Crossing the Delaware...Again
Just as in the Revolutionary War, there is a right and a wrong side in the fight we are fighting today.
“What can we do?”
“What will it take?”
Two questions I get all the time, which is fair because most of the time I am pointing out things I think are pretty screwed up or some subtext I think has been disguised. Most of the time that results in posts with negative overtones.
This one is probably not going to be fun either, but I try not to blow sunshine up anyone’s anal orifice – even when I feel optimistic.
It is hard to argue that we haven’t entered some sort of transitional period between what America used to be – and I have no illusions it was ever perfect – and whatever is next. I know that right now, whatever is next, looks pretty sucky.
But we have been here before.
The Revolutionary War was a period of transition, replete with chaos and instability. History could have turned out quite a bit differently.
Our Revolutionary War, for most of its duration, was one defeat or one strategic mistake away from being just another insurrection against the Crown to be put down by the overwhelming power of the British Empire. There were so many “what ifs” that could have changed the course of the war. What if Washington didn’t accept command of the Continental Army? What if Benedict Arnold had been a better spy? What if Washington and the Continental army had not narrowly escaped total destruction in the New York campaign of 1776? What if we hadn’t crossed a frozen river on Christmas Eve to kill a bunch of Hessians? What if King George was in better mental health? What if France had already become cheese eating surrender monkeys?
There were no polling firms, no focus groups, during the 1700’s, but I’m pretty sure people of those times were subject to the same emotions we are feeling today. I’m confident there were gradients of support and enthusiasm for both sides with an exhausted middle who just wanted it over regardless of who won.
There were a relatively small percentage of hardcore rebels and loyalists and a lot of people stuck in between them. I can imagine those in the middle feeling lie the old African proverb says, “When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.”
But thankfully, American victories at Oriskany, New York; Bennington, Vermont; and finally at Saratoga, New York convinced France to recognize American independence and brought the French directly into the war as military allies.
The interesting thing about transitions is that they are often chaotic and unstable, two characteristics that would seem negative, but they provide a period of disorganization and fluidity when things can be steered one way or another by events and/or movements.
Often the movements are the result of some event.
In 1776, like today, it was “a long train of abuses and usurpations” that got the ball rolling.
I think I am clear headed when I say there is as much a right side and a wrong side to our current conflict as there was in 1776 - and that it has nothing to do with partisanship. I think it is as clear as it was to Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. There is a side allied with the principles outlined in the Declaration of Independence and a side hell bent on violating and destroying those principles – and that isn’t even up for debate. We face an enemy seeking to enslave people by altering our language, our history, redefining our Constitution (or wholly ignoring it), and even seeking to alter our concept of basic human physiology to suit what they think is next. They seek to inject the concept of racism into principles and rights that are completely blind to anything other than being human.
Today, too many people are too busy hating each other to see that both sides are being raped by powerful minorities, the members of which don’t give a damn about anyone but themselves. They want to use the chaos for change with little idea where that change leads. It could go somewhere really, really, bad.
I’m not sure they are winning; they just have better PR than we do. There are those who think they are on the “winning” side who will eventually see that by virtue of “winning”, they have lost much, as King Pyrrhus of Epirus did when he said, “One other such victory and we are undone.”
It is going to take movement consisting of people united under the same banner as people were in 1776.
Can it happen?
Well, these are uncertain times, so there is just as much chance a few key victories will turn the tide. We just need the courage to fight the fight. Guerrilla warfare to convince one at a time to join us even if we disagree, we must preserve the right to do just that. At least we can agree on that.
That’s what we can do and what it will take.
Perhaps the most fundamental strength of our beleaguered side that looks so weak now is that most of its adherents have some faith in God whereas our opponents are fiercely atheistic. But faith in God provides a moral anchor and when the winds of adversity blow the anchor less scatter.
Yes. Sometimes, those who are with you are more than those against you, just not seen. G.W. Had unseen help. Hopefully some of that help will continue to be present