, your history I am proud of you.
I make no attempts to excuse your prior bad behavior, I do understand that you have taken steps to correct those behaviors. I am glad to note that I am not alone. There are people like myself who love those 50 stars, those 13 stripes and that blue background where those stars sit. It gives me goosebumps in knowing that those stars were once 13 stars, survived a war between sister States, two world wars, civil strife, and yet after 246 years, you are still here.
At one time, I was a person who didn’t considered myself an American. I considered myself a “New York-rican.” In other words, a person of Puerto Rican ancestry born here in America, in the city of New York. The concept of myself being an American solely based on where I was a foreign concept to me. Of course, then the summer of 1988 happened, and I read the Declaration of Independence. That’s where everything changed; it was my “ah ha moment.” Since then, I never turned back, I was no longer a New Yorker, or a Puerto Rican-Italian, I was American.
Like many, I a lot in common with other people in similar situations, I love America, I love that awe inspiring document that leftists, socialists and communists in our republic hate. Why? Because that document says to “a candid world” that it is the duty of every able bodied men to fight for freedom, that whenever any government becomes tyrannical, it is the right, and most importantly it is their duty to throw off such government, and form a new government that will secure their liberties, promote domestic tranquility and more importantly guarantee future generations the same blessings of liberty.
In reading the Declaration of Independence of our forefathers, I can not help but be amazed that these imperfect men wrote such a perfect document. Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration, a man who was the product of the period of European Enlightenment, put it so eloquently, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” Yet before the ink was dry on the pens and plumbs of the signers, already there was debate on the nature of the form of government the young nation would have.
The Declaration goes on to say, “absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security,” these immortal words have never been truer to the patriots of today. Equally, satisfying, America was on the brink of losing the war for her freedom, but yet still hung on, and after 8 years of blood work on the battlefield, America won her freedom.
It was 1787, America adopted a new form of government, a republic, a nation of laws. Now it was time for the young nation to put up or shut up about that pesky document called the Declaration of Independence. It was now time for the young nation to follow through on its promise, to be the guarantor of rights, liberties and freedom it fought for. Now it was the high water mark of the young nation, the United States of America, to show “a candid world” its purpose.
I stand true to the notion, what while the functions of government may be and are imperfect, after 246 years of an experiment in self governance, I trust no other form constitution but of our republic. People will mock, and denigrate patriots like myself, and call us racists for loving our republic despite her faults, but these are the same people who use the very same liberties that they claim to hate. I must add, but note to these types of people: hypocrisy much?
A wise man once wrote, “I am a Southerner by birth and a Rebel by choice. As I read and study, I pull for Lee, Jackson, and Longstreet. As I live, I thank Grant, Lincoln, and Democracy.[1]” My response to this quote is, “I am Northerner by birth, and a Rebel by choice. As I read and study, I pull for Washington, von Steuben, Lee, Jackson and Longstreet. As I live, I thank fellow patriots alike for believing in America, and standing by her side even in the darkest of times.”
Why I believe the Confederate Flag is Not Racist
This is not an attempt to say who is more morally correct but rather to point an obvious set of truths that every one, yes, including myself, ignore very ignorantly and profoundly that it boggles even the most enlightened minds. In every American classroom, in every mainstream media outlet, in every news story, you are told one perspective about the controversy at hand, the Confederate flag. However, I will attempt to give a different perspective contrary to what is taught in every classroom, what is said in every news story, and what is put out by our mainstream media. As a result, in writing this opinion, I may very well lose my job, and my reputation because I will present a different point of view, a different perspective that is not cognizant of the prevailing mainstream media opinions and of the politically correct.
We keep hearing that the Confederate flag is about racism, slavery and all the controversies that pertains to the 1950s and 1960s during the Civil Rights era. Let there be no ambiguity, any form of racism or bigotry is abhorrent, and un-American. It rails against the political pandora’s box created by our Founding Fathers, the Constitution, the Common Law and the sacrifices made by those who struggled, and died for a simple idea: a government of the people, by the people and for the people.
We keep hearing about our fellow Americans of African ancestry being victims of slavery, and racism and our fellow Americans of African ancestry are used as scapegoats as focal point as a racial divide by those in power. It is a sickening a twist to their saga for their citizenship rights. Our fellow American brothers and sisters of African heritage and descent are being played like a violin, and only few realize it, while the majority play right into the narrative, “us versus them” and “black versus white.” It is imperative for the establishment to keep Americans divided among ethnic lines, because it gives them a reason for their existence. Imagine, if we all joined hands, regardless of skin color or ethnicity and told the establishment, that no, we will not fall into their trap of creating conflict between the races, that we are united in brotherhood and sisterhood as American citizens and we demand ALL of our citizenship rights. If we did that, the establishment would have no reason for their existence and that in itself would be cause for celebration among all of America’s people.
However, before addressing the issue of the Confederate flag and its meaning, we are ignoring the true victims of racism, we are forgetting the true recipients of our governments racism, and bigoted policies long before and after slavery step foot on this continent. We are forgetting the once proud people that once roamed this land, we are forgetting the Native American in which under the Stars and Stripes suffered the most than any people who have step foot on this continent. All we have to do is simply ask: where are they today?
