To the editor:
How we the people remain free isn’t the easy path. It requires the willingness to self-educate, to accept the mission passed on from the generation before, and to put country first. The words of the Declaration of Independence did not change history, the commitment of the 56 signers did. For they all knew as Ben Franklin stated: “We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.” Standing up for the principles of: “life , liberty and private property” were worth dying for. But words are cheap, “where the rubber meets the road, was the commitment they demonstrated,”
Caesar Rodney, a 47-year-old member of the Delaware Colonial legislature, afflicted with painful unsightly facial cancer, was weary reaching home in Dover, Delaware on July 1st. The Declaration needed his signature, for Delaware had 3 votes, and his signing for Independence was needed to determine Delaware’s vote. Traveling through the night and stormy torrential rain 80 miles on horse back to Philadelphia to vote for Independence, he changed history for us, liberty we still are blessed with today.
Tom Paine enlightens our conception of achieving principles worth dying for:
“THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly…”
The fifty-six signers knew the price for independence, and lived it. All were hunted as prey during the Revolution. The price of 500 pounds was on the head of John Hancock President of Congress; he signed his name in bold large letters: so the King could see without his spectacles. Thomas Nelson Jr. ordered artillery gunners to fire on his own stately mansion, serving as British headquarters. Of the signers, “nine died of wounds or hardships, five were jailed and brutally treated, one lost all 13 of his children, and the wives, and sons and daughters of others were killed, imprisoned, harassed, or deprived of material possessions, and 17 of the signers lost everything they owned.” All treated as traitors, separated from their homes and families. They paid with their lives, fortunes and sacred honors for liberty that present-day Americans take too lightly; unwilling to pay even a small price to restore. All excuses not to vote betray the 56 singers.
Are you esteeming liberty to lightly? Do you demand fidelity to the U.S. Constitution? Just as sure as your face looks back at you from the mirror, the price of your liberty has been paid. Blaming political parties for our perilous state as a substitute for political education of the Constitution ignores the root cause. Yes one vote does count. Socialism cannot be turned around by just voting. Make a commitment to activism. We monitor elected officials votes according to the Constitution at FreedomIndex.com. & attend a seminar called: The Constitution is the Solution. Contact Matthew Rhodes at mrhodes@jbs.org .
- Russ Payne,
Merrimack
A New Hampshire Press Association member