Imagine that you are living in a small community out in the wilderness a century ago surrounded by known and potential enemies.  Your location makes it a requirement that sentries be posted to watch for an infiltration or attack, and it is your turn on the overnight watch.  Knowing that a successful attack could destroy everything that you care about, would you fall asleep on your watch?  Knowing that your children’s lives and futures – and even those of their children and grandchildren – could be vastly different if you failed in your duty to guard the things that you hold dear, you would most certainly do your job.  You would stay engaged and would be prepared to mount an uncompromising defense.  In fact, you would likely be willing to die defending your loved ones and your way of life.

In the almost 234 year history of our country, many good Americans have made great sacrifices to preserve and defend the incredible American experiment.  From the soldiers who have served in our wars to the peace officers who work hard to preserve our civil society to the citizen soldiers whose blood was initially spilled in the spring of 1775 as our destiny was unfolding, Americans have sacrificed to defend and continue the idea that is America.  Countless times over the generations, tough Americans have been aware of the stakes and did what it took to preserve our country when it was their turn to stand guard over our liberties with the “jealous attention” exhorted by that early rabble-rouser from Virginia, Patrick Henry.

The Original Tea Party

We are all familiar with the original Tea Party in Boston in 1773.  American Colonists, disgusted by being taxed by England without any representation in Parliament and consistently riled up by that fine patriot Samuel Adams, boarded three ships loaded with taxed tea and threw the cargo overboard.  In 1774, Parliament responded with the Intolerable Acts which set the stage for a full fledged revolution.

These American colonists decided that their government was violating their rights and that since it was happening on their watch, it was up to them to take action in defense of their rights.  Like George Washington’s precedent for what the Commander in Chief should be, these brave Americans created the template for us to follow.  They personify the word patriot for me and I am proud simply to share the label “American” with people like that.

The Overmountain Men

The Overmountain Men was the name given to the inhabitants of a group of settlements on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains in the late 1700s, when the area constituted the westernmost frontier of the colonies.  Made up of tough Scotts-Irish people who ignored the British prohibition on settling west of the mountains, they fought and won battles against the British and their Shawnee and Cherokee allies in the early years of the American Revolution.  In 1780, when Cornwallis sent a force under Patrick Ferguson into the western mountains to attack patriots and protect area loyalists, Major Ferguson made the critical mistake of issuing an ultimatum to the Overmountain Men.

Like those of us who live out in Flyover Country, these were not the kind of people against whom one should issue threats.

Major Ferguson’s message to the settlers declared that if they did not immediately lay down their arms and submit to British rule, he would “march his army over the mountains, hang their leaders, and lay waste the country with fire and sword.”  In a very early version of today’s “Oh hell no!” response, the Overmountain Men gathered and immediately agreed to raise a combined army.  They marched over the mountains to take the fight to Ferguson, crushing his forces at the Battle of Kings Mountain.  These rugged Americans saw the threat, knew that it was on their watch and therefore their responsibility, and bravely took decisive action.  Some paid with their lives, but their sacrifice helped secure the freedoms of generations of Americans.

The Battle of Athens

McMinn County, Tennessee, is located between Chattanooga and Knoxville.  After being controlled by a corrupt former Sheriff turned Senator and his puppet successor Sheriff since the mid 1930s, many GI’s returned home from World War II to find that their county was under the grip of deep corruption.  As one might imagine, after having defeated the Nazis and the Japanese they were not about to roll over.

At a rally, a GI speaker said, “The principles that we fought for in this past war do not exist in McMinn County. We fought for democracy because we believe in democracy but not the form we live under in this county” (Daily Post-Athenian, 17 June 1946, p.1 ). At the end of July 1946, 159 McMinn County GIs petitioned the FBI to send election monitors. There was no response. The Department of Justice had not responded to McMinn County residents’ complaints of election fraud in 1940, 1942 and 1944. (JPFO)

In the 1946 primary election, the corrupt Sheriff mustered 200 armed deputies to intimidate and beat potential voters, even shooting one black man who attempted to vote.  Ultimately, a shooting battle ensued in which the veterans ran the Sheriff out of the town, restoring democracy.  The GI’s candidate in the primary won and they quickly returned the town to normalcy, successfully holding the general election.

After the situation stabilized, former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt wrote a column about what had happened.  In a passage that is eerily similar to the 111^th Congress’s distain for the public will, she has a warning that the Democrat party would do well to listen to today:

Any local, state or national government, or any political machine, in order to live, must give the people assurance that they can express their will freely and that their votes will be counted. The most powerful machine cannot exist without the support of the people. Political bosses and political machinery can be good, but the minute they cease to express the will of the people, their days are numbered. [emphasis mine]

The Civil Rights Movement

Brave Americans stood up to their government in this struggle against bad government as well, although in this case it was fighting racist Democrats in control of many southern states.  From the Freedom Riders who risked their lives to help their fellow Americans to the brave students who staged sit-ins at segregated lunch counters to the leader of the movement, MLK, who paid for his principles with his life, they knew that bad things were being perpetrated by government.  They accepted that this was happening on their watch and that inaction was not an option.  They were great and brave Americans.

Obviously, with these historical examples I am attempting to paint an analogy to the current situation faced by those of us who seek to defend the Constitution and our country against the relentless onslaught of the Fabian socialists who have been cranking the wheel of our ship of state so hard to port.  Candidate Barack Obama told the voters that he wanted to fundamentally change America, but because we are so accustomed to politicians spouting grandiose nonsense we did not take him seriously.  In fact, this radical empty suit of a President meant what he said – he wants to turn America into Amerika – a place that bears no resemblance to the America described in our founding documents or the America that thrived for 233 years before this dangerous Manchurian candidate took office.  Americans must wake up to the reality that this President despises all of the things that regular folks love about our country.  Mr. Obama rejects the institutions and principles that made America the greatest country in human history and instead seeks to remake the country under a political theory that has been discredited every single time that it has been applied throughout history.

Unless we act decisively, history will record that Barack Obama accelerated and completed America’s downward spiral into unexceptionalism, turning us into just another ordinary welfare state like those sclerotic economies in Europe.  In fact, Barry Obama and his Marxist fellow travelers would love that result as it would further cement their power over us, which is all that they care about.  If you believe that they care one bit about your health care or the environment you are naïve, ignorant, or both.  Every single such issue is nothing more than a vehicle used to seize more power over our lives.  It is the raison d’etre of the American left – dependency based control.  Though they sugar coat it for the less intelligent, it remains nothing less than slavery to the State wrapped up in the guise of false security.

Though the examples I chose to demonstrate examples of Americans standing tough on their watch involved the use of force, I am most certainly not suggesting that we should do any such thing at this point.  I categorically reject any talk of revolution.  I believe in our system and I believe that we can pull off a peaceful Constitutional Revolution, but only if we man up and stand up to these statists and their freedom-loathing agenda.

What I do know is that the only thing that I am not willing to do in this fight is nothing.

I do not have the answers yet.  I am genuinely interested in the thoughts of readers.  One thing that I know for sure, however, is that I am not going to be the generation that punks out and lets the moochers and their benefactor looters take over the greatest country in the history of mankind.  I could break beta males like Barry and Rahm over my knee.  I am damned sure not going to let those girly men take over my country.

Not on my watch.  What about you?