Patriot or Tyrant?

 "What country before ever existed a century and half without a rebellion? And what country can preserve it’s liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."  Thomas Jefferson, 13 Nov 1787.

We had a rebellion - more than a hundred and fifty years ago - initiated to deny liberty to millions of people.  Over 600,000 Americans died in that conflict.  How many more will die in the coming rebellion where, once again, liberty is being denied to millions of people?  Free speech is silenced, differences of opinion are criminalized, the right to freely assemble and the freedom to worship banned.  The ability to earn a living selectively curtailed.  Who you are is far more important that what you do.  Justice is no longer blind but sees everything through the filter of race, gender, political affiliation, economic status, and power.  We are bankrupt - both financially and morally.  Lies have become the truth.  Security now trumps freedom.  Equality of outcomes more important than opportunities.  Government, a necessary evil and never the solution to any problem, is now more evil than ever and our biggest problem.

The Gospel of Mark (3:25) says "A house divided against itself cannot stand."  Abraham Lincoln expanded on this metaphor by applying it to the United States - that the country could not permanently endure, half free and half slave.  The people are once again becoming slaves - slaves to big government, slaves to big tech, slaves to  immorality, slaves to tyranny.  Will the people take up arms, to set their rulers right?  When half the people feel enslaved, conflict is inevitable.

On which side of the conflict will you stand - as a Patriot or as a Tyrant?

No Human is Illegal ... Although they do commit illegal acts

No Human is Illegal ... well, no shit.  Apparently those who decided to include this particular phrase on the sign have a distaste for the way we usually identify criminal acts - they are illegal.  And those who would enter our country unlawfully are, in fact, committing an illegal act.  Murder is illegal.  Rape is illegal.  Burglary is illegal.  Carrying a concealed handgun without a permit is illegal.  And, likewise, entering our country unlawfully is also illegal.

Why do those who claim that "no human is illegal" have such disdain for our immigration laws?  If they don't like them, there is a course of action that can be taken to change the laws.  But to simply not enforce existing laws or, to enforce them in an arbitrary and capricious manner, would be far worse.  Should we have two (or more) sets of rules for each law?  Well, if you're tall, thin, and have dark hair we'll let you in.  Otherwise, forget it.  If you're from a shithole country, come on in.  If you're from Canada - whoa, better close the border!

There's very little that the federal government does that couldn't stand a little reform.  Immigration laws are no different.  But we - the people of the United States working through our elective representatives - get to determine who should be admitted to our country.  We've been charitable for too long to the rest of the world.  While we are a nation of immigrants (unless, of course, you're descended from people who were here before we were a country), immigration policy - like all policy - should benefit the country as a whole.  Allowing unfettered immigration of poorly educated, low skilled, and financially destitute individuals does nothing to benefit the country.  It strains public services, packs our schools with children who don't speak English, and takes jobs away from those already here that are at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder.  Those most hurt by these undocumented immigrants are those that are already in peril - and the vast majority of them are minorities.  So, if Black Lives REALLY Matter, then we should have strongly enforced immigration laws.  That's the best way to ensure economic opportunities are provided to those Blacks who are in economic peril.

        ENFORCE IMMIGRATION LAWS!

Black Lives Matter?

Black Lives Matter ... is that it?  Do Asian lives matter?  What about Hispanics?  How about Native Americans?  White Folks?  Probably not, right?  What about people of mixed races?  Do they matter?  If we, as a society, value the sanctity of human live, then shouldn't ALL LIVES MATTER?  One would think so.

But the question I'd want to ask the folks with these signs in their yard is this ... do ALL BLACK LIVES MATTER?  Or are we just concerned about some Black lives?  We're obviously concerned about Black lives that are threatened by injustice and/or racism - as recent events would show.  But what about Black lives that are threatened by other Black lives?  What about the Black lives that are lost every weekend in shootings in Chicago, Baltimore, Washington, DC, Atlanta, Kansas City, and just about every other large city in the United States?  Do their lives matter?  Even if these Black lives are taken by other Black lives? 

And, just to provide some perspective, somewhere around 25 unarmed Black men died while in police custody in 2019.  That number - 25 - is about the same number of Black men who are killed in an average weekend, combined, in the cities I've mentioned above - and the vast majority of them are killed by other Black men.  So, if Black lives really matter, where are the protests about these Black lives?

What about the Black lives that never have a chance to become a Black life?  I'm talking about those Black babies that never had the chance to be born.  At last count somewhere around 30% of Black pregnancies end in abortion.  Where are the protests about these Black lives?  Do these Black lives matter?

What's become apparent to me is that all of this Black Lives Matter is just an excuse ... an excuse to misbehave, an excuse for criminal behavior, and an excuse to blame others for issues that Blacks are not addressing on their own.  It's not White people that are holding Black people down ... it's Black people that are holding Black people down.  It's not the police that are killing hundreds of Blacks a year, it's Blacks that are killing hundreds of Blacks a year.  It's not White people that are aborting all of those Black babies, it's Black people that are doing it.

So, if you try to tell me that Black Lives Matter, I guess I just have to ask you which ones?  And I ask this because the message that's being sent seems to be more focused on career criminals and thugs rather than on the truly innocent and those being treated unjustly.

As far as I'm concerned ...  

ALL LIVES MATTER

Yard Sign Talking Points

So, have you seen these signs popping up in your neighborhood? What do you think of them? Do you think maybe these folks are worried about what other folks might think about them so they're just going with the flow - especially if they're in an area that has seen a lot of protests lately? Do you think they really understand what these phrases are saying about them? In the next week or so, I'll take a look at each of these wonderful phrases and look at the story behind the talking point.

You're Welcome

That's usually the response I provide when some one thanks me for doing something for them - whether it's standing off to the side of the road when I'm walking so that I stay more than 6 feet from the person approaching me (social distancing, you know), holding the door open for some one who's following me into a store, or when the sales clerks at Home Depot thanks me for my military service as I'm showing them my veterans card.  It's a common courtesy ... please, thank you, you're welcome.

The individuals who are currently in the process of destroying our cities - saying that the United States is an inherently racism nation because of our legacy of black slavery - don't appear to understand either common courtesies or their history.

Senator Tim Kaine (who I met years ago when he was Governor of Virginia) recently said that "The United States didn't inherit slavery from anybody. We created it."  (Link)  Senator Kaine was referring to the introduction of slavery into the North American British Colonies in 1619 in Virginia.  Senator Kaine is sadly mistaken.  Apparently he has never seen the movie "Spartacus" or, more recently, "Gladiator."  Slavery has existed in every society on the face of the planet at one time or another.  It still exists today.  The United States did not create it.

Black people who feel they are owed something from white people because their ancestors were slaves are also mistaken.

To start with, the black slaves brought to our shores from Africa were almost all enslaved by other black people - in Africa.  And while white people may have kept them enslaved, white people also fought a very bloody civil war to free them.  Nearly two million white people fought to free black people they had never met.  Hundreds of thousands of white people died in this effort.

Prior to my relocation to Virginia in 1988 and, subsequently, North Carolina in 2018, my family and my ancestors had all lived in the North - New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, & Connecticut.  My roots go back to the late 1600s on Long Island.  To the best of my knowledge, none of my ancestors owned slaves.  But they did fight to free them.

So when some black person whose ancestors were slaves say that I, as a white person, owe them something - my response on behalf of my ancestors is quite simple ... You're welcome.