We Are The Founders
Democracy is a messy business, always has been. As we race toward election day November 6th, we hear the cries from those wringing their hands over controversial issues that “this is the most important election of our lives.” Friends, every election is the most important of our lifetimes. The construct of our nation’s fabric is a compilation of hard-fought arguments, compromises and determination. Our nation was not born in a vacuum, we stand today on the shoulders of patriotic giants who went before us, the founders who faced challenges much greater than we could ever imagine, and many of whom paid a great price. As an extension of that legacy, we stand in the gap to preserve our freedom from tyranny.
The election upon us is a chance to make a great decision, not unlike the one made by American patriots in 1776. Thomas Pain wrote in that year, “These are the times that try men’s souls.” Those times, of course, were the struggles of our Great Revolution, when we as a people rose up, declared our independence and fought for our freedom from Britain. Pain was right you know, “tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet there seems to be a consolation, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” We face a similar conflict and opportunity today, framed in the context of a mid-term election that will determine the direction of our great nation for a generation or more.
At stake in this election is our most cherished values of human dignity and self-determination, not by candidate name but by political philosophy. Like our Founders, we can choose to reaffirm our commitment to our rights as individuals, or we can choose to change course and follow the folly of other nations that embraced Socialism only to watch their treasure and freedom be consumed in fire. We have many issues to decide in this election; taxes, healthcare, border protection, unemployment, promotion of our vibrant economy, the rule of law and the sanctity of life. But there is a greater and much more basic choice at hand; continued freedom to choose our own path, or conscription the collective socialism of a nanny state.
As with our original Founders in 1776, we find ourselves at a turning point, where wisdom from Thomas Pain helped create our great nation, saying, “the cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.” Elections must not be a passion play that tempts with promises of free goods and services, rather elections must set an aspirational course and give us courage and will to be who we wish to be.
It is not enough for you to just vote. You must encourage others to do the same by helping them see what is really at stake, because the torch has been passed. We are now the Founders and We must do what they would have done in this day; reject the lure of trading freedom and self-determination for the faux security of collective socialism. Not unlike our Great Revolution, this battle pits Conservative Republicans against Liberal and now socialist leaning Democrats. The choice, at least for now, is your’s.
