THE ROOTS OF OUR RAGE
I spent 3 days in Boston and Cambridge over Thanksgiving. Both are historically rich with events that were pivotal in the Revolutionary War and in the colonists’ willingness to revolt against Britain. It was the seat of the British government, the place where the lanterns where hung to warn the colonists that the British were coming, the origination of Paul Revere’s famous ride, the Battle of Bunker Hill, the site of the Boston Tea Party, and more. It was exciting, on the one hand, to be in the same places that Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, John Hancock, George Washington, and James Otis stood; it was also heart-breaking to realize that this same place hosts 60 colleges, including Harvard, that teach the opposite of what our Founding Fathers and others fought and died for.
In 1630, the Puritans arrived in America seeking religious liberty. They set up a participatory self-government and governed themselves. They had already been self-governing for over 130 years when the British government tried to tax and control the colonists through the Writs of Assistance, Stamp Act, and Townshend Acts. The colonists revolted against these and the Brits responded by sending troops in 1768. In 1770, the British soldiers killed five Bostonians in the Boston Massacre, which many consider to have been a mistake; as a result, the soldiers were removed. There was a relative calm period until 1773, when the British passed the Tea Act. This sparked the Boston Tea Party where 100 colonists dressed like Mohawk Indians and threw the East India Company’s tea overboard valued at 45 times the price of Paul Revere’s seven-room house, while a thousand townspeople stood by and watched. Britain responded by sending troops, but the colonists’ desire for independence was only strengthened and war was inevitable.
“Many years after the American Revolution, Levi Preston, a member of the Danvers militia, was asked why he had marched to fight on the day of Lexington and Concord. Was it the Stamp Act? The tea-tax? ‘Intolerable oppressions’? No, no, none of that. ‘Young man,’ Preston said, ‘what we meant in going for those red-coats was this: We had always governed ourselves, and we always meant to. They didn’t mean we should’” (The Complete Guide to Boston’s Freedom Trail by Charles Bahne). And here is the root of our rage: We have always governed ourselves and we always intend to govern ourselves. The roots of Obama’s rage are that we have governed ourselves; and he and his Socialist cronies seek to govern us.
The colonists had elected representatives that worked with the British-installed governor but they had no voice or power. The colonists knew they deserved a representative government of the people, by the people, and for the people. We too know this and need to fight for it no less hard than our Founding Fathers and all those brave Americans who were willing to die in the Revolutionary War to secure those freedoms and rights for themselves and all who would have the privilege to live under them in future generations. This is what the modern-day Tea Party understands: We were born to be free, we deserve to be free, and we have been free. Our elected and appointed government officials are not securing those freedoms for us; and thereby, not representing us. Therefore, we intend to elect and support only those that will secure our liberty and our natural God-given rights.
In 1630, the Puritans arrived in America seeking religious liberty. They set up a participatory self-government and governed themselves. They had already been self-governing for over 130 years when the British government tried to tax and control the colonists through the Writs of Assistance, Stamp Act, and Townshend Acts. The colonists revolted against these and the Brits responded by sending troops in 1768. In 1770, the British soldiers killed five Bostonians in the Boston Massacre, which many consider to have been a mistake; as a result, the soldiers were removed. There was a relative calm period until 1773, when the British passed the Tea Act. This sparked the Boston Tea Party where 100 colonists dressed like Mohawk Indians and threw the East India Company’s tea overboard valued at 45 times the price of Paul Revere’s seven-room house, while a thousand townspeople stood by and watched. Britain responded by sending troops, but the colonists’ desire for independence was only strengthened and war was inevitable.
“Many years after the American Revolution, Levi Preston, a member of the Danvers militia, was asked why he had marched to fight on the day of Lexington and Concord. Was it the Stamp Act? The tea-tax? ‘Intolerable oppressions’? No, no, none of that. ‘Young man,’ Preston said, ‘what we meant in going for those red-coats was this: We had always governed ourselves, and we always meant to. They didn’t mean we should’” (The Complete Guide to Boston’s Freedom Trail by Charles Bahne). And here is the root of our rage: We have always governed ourselves and we always intend to govern ourselves. The roots of Obama’s rage are that we have governed ourselves; and he and his Socialist cronies seek to govern us.
The colonists had elected representatives that worked with the British-installed governor but they had no voice or power. The colonists knew they deserved a representative government of the people, by the people, and for the people. We too know this and need to fight for it no less hard than our Founding Fathers and all those brave Americans who were willing to die in the Revolutionary War to secure those freedoms and rights for themselves and all who would have the privilege to live under them in future generations. This is what the modern-day Tea Party understands: We were born to be free, we deserve to be free, and we have been free. Our elected and appointed government officials are not securing those freedoms for us; and thereby, not representing us. Therefore, we intend to elect and support only those that will secure our liberty and our natural God-given rights.
| the-roots-of-our-rage.pdf |
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