How well are we keeping this sacred gift we have been given?
Not well, not well. Old Ben Franklin told us of the government they created in 1781: "A Republic, if you can keep it." With that the great American experiment began - can a people govern themselves?
Now we stand at a crossroads, where despite a burgeoning debt, nearly half us pay no tax at all. And the untaxed are all too willing to vote to raise taxes still higher on the half that do, and have plenty of ideas on how to spend the borrowed money.
That way lies tyranny. Not the military-industrial complex, or corporations, or conspiracies vile; no, if this Republic falls her own people shall kill it, and they shall do it in the name of Paying Your Fair Share.
It is easy to blame politicians, or parties, or others; but the cruel truth is that the real fault lies in ourselves. We have not demanded of ourselves the virtues that a republic demands of its citizenry; for it is much more fun and diverting to argue over what is truth? and who says that is true? than to take the actions that accepting truth requires. For taking actions, denying the self, and making a stand - those are hard.
The time for hard things has come. I know not the best way forward, but honest plans and ideas are out there. None of the serious plans are pleasant.
All I know for certain is that I can no longer do nothing. I must get off the sidelines and go to work for what I believe. Granted, I'm not going to accomplish anything notable by myself. But if enough do... who knows?
Please, my dear Father in Heaven, grant me the strength to stand, and the courage to speak, and to act.
For I must now labor to keep this Republic.
