The worst thing that can happen to the Republic is not that it is ferociously and skillfully attacked, but that it is feebly and ineptly defended. Today the principal attack on the Republic is not a raging military conflict although we are so engaged. The major threat comes from a stealth attack from the inside. Prominent and wealthy individuals seek to hollow out the Republic preserving only its form and not its substance.
On the national stage, its defenders too often seem inept and enfeebled. More than 220 years ago, the Republic was bequeathed to all Americans including who at the time had yet to be born. We all fell heir to the ideals of the Republic and the duties of citizenship. Now, we, the people, must again give testament to our national loyalties. This is not a call to arms, but a summons to a long, twilight struggle against the insidious of government of, by, and for the people. The avaricious and the ambitious have joined in an ignoble alliance to seize control of positions of power and supplant governance with their rule. To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson from the early days, "The mass of humankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately." We regularly elect to be governed, but we must never consent to be ruled!
Now is the time for all true patriots to listen to be better angels of their natures and reject the siren songs of division and suspicion. We must ensure that the brave men and women living and dead who have faced hostile fire in our defense and in defense of the Republic shall not have struggled and sacrificed in vain. For our prosperity, for our posterity, for the promise and the purpose of the Republic and the last best hope of humankind, we must effectively and forcefully defend our free institutions from capture by those who feel their wealth or position makes them booted and spurred and entitled to rule.
Based on ideals so dear and long held to be true
Can the Republic, now imperiled, rise and live anew?
Will a government of the people with powers fine and just
Triumph o’er the cabal of greed, conceit, and power lust?
Will we give our full effort and bestow our due consent?
Or from the struggle for the future will we ignobly shrink and timidly relent?
In this time, that so sternly tries the soul
Will we work tirelessly with true purpose to make the nation whole?
As all, have the rights to liberty and life,
Why do we far too often meet in vicious strife?
That all too often claims an innocent life.
As each strives to begin or to continue the glorious pursuit,
Why must some deny to any the choice of a unique and cherished route?
At the venerable age of two hundred and thirty-five
Does the radiant dream of our beginnings remain genuinely alive?
Or is it more akin to the ashes and the dust
To the strongest iron of mighty ships now, sadly gone to rust?
By clamorous fools and uncouth fears, we stand too much divided.
The fondest hopes of ages past too oft abandoned and derided.
The power grabbers and moneychangers have pushed us to the brink.
Why can’t we, the People, see the time has come to truly stop to think?
Do we understand the heroes of the past are gone? Alas, it is now our time.
Can we yet see the reason? Can we still sense the rhyme?
If we should fail, do we appreciate what value will be lost?
If we won’t bear the burden or pay each and every cost,
Will we now stand our country and earn undying love?
Or will we flee into triviality as push comes to shove?
Can this contemporary citizenry prove their loyalties are real?
Hark! The trumpet summons us once again - both me and you.
Can we find somehow the compassion and the courage to help the nation heal?
Can we hear the mystic chords so faint and from afar?
Playing upon our better angels to remind us who we are,
To arouse the best within us so the Republic is born anew!
In viewing the video, reflect that many, perhaps most, of us were indeed born in the USA. Some of us heeded a call to arms. Whether we fought or not, all battles do not involve bullets and courage blooms not only on the battlefield. We are engaged in an as yet undeclared and non-shooting civil war testing whether this nation or any other nation so conceived and so dedicated as the Republic can long endure and continue to thrive. Will we stand the country now, or will we prove to be sunshine soldiers and summer patriots? The challenge and the choice is ours!
