Socialism is for ants and bees, it’s not for people.
On Feb. 4, 1779, Capt. John Paul Jones of the fledgling Continental Navy took command of a former French merchant ship, the somewhat elderly “Duc de Duras”, as arranged with the French government by Continental Congress's Commissioner to France, Benjamin Franklin. Jones armed the ship, commissioned her as an American warship, and renamed her “Bonhomme Richard” in honor of Franklin’s pen name. While sailing the North Sea off Britain’s Flamborough Head on Sept. 23, 1779, Richard encountered the nearly new Royal Navy 44 gun frigate HMS Serapis, and a particularly nasty four hour sea battle ensued. Outmaneuvered and badly outgunned by the faster British cruiser, Richard was soon severely battered, on fire, and in sinking condition. Jones refused the first surrender demand, allegedly replying, “I have not yet begun to fight!” It’s also been reported that when Richard’s flag was shot away, the Serapis’ Captain, Richard Pearson, inquired as to whether or not Jones had struck his colors, Jones shouted back, “I may sink, but I'll be damned if I strike!” Bonhomme Richard (the first of five so-named American warships) did sink the next morning, but not before Pearson himself surrendered the Serapis (believed to be “the first time in naval history that the colors are surrendered to a sinking ship”), and Jones, destined to become “the Father of the American Navy,” had transferred his flag to his newly captured prize.
As an old Airman (and in the spirit of “interservice rivalry”), I usually refrain from giving the Navy and their fighting tradition very much credit lest they find their hats no longer fit. But they do have a long history of prevailing against insurmountable odds. One of the most spectacular instances being the Battle off Samar in October of 1944, when four US Navy Destroyers quite literally charged an entire Japanese Battle Fleet! The ‘Cans got the worst of it of course, but Japanese Admiral Kurita, thinking those feisty destroyers had to be heavy cruisers, believed he had run headlong into the entire American 3rd Fleet, ordered a retreat, thereby loosing the battle, and not long afterwards the entire war.
On more than one occasion in our Navy's (and our nation’s) history, guts and audacity have carried the day against all odds.
Historians have long argued over Capt. Jones character and personality, but they generally describe him as courageous, sometimes brash and violent, honest, and an honorable man who always tried to do what he believed to be “right”. From the sounds of things, I’ll guess that he wasn’t a “quitter” either. (Sounds a lot like many American fighting men.) I’ll note that many of the characteristics attributed to Jones could be found in many Americans of that time, and a good many more over the next two centuries. Unfortunately, those traits seem to be dying out in of our modern America.
If you want evidence, fast forward to the 1950’s and 60’s, with particular attention to the “protesters” of the Vietnam War era. Both the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, were highly unpopular in America, caused a lot of casualties among the troops, and were fought by America for no other reason than to “halt the spread of Communism”. And both wars had their protesters of course. But the generation that fought in Korea were hardly affluent or “gentlemen of leisure”, having been born during the depression and had grown up during World War II. War was not their favorite sport I’ll wager, but when the nation called, they responded. The Vietnam generation (of which I am one), is an entirely different matter. The youth of the 60’s, having grown up in the “Golden Age” of the 1950’s, were the most pampered and affluent in our nations history, a "spoiled" generation that prized personal comfort and convenience above almost anything else. The prospect that their pleasant lives might be interrupted, or even endangered by service in Vietnam was intolerable! Not all of course, some of us did serve in Vietnam, again and again and again. (You might also note that the riotous protests disappeared shortly after the draft ended.) Yet even today many claim that the “moral outrage” of those protesters was honorable because the war was “unjust”. (Humm… does anyone besides me remember the hundreds of thousands of innocent Vietnamese tortured or killed by communist “revolutionaries”? How about the post-war “re-education camps”. Or the more than a million “boat people” struggling to escape their communist masters?)
Historians have long argued over Capt. Jones character and personality, but they generally describe him as courageous, sometimes brash and violent, honest, and an honorable man who always tried to do what he believed to be “right”. From the sounds of things, I’ll guess that he wasn’t a “quitter” either. (Sounds a lot like many American fighting men.) I’ll note that many of the characteristics attributed to Jones could be found in many Americans of that time, and a good many more over the next two centuries. Unfortunately, those traits seem to be dying out in of our modern America.
