It was a
Monday. Tom studied the vacant stares of the
starving soldiers staggering westward across New
Jersey. Five months earlier these roads were packed
with 30,000 enthusiastic colonists parading with
great fanfare to New York to join General
Washington’s Continental Army. Today’s retreat was
quiet. British artillery, Hessian bayonets,
desertion and disease reduced this army to fewer
than 2,500 with the strength or willingness to
shoulder their muskets to defend the American cause.
The miles and muck had long ago rotted the boots
from one-third of the soldiers, so they wrapped
their feet in rope and burlap to plod westward. The
fate of our fledgling republic fell to the few who
still held liberty was worth this heavy cost—Tom and
George believed just such.
God had granted Thomas Paine special talents with
the written word, and today using a drum head as a
writing desk, he penned “The American Crisis”; words
which would forever change the world. “These are the
times that try men’s souls.” Tom began. “The summer
soldier and 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.”
General George Washington too possessed a Divine
gift, but his was a conglomeration of traits varying
from selfless leadership, to loyalty, to passionate
delivery of the spoken word. It was not coincidence
which brought these two patriots together on this
Monday, December 23rd, 1776—it was God. General
Washington used Tom’s words in the “American Crisis”
to inspire his emaciated soldiers to ignore their
own reality and take up arms for a dream. Their next
mission, “Victory or Death”, perfectly described
crossing the Delaware River in a horrendous
blizzard, under the cloak of darkness to launch the
infamous Christmas Day surprise attack on the
Hessian forces in Trenton. The American cause would
live to fight another day.
Multiple times, over the next six years General
Washington motivated patriots to fight without pay,
food, or re-enforcements. For no reason other than
his Excellency had personally requested such,
soldiers answered his call to duty again and again.
America needed George Washington then, and our
glorious republic desperately needs him today. Never
again will world events be aligned so as to allow
the start of a second great American experiment in
freedom, so this election we either vote in a manner
to preserve liberty, or forever wish we would have.
Friday, June 15th, at the Republican Delegate
Convention in Missoula, a conflict regarding
balloting procedures erupted between GOP leadership
and Ron Paul supporters. The disagreement escalated
with Ron Paul enthusiasts threatening to disengage
in this election cycle to teach GOP leadership a
lesson. I beg all involved: Please think this
through. It will be a lesson to the GOP alright, but
also one to their children, your children, and every
American from now through perpetuity. If there is
any group keenly aware of the precariousness of our
situation, it is the Ron Paul crowd and I pray they
will not sacrifice American freedom just to prove a
point. To walk away now, ignores the sacrifice of
2500 starving patriots marching in a blizzard
wearing burlap boots pursuing a dream few would live
to see to fruition.
Come January 2013, I intend to be on the Montana
House floor fighting for liberty whether my party
controls both legislative chambers, the governor’s
office, both houses of Congress, the presidency, or
not. I refuse to be a sunshine patriot and surrender
is simply not an option. The American restoration
could use your help. What say you?
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