Samuel Adams. Patriot. Brewer. Troublemaker.
Ethan Allen. Patriot. Soldier. Vulgarian. Troublemaker.
Benjamin Franklin. Patriot. Inventor. Statesman. Big old troublemaker.
Where have all the troublemakers gone to? In the days of our founding fathers the landscape was awash in rascals and troublemakers who were more than willing to take a stand against the tyrannical forces that were arrayed against the common American colonial. These people weren't politicians pandering for votes. These people seldom even wished the positions of power that were thrust upon them. And yet, they took that cup, drank it down and faced their opponents with a gusto that no man-made brew could ever offer.
Now, when we are faced with threats to the core liberties which were intended to have shaped us into the country we should be, is the time when we need true patriots more than ever. The system of government our forefathers left to us has been corrupted beyond recognition and reason. Legislated beyond measure and stripped of any meaning. Our Founders never intended that we should have a brobdignagian central government controlling our lives. And yet...that is precisely what has been forced upon us. Politicians have become our rulers, dictators in all but name. They are the decision takers who decide how much of your hard earned dollar you get to keep and whether or not you should be allowed to do with your properties as you wish, or even if you should own those properties. How, and by whom your children will be educated. Whether or not your sons and daughters will be sent to die in some other land. They take the decisions that force you to pay for the privilege of living in the home you purchased, ignoring the basic rights of Life, Liberty and Property.
There are those who will say that it's not as bad as I make it out to be. They would be wrong. Our trouble-making forefathers dumped a boatload of tea into Boston Harbor over a lousy 2% tax increase. A small increase that, among other depredations, started a revolution. Producers in America routinely pay over 30% of their hard earned wages in income taxes, often times more. Much more considering the hidden taxes tacked on to virtually every item on the market.
And yet, todays Americans are more than willing to tolerate their continued enslavement by their new, "elected" masters inside the DC Beltway, the State Houses and their local municipalities. Our population has devolved to the point where large segments are eager for enslavement, other parts are stunned into submission by the seeming hopelessness of the system and the remainder are looking for someone to save them. A troublemaker.
So where are our modern day gadflies and troublemakers? They're in front of their televisions watching "The Game" or doing something equally useful. There are a few who continue in their attempts to reform the system from within, they are the perennial candidates who run for whichever office is being offered at the time. These folks, with good, solid messages rarely win their races, but keep trying, despite the fact that our country's One Party System is not subject to change, (anyone remember the "Contract with America"? That sure worked out well, huh?) from within or from without it would seem.
The only people who have attempted to be "revolutionaries" have ended up as murderers and are either dead, awaiting execution or trial. What a sad day when what passes for a revolutionary in this country turns out to be no more than small gathering of sociopaths or a lone psychopath. Is it any wonder that those who do have the passion, the gusto and the willingness to attempt the fight so often quit before they even get started?
Who can withstand the onslaught of the mass media, the political pundits, the entrenched politicos and their talk-radio fed followers? What sane individuals would expose themselves to the maelstrom that would inevitably surround them, their families and their compatriots in that intrepid endeavor? Even our Founding Fathers would quail at the thought of what they would endure should they embark upon the task. Is it any wonder that no man, woman or group of quality has taken the task to hand and stepped forward? No. It is not.
Where would a modern day trouble maker even begin? Re-educating the masses, despite their wishes, warped viewpoints and love for the broken machinery of government? Vain and expensive runs at office in an attempt to illicit change from the inside? Maybe sandwich boards and a walk about town? The task is almost too daunting to consider. And yet.....
Someone must step forward. Many must step forward and, like their predecessors in the first War for Independence...they must do it for all the right reasons. Not for power. Nor for self-aggrandizement or the cheers of the masses. What needs to be done must be done not for the citizenry; nor for the country and especially not for the State it must be done for Liberty itself.
The troublemakers for this age must, like their predecessors be blacksmiths, prepared to reforge the shattered armour that is Liberty. The new gadflies must hammer Liberty and it's meaning into the very structure of this nation. The rust of too many decades must be chipped and blasted away so that the much needed repairs can be made. If it means that the structure of this nation must undergo changes in its fundamental architecture to survive, as gifted us then so be it.
But are there enough men, women and people of true and faithful spirit to accomplish, or even begin this endeavor? We must find out. At all costs, we must know. My mind tells me that they must exist in sufficient numbers to accomplish the task, no matter the method. And yet.....my heart tells me that it may, indeed be too late. I am reminded of the not so old and highly overused saying..."Real men don't (fill in what you like)"....and my heart fills it in with..."Real men don't exist anymore".
I, like all mankind hate being wrong. But in this one instance....I pray I am wrong.
©10/02/2003 Michael Jarrell
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