We said to these people, the Native American, we come in peace, lay down your arms and we will lay down ours so that we can talk peace, friendship, establish commerce and trade. Yet, in their reward for their kindness and trust, they received blankets with disease; in the end they received our greatest gift, war and destruction. In all the treaties and agreements with Native Americans, not one was ever honored by our government. Instead, we slaughtered these people by the millions, and in some cases to save bullets or when we ran out of bullets, we used our sabers, bayonets or anything that resembled a weapon to kill their women and children. The suffering of these people under the Stars and Stripes, no pen or paper can never ever be truly described.
We saw their land, and how beautiful it was, and like a child wanting what is not theirs, we slaughtered their most prized possessions, we slaughtered their women and children. We took what was not ours, and now we call it our land. Possessing their land was not enough so we put a nail in their coffin by killing their food source, the buffalo, we sealed their fate by putting them in concentration camps, but our government and mainstream media likes to call them reservations. We forcefully assimilated their children and rid them of their language, their culture, and what is left of their culture are in history books or college campuses. However, we need not to worry, our history books, our classrooms, and our media does not call it racism, they just call it a series of unfortunate events, like the Trail of Tears.
Our media will say, that its just the past, just history and not racism. They would rather call it a conflict between diverse communities, rather than call it for what it really is, the Native American Holocaust based on pure racism and condoned by the United States government, under the Stars and Stripes. All we have to do is simply look at the movies that are produced about Native Americans by Hollywood, and that is a small minute detail in a long trail of racism and abuses under the American flag and not the Confederate flag. In addition, all we have to do is look at their current state, and all you will find is a once proud people are now destitute, poor, fragile, ridden with issues of alcoholism and drugs. But do not worry, there is not enough of them to cause any civil strife because the U.S. government, under the Stars and Stripes, have successfully disarmed them; they have effectively put the Native American in their place.
Our Stars and Stripes, our flag standard, is more drenched in blood, pure racism, death, deceit, suffering, tears and sadness than the Confederate flag, which flew for only 4 years. Yet, there are those today who wish to paint the picture that four years of the life of the Confederate States of America is much worse than the entire life of our current republic or that the actions of a minority are representative of a whole.
So the next time some one says the Confederate flag is racist, politely ask them, and what of the Native American under the Stars and Stripes? Don’t forget to include those who suffered the most under the current flag, the Native American. I think it is safe to say, we owe the Native American a simple apology because so far, I haven’t heard one yet.
How blind are we, the American people, to not see what we have done, and are continuing to do under the Stars and Stripes? We are in denial, that supposedly we are freest republic on the Earth, but yet we allow and behave like the most tyrannical. No other proof is needed than the abuses of government against the liberties they are sworn, and duty bound to protect of every American citizen under the Stars and Stripes. In our own hypocrisy, we have an inept president who has done nothing to solve the upheaval between the races, or to protect our rights as he swore to do upon taking his oath of office. However, because of the color of his skin, criticizing him will get you labeled as racist simply because you disagree with his policies and actions. We have a Congress that the best money can buy and if you dare say otherwise publicly, the mainstream media will call you a conspiracy theorist or delusional.
Perhaps, if the American people educated themselves about our Constitution, our republic’s history, about Native Americans, and causes of the War Between the States, and not some watered down public school version to make us feel better about ourselves and government, they would see, that yes, there is more to our flag than “Land of the Free, and Home of the Brave.” The American people will find that our flag is dripping with innocent blood, lies and deceit.
However, it is rather unfortunate, that the American citizenry are too lazy to care or are too busy being manipulated by those who want them in bondage and disunited. This modern day form of slavery need not chains or whips but rather strict obedience to their masters who will send swarms of armed men to kidnap, imprison, to brutalize people, or confiscate private property. If these patriot Americans resist, if they continue in defending their rights, these swarms of armed men, also known as the police, have the authority of the State and Federal government to invade their homes, and kill them. The media will call these swarms of armed men heroes, but to their victims, they are known as enforcers and tools of the tyrants.
Don’t want to pay your car registration tax? The government will seize your property. Want to smoke a plant that harms no one? The U.S. Government will send armed men from a chosen alphabet soup agency to kidnap you, seize your property, your life savings, imprison you and destroy your life. All this is being done under the Stars and Stripes!
Ironically, Hitler did not have to invade the U.S. to have the tyranny that we have today disguised as the N.S.A., C.I.A. or Homeland Security under the Stars and Stripes. Having these views, in our republic, today, will have you labeled by our government, our politicians and mainstream media as a potential domestic extremist, paranoid delusional individual or terrorist because we dare speak out against the tyranny that is coming over these States. It is the same tyranny that our ancestors brothers and sisters fought against. When the King, proclaimed these colonies in revolt, and President of these States proclaimed those southern States are in rebellion against their respective governments, those brave men answered the call of freedom and willingly put their lives at risk.