If you want evidence, fast forward to the 1950’s and 60’s, with particular attention to the “protesters” of the Vietnam War era. Both the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, were highly unpopular in America, caused a lot of casualties among the troops, and were fought by America for no other reason than to “halt the spread of Communism”. And both wars had their protesters of course. But the generation that fought in Korea were hardly affluent or “gentlemen of leisure”, having been born during the depression and had grown up during World War II. War was not their favorite sport I’ll wager, but when the nation called, they responded. The Vietnam generation (of which I am one), is an entirely different matter. The youth of the 60’s, having grown up in the “Golden Age” of the 1950’s, were the most pampered and affluent in our nations history, a "spoiled" generation that prized personal comfort and convenience above almost anything else. The prospect that their pleasant lives might be interrupted, or even endangered by service in Vietnam was intolerable! Not all of course, some of us did serve in Vietnam, again and again and again. (You might also note that the riotous protests disappeared shortly after the draft ended.) Yet even today many claim that the “moral outrage” of those protesters was honorable because the war was “unjust”. (Humm… does anyone besides me remember the hundreds of thousands of innocent Vietnamese tortured or killed by communist “revolutionaries”? How about the post-war “re-education camps”. Or the more than a million “boat people” struggling to escape their communist masters?)
The hard core of those radical, communist admiring protesters of the 60’s are still with us today. Only now they’re no longer wild-eyed shaggy haired students inciting the murder of police officers, urban riots, school bombings, and the occasional bank robbery. Instead they’re now the leaders of our political far left, a far left that has hijacked most of the Democratic Party, and are using that medium (with the willing assistance of the Obama / Reid / Pelosi triad) to spread division among our people and their slathering their lies upon a gullible public, in nothing less than a deliberate attack on our Constitution and our way of life. Their goal is nothing less than forcing us to become a Soviet style “United Socialist States of Amerika”, naturally with themselves as our “enlightened” rulers.
And what is my point? Well, I’m one person with a mission, that of using my First Amendment rights to protect and preserve our Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the United States of America, and our freedom. It’s been a long time since I was a soldier dedicated to the defense of this nation, but, while I may no longer be up to grabbing a musket and manning the barricades, I, like Horatius at the Bridge, will not surrender the country that I spent so long defending, nor the future of my grandchildren, to any wanna-be dictators, home grown or otherwise.
A friend of mine, another aging warrior from the cold war days, quite succinctly explained his view, and I can certainly agree with him. He said: “In a nutshell, I agree that the loony left needs to be squashed, and I believe that it will. We’ve done our part, and my torch is now in the hands of my four sons. If I’ve brought them up correctly, then they will do the right thing, and they will pass the torch to my grandsons. That’s how it’s supposed to happen, and I trust that it will.” I pray that Jack is correct, but for the moment, and while I’m still somewhat capable, I’ll continue to hold my own torch aloft thank-you, and I trust that my sons have their own torch's. And for now, while I, like John Paul Jones, might go down to defeat in battle, I’ll be dammed if I’ll strike the colors.
Care to join hands with me in this battle? Joined together, the righteous anger of a betrayed American citizenry could readily crush the power of the loony left for all time. You might also keep in mind that united we stand, and that divided… we fall.
And what is my point? Well, I’m one person with a mission, that of using my First Amendment rights to protect and preserve our Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the United States of America, and our freedom. It’s been a long time since I was a soldier dedicated to the defense of this nation, but, while I may no longer be up to grabbing a musket and manning the barricades, I, like Horatius at the Bridge, will not surrender the country that I spent so long defending, nor the future of my grandchildren, to any wanna-be dictators, home grown or otherwise.
A friend of mine, another aging warrior from the cold war days, quite succinctly explained his view, and I can certainly agree with him. He said: “In a nutshell, I agree that the loony left needs to be squashed, and I believe that it will. We’ve done our part, and my torch is now in the hands of my four sons. If I’ve brought them up correctly, then they will do the right thing, and they will pass the torch to my grandsons. That’s how it’s supposed to happen, and I trust that it will.” I pray that Jack is correct, but for the moment, and while I’m still somewhat capable, I’ll continue to hold my own torch aloft thank-you, and I trust that my sons have their own torch's. And for now, while I, like John Paul Jones, might go down to defeat in battle, I’ll be dammed if I’ll strike the colors.
Care to join hands with me in this battle? Joined together, the righteous anger of a betrayed American citizenry could readily crush the power of the loony left for all time. You might also keep in mind that united we stand, and that divided… we fall.
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