Tonight I'm apologizing to 26 4th & 5th gr grandfathers.

[grasswire]

Was reviewing the histories of these men who either served in a Revolutionary militia or the Continental Army or some other path to resistance. A few of them simply served in other ways, such as a shoemaker who tended the sick and repaired the footwear of George Washington's troops in N.Y.

These are my 4th and 5th great grandfathers. Mostly from Connecticut.

They were at Lexington. Bunker Hill. Tryon's Invasion. Arnold's campaign to Quebec. Defended Fort Lee, Boston, Bergen Heights, Fort Washington, Fort William Henry. And so on....

Liberty. Freedom from tyranny. That was the cause that inspired or commanded them to stand up and keep fighting. Liberty. The price for that liberty was paid in blood and their treasure, and sometimes their very own family relationships with those who stayed loyal to the Crown.

Benjamin Franklin was prescient. He feared we couldn't keep our republic. And he never could have imagined the great clawing maw of the surveillance state. He apparently just understood the intensity of the human lust for power and wealth and the capability of the human heart for perfidy and betrayal of what might have been the greatest noble cause in human history.

So to my Elisha Winchell and Jesse Hull and Daniel Parker and Jacob Smith and Asaph Merriam and John Augurs (father and son) and Thomas Winchell and the others....all I can say is this:

I'm so, so sorry. I don't know if we can keep it. We worked pretty hard at keeping it for a couple hundred years. But in recent decades the ghouls and the greedy of our own country have put this grand experiment in jeopardy.

Light a candle on the 4th. For liberty.

[defacto7]

1. I have the same sinking feeling and optimism is beginning to wane here.

[struggle4progress]

2. Defeatism is poisonous

[grasswire]

3. so is surveillance. nt

[grasswire]

6. it occurred to me just now that maybe you thought I was lighting a candle because...

.....of the death of liberty. That was not my intent. My intent was to light a candle as a witness to the struggle, a candle for hope, not despair.

[MADem]

7. Yep--it's bullshit, too.

We're made of tougher stuff than hand-wringing and whining.

The Founding Fathers would shit bricks if they saw what we've created....and they'd be overjoyed. We succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

Everyone quotes Ben Franklin like he was this alarm-sounding oracle, but most don't realize old Ben was a practical man who changed his mind and saw the big picture. Ben was initially "fine" with the idea of a continued relationship with the Crown, until the Brits treated him like shit when he went to London. And had Ben been given a perk, like, say, the Penn Family enjoyed, he might never have sounded any alarms at all.

And he's not the only Founding Father who was just a human being doing the best they could in changing times. We all know about Jefferson and Sally, George Washington marrying Martha for her slaves, etc.

We've come a long way, baby....we don't do that slavery thing anymore, and we frown on rape and molestation. Women have the vote.

It ain't all that awful today, though some folks would like us to believe that the purity of 1776 is in danger of being sullied. Please.

Happy 4th to those who can see how far we've come, and can see the way forward....

[pkdu]

8. ^^^^^^^^^^110% this^^^^^^^

[Summer Hathaway]

9. ...

"Happy 4th to those who can see how far we've come, and can see the way forward...."

And a Happy 4th to you, as well.

[hfojvt]

4. Elisha born 29 Jun 1757?

he appears to be a relative of mine through the Robert White family.

Not finding a Jesse Hull, although I descend from George Hull and Thamzen Mitchell.

[grasswire]

5. hello cousin!

Yes, that Elisha.

[Waiting For Everyman]

10. Same here, grasswire. I know the feeling.

I have people here since 1607, including lots of lines in the Revolution, some even famous. Sometimes I wonder what they'd think if they could see this, and it would probably be along the lines of shaking heads and "how did it come to this?". I can't believe it myself... how just in my lifetime, so much went down the drain so fast, and for so little reason.

But of course, I will never give up, regardless of what the money-grubbers do. I have 13 generations and 400 years of history here, and I will not be shoved around by a bunch of clueless craven jackasses playing "great and powerful Oz" behind a curtain. (nor by their sycophant groupies either, for that matter)

A big ole defiant happy 4th to you!
WFE

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