Bravery

  • Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Independence Day, 4 July, 1776…239 years ago…11 score and 19 years…the day our Continental Congress unanimously ratified a document declaring their independence from Great Britain. Thirteen little colonies, 56 elected representatives, stood together to tell the 500 pound gorilla of the day, the King of England with all his military might, they weren't going to take it any more, they were through, it was time to rip the sheets and they'd control their own destinies from that day forward.

Thus began the grandest experiment in government human history has ever known, these United States of America, the greatest nation to ever grace the face of Planet Terra.

It was a different time.
Black African tribesmen would sell vanquished opponents to slavers, most of whom were also black Africans who, in turn, would sell many of these slaves in the New World. But Muslims of the time did likewise, going so far as to raid European merchant ships, selling the occupants as slaves in other parts of the world. Some still do. Our nation paid tribute to the Barbary Pirates so they'd leave our ships alone, until our third President, President Thomas Jefferson, put the quietus on that policy and sent in the Marines. Many Europeans came to the New World in their own form of slavery, indentured servitude. We still had debtors' prisons. And often the extremely poor would prostitute themselves becoming sharecroppers to the wealthy, a practice that still exists in similar form today.


We, Americans, were the first nation to outlaw the practice of slavery.

Throughout our history as a nation we've been involved in wars. We've never gone to war except to protect our own citizens, national interests, or the interests of our allies. Call it what ever we may, there's never been an American war of conquest or aggression toward another people… except our own. However, with hunters of the State of Wisconsin, counting only those with resident hunting licenses, qualifying as the 8th largest armed force in the world, with Michigan and Pennsylvania both having even more, and nobody having guts enough to run those numbers here in the sunny south, one might suspect there'd be significant thought put into aggression toward American citizens as President Hoover ordered General MacArthur to do Veterans in 1932. Anyone attempting to order such an assault would also do well to remember the Battle of Athens (TN) in 1946.

Chapultepec is a name worth remembering. Things were a might intense there back about 1847.

We've lost our sense of humor. As a kid growing up in some rather diverse neighborhoods, we all had fun joking to and about one another. Some of the best jokes came from members of ethnic groups about their own, like the day John Perugia commented in class that a new Italian tire was coming on the market… “Yeah, they're square and go 'wop wop wop wop' as you drive down the road.” His Grandma couldn't speak a word of English, and mama couldn't either when she got excited… as she was wont to do when seeing young boys with knives and BB guns and bows and .22s and other tools of their trade. My own mom always said she couldn't speak English until starting public school. They spoke German at home. None of us boys liked cooked cabbage but could sure chow down on those golumpkis at our Pollock buddy's house, and his gorgeous sister had nothing to do with us hanging around over there. Did I mention she was gorgeous?

That was in a day before everyone ran around looking for reasons to be offended. We, the governed, used to give our consent to be governed to virtuous leaders, not just those who offered to give us the most stuff, to protect us from true enemies, not being offended. Charity was handled within the community, by local groups and individuals, taking care of those who truly needed assistance. Charity wasn't the domain of government and, in fact, was constantly fought.

We have many anecdotes from history about public monies being spent for welfare. Legend has our own Tennessee favorite son David Crockett and others standing against it, but we also have documented statements by none other than the engineer, an engineer being one who protects the public from architects, of one of the greatest documents ever written by men, James Madison. In 1794 Congress appropriated $15,000 for relief of French refugees fleeing revolution in San Domingo to Baltimore and Philadelphia he stood on the floor of the House to object saying, "I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents." (4 Annals of congress 179, 1794)

And what do we have today? Some will advocate spending more and more public funds to solve society's ills, with no affect except the problems becoming worse. We have those who complain about jails, while holding their hands out for their own forms of public welfare citing the plight of two of my favorite groups, as if to assuage their feelings of guilt… children and veterans. We graduate children from high school who can barely read. Two years ago there was public and elected official outrage over a 265 day wait by Veterans for medical care. Today it's over 400 days, and some are being told the clinic isn't accepting new patients. And still we pay for housing, food, utilities, even gas in cars, for those who choose not to use a cab, for people who're perfectly able to work... but won't.

And we continue to elect those who promise to give us the most stuff, don't we.

I'm a 1952 model. Somewhere along this 63 year, so far, journey someone commented “If ye grow a set the size of mere BBs there shant ever be reason to fear when thee be right, and the world shall be thine oyster.”, or something to that effect. Perhaps good advice for our elected officials and their appointed functionaries, isn't it.

That darned Elvis. He's become quite the ladies' man. The last time we went to the doc she came into the room and sat on the floor with him to play. He sauntered over, put his front legs around her neck in a hug, and proceeded to plant one on her… right on the lips. Now all I have to do is teach him to go for the single ladies, but there isn't much hope of that. After all these years I'm still trying to teach the others to take treats to, as Dr. Barbara always said, “they're brothers and sisters.” They just scarf them down.

Brats.

Royce Burrage, Jr.
Royce@Officially Chapped.org
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