It is apparent, that we Americans are so slighted and easily distracted that we have not learned from the history of our German counterparts when tyranny in the form of Nazism plagued Germany. Let us remind ourselves of our recent history with regards to Hitler; Hitler did not enter Berlin with army tanks, he was elected by a wide majority of the people. Speaking out against Hitler and Nazis became hazardous to one’s health, especially when the population was completely disarmed and only government had all the firearms. If you spoke out against the Nazi regime, if your opinion differed from the Nazi propaganda machine, you were labeled an enemy of the state, and thus your life as you knew it was over. These German citizens did not commit any crimes, they did not violate any one’s rights, all they did was simply believed differently and the life of their family and friends was over. Sound familiar?
In order to understand the controversy, we must first understand the underlying the history of our southern sister States to even grasp why the Confederate flag is revered by them. William E. Gladstone once said, that our U.S. Constitution was the greatest work ever written by the brain of men. This is undoubtedly true, yet, before and after the Constitution was ratified, the debate arose at the Philadelphia Convention and Congress as to the nature of this form of government. The Federalist papers, and the Anti-Federalist papers are a testament of this debate, and yet our citizenry are extremely ignorant of the debate.
It is undoubtedly true, slavery was the immediate cause in the woeful conflict between the States, it was the focal point in which the arguments centered on. However, had there been no slavery, there would have been no war, and there would have been no slavery if the South’s protests against the introduction of institution had been listened to when it was initially introduced by Northern colony of Massachusetts Bay.
Before the blistering bayonets and hostilities of 1861 began, the debates arose in Congress as to the nature of what ought to be our fraternal government, a voluntary union of independent sovereign States bound together by that noble fabric of parchment called the Constitution. This document, signed by the Founding Fathers, and sealed forever more by those soldiers, black, white and yes, Native American, too, with their sacred honor, lives, fortunes and revolutionary blood.
Even after the Constitution was signed, and ratified, the nature of the Constitution was continually debated in the halls of Congress. This debate tested willingness of Hamilton and Jefferson to compromise, and taxed the patience of Washington in their endeavors to define the nature of the relationship of the Constitution and sister States. Soon, the argument entered a sectional phase and what were words of fraternal brotherhood among these States, soon became a war of words until finally the argument of the nature of the government became so fractured that sadly, both sides believed the argument could no longer be settled in the halls of Congress, but sadly, the battlefield. A time when one side fought for perpetual ideas of a strong central government and the other side fought liberty in the independence of the States as bequeathed by our Forefathers.
The South responded with a depth of fraternal conviction to the charges of the North that secession was illegal, she argued that secession was not illegal, and the reasons for their action, as done by the original 13 States, were similar to those by our Forefathers. The South argued, that the States upon joining the union was a voluntary act, that each State had not surrendered their hard fought independence, which their mother country, finally in 1783, recognized each colony, as a free and sovereign independent State.
She argued, the essential American doctrine, that the right to govern rest upon the Consent of the Governed, and that by the expressed written terms of the Constitution, all rights, and all powers not delegated were reserved to all the States. Our southern sister States challenged both the North and the Federal government to find any trace of delegated authority in the Constitution where any State or groups of States can invade or coerce a free and sovereign State. These doctrines, in her vindication to the right to secede, to assert their independence, were the echoes and the same epithets by Washington, Hancock, Adams, Jefferson, Henry and Light Horse Harry Lee.
In the four years of bloody work, it safe to say, there is nothing that could be said or done that could have saved slavery since it was a dying institution in the Western world. No other proof is needed than the examples of our European counterparts across the ocean in their gradual abolition of the horrid institution of slavery. The prevailing thought than became not if slavery would cease but of when it would cease. Had slavery been allowed to die its slow death, the issues of racism that plague us today would be silent, and the topic of discussion would be the nature of our fraternal government.
Regardless of what you are told in the media, no matter the color of your skin, you should honor the fact that these men, both Northern, Southern and yes, Native American fought for freedom as they understood it to be. Those soldiers, in the tribunal of last resort, valor contended against valor, brave men against brave men are the true Patriots of the our blessed Republic. These soldiers fought for neither fame, or reward, place or rank and they stood fast to their duties as true Patriots of the Constitution, these men sacrificed their lives for an idea, freedom and died. I would implore any one to find racism in that; these are the values that our southern brothers and sisters view in their flag and not slavery.
There will be those that will compare the Confederate flag with the Nazi flag. They will make claim that both flags are equal to one another, and that both harbor ill will towards those who do not fit the mold in which they are represented under. However, we must understand that one flag argues the reason for their establishment is based on the principles outlined in the Declaration of Independence, by our forefathers in the likes of Patrick Henry, Daniel Webster and theories of John Locke and the other on the supremacy of a master race of people, and the extreme suppression of ideas.
In defense of our American history, I venture to say, that we must not let the actions of a few vocal minority define the majority. Therefore, I dare say, that Confederate State’s history is American history, the Confederate flag is also an American flag. We should not be ashamed of our history, and rather we should learn from our past, embrace, understand and comprehend it as best we can to move forward as a republic.
cycloneous 