07/4/21

Audacity, American Audacity

God bless America. Today, we celebrate American audacity — the willingness to take bold risks in the face of fatal outcomes. It is a characteristic of a man not all men possess.

More than 245 years ago, a handful of American men decided they had had enough preditations from an English king who possessed the largest and most powerful army and navy in the world to enforce his edicts against his subjects.

After careful deliberations, these audacious men declared independence from their king deciding that their rights were “unalienable” and were granted by God and that the power of governments should be derived from those who consented to be governed — not from kings.

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10/23/19

A Fable of Freedom and Hong Kong

There are men who have never known freedom. It is not their fault, but nonetheless they have never seen it in its naked splendor or glory, never tasted its intoxicating headiness, never smelled its exhilarating scent, never felt it settle joyfully upon their expanding minds, never felt its bubbles tickling their their nose telling them whatever they want and work for can be theirs, or felt it enliven and embolden their hearts. Because they are not free men, their dreams are smaller more timid, their ambitions less lofty. When they make love, they are poorly equipped to enjoy its wonder, for they have never been free and thus they have never known boundless love.

They live in a cage and have surrendered their life force to the evil men who imprison them. Make no mistake, men who deny other men their freedom are in league with the Devil. They are evil. The idea that the enslaved might contest their condition or wrest their lives back from their gaolers is a thought that cannot form and survive in their minds. They do not have the nutrients to sustain it. They believe they are entitled to nothing more, because they know nothing of this “more.” They are not even men.

At the other extreme, there are men who have manufactured freedom, who have made it with their own hands, who have fought for it, bled for it, suffered for it. They have looked the price tag in the eye and said, “For freedom, I will pay that price, consider it cheap in the bargain at ten times that price. Show me to the fight, clear out, and let me get about what I am here to do.” These are the dangerous men who dream with their eyes open and do not wake to think it was all just a dream. They saw it and will have it.

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09/11/17

11 September 2001 — FREEDOM

Big Red Car here on the sixteenth anniversary of one of the worst days in the history of the United States of America. It ranks with Pearl Harbor in the minds of Americans.

That day triggered what has been a continuous war on terror which took the US into a new phase in the history of our country. It has not changed since then, and, maybe, it has gotten worse.

The terrorists succeeded in one thing — imprinting that date on our collective memories for all time. In the important things, the terrorists failed miserably.

It has changed some things about our lives, but it has not changed the bedrock value of freedom. It is our freedom that was at the core of the terrorists hatred of the United States.

Freedom has prevailed and it always will. Freedom is what makes us Americans and freedom was the target of that attack.

God bless America. God bless freedom. Never forget who we are and what we stand for. No terrorist can change that value. Ever.

I know that and I am a Big Red Car.

05/12/17

Jessica A Ellis, Combat Medic

Jessica A Ellis was a combat medic who was killed in Iraq on Mother’s Day 2008.

Sunday is Mother’s Day. It made me think of her.

May 29, Monday, is Memorial Day. I will think of her again.

On Sunday, I want you to take a second and think about the price of freedom and who we ask to pay it. If a tear comes to your eye, all the better.

Jessica Ellis 3

Jessica A Ellis, combat medic, KIA 101st Airborne Division, Iraq, May 2008. Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Army Commendation Medal, M4 Expert marksman.

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