When Did We Lose the War? Part V

by John Lawrence
November 02, 2005

I wrote this piece not to chastise others, nor to profess to be above anyone in intellect. I do, however, lament that so many Americans and Canadians fail to see the full assault on our countries that is well underway and has been for a long time now. Our walls are being breached and we are not resisting anymore.

It seems as though the battle for the hearts and minds of our children is being lost. Today's youth are becoming more interested in the great wars, and my own children are enthralled with war movies. I think that is good; not that they think war is cool, but that they are showing an interest.

I use it to show them the graphic images that I have at my disposal. I read accounts to them of the atrocities and the brutality of war. I tell of the suffering and sacrifice, and I pray with them that they never have to see it. However, I don't stop there. I go on to explain why war is sometimes necessary. I teach them that liberty is never too expensive to defend, the price never too high. I teach them that they are free because of men and women who have gone before them, that gave all, so that they may savour the taste of freedom. I teach them that all of us are blessed abundantly, and as such, we should be willing to do the same for the next generations that will come after us. War is ugly, but their is nothing ugly about willing to defend one's own liberties.

Only a fool would not.We need to teach our children what liberty entails. It is not an abstract concept, but is firm. We are losing our political voices, and we must get them back. We are losing our legislative power, and we must snatch it back from those who would wrestle it away from us. We are being oppressed judiciously, and must correct it now. Not tomorrow, now.

We are intent on leaving the dirty work to someone else, and it is time we became informed citizens and did what we must. How many who read this have ever picked up a phone and called their member of Parliament? It takes a second for your voice to be heard, and heard it must be.

The enemies of freedom are quick to speak out, why aren't we? We need to stop supporting a media empire that degrades men and women with values from taking part in our political system. To fear people of conscience under the ridiculous assumption that they will impose their will upon us is ludicrous. When one person tells our elected representatives how they must vote, then they are indeed imposing their will upon us.

That is already happening, and it is not being done by people of conscience.When we have been taught to fear good statesmen and ethical politicians, we are naturally going to be drawn to corrupt ones. We see this happening a lot. We don't punish corruption in our politics, but embrace it, and this must stop.

It is ludicrous and dangerous to overlook a lack of character in our leaders. When we vote according to economics, we seal our fate. I hear good people with strong values talking about their vote, and where it will go. I am always amazed at people who claim to have high standards reject voting for men of high standards because of economics. When you have an ethical leader, and a just and honest system of government, good economics simply follow. It is a natural progression of events. To let everything else fall to the side in the name of economics seals a country's fate. There are many men who have come before us, and we are failing to heed the wise advice that they bestowed upon our previous generations. These men were not fools, they were great statesmen and men of wisdom.

Some were philosophers, others simply men of science. They had one thing in common; they saw truth and readily dispensed it to the rest of us. Benjamin Franklin once said,

"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty nor security."

Dorothy Thompson, a leading journalist and outspoken opponent of Hitler and fascism said "When liberty is taken away by force, it can be restored by force. When it is relinquished voluntarily by default it can never be recovered."

Franklin Delano Roosevelt warned of letting government control its people. "The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over the government."

John Adams imparted this. "There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty."

Wendell Phillips, a famous abolitionist orator, offered, "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."

Dwight D. Eisenhower, "Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die."

Thomas Paine penned, "Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."

There are many, many more words of wisdom by many more men and women, who have seen the birth of countries, the failure of civilizations, the tyranny of dictators, and the oppressors of men. We who live in North America have experienced none of this, save for a few of our liberties that we have allowed to be swallowed up. The decline has begun, however, and there is no time to waste. Our politicians are beginning to grasp at the liberty that others have won for us.

It seems at times that my generation wants not to struggle to keep them. Indeed, it appears to me that many don't even know how. They slumber in their knowledge, full of thoughts without wisdom, and they will not recognize the threat until it is too late. Like Pearl Harbor, the menace to our liberty is already on the screen, we just don't recognize it, or we are too busy to discern what it is. We must not be fooled.

Right now, we are losing the war. It is not a war with shells or mortars, but is much more insidious. We are being turned into the evil that our parents' parents had to fight back with their blood and sweat. We are a complaining apathetic bunch who is too lazy to get up, to stand up to our politicians.

Others protest or write letters, or phone their representatives. A few can do little, and those who wish to change what we are see us for what we are. We have become lazy and foolish. We see not the corruption in our midst, we see not our strength being sapped away by foolish political decisions that give away our freedoms.

Our laws are being trampled by foreigners, and our cultures have become so diluted, they would be unrecognizable by people only a few generations before us. Our citizens feel there is no need to vote, but complain feverishly about this and that, and do little or nothing to change it.

We are spoiled and complacent, and we must change. We must stand up and demand our liberties. We must demand less government interference, less foreign control over our affairs, and we must start taking care of ourselves, instead of becoming sedentary wards of the state, waiting for someone to dress us in the morning. Only when we shake off the cobwebs that have paralyzed our thinking can we defeat the threat to our freedoms and liberties, but we each must act. Sitting back and waiting for someone else to do the job will not work.

Unless we start picking and choosing wisely those who lead us and those whom we elect, we will end up in the ditch reserved for those in bondage. Whether your oppressor is elected government or tyrant makes no difference, it is still oppression.

Be vigilant, lest it is our children who ask, "When did we lose the war?"

John Lawrence, editorwww.ConservativeJoe.com