Patriot Post

The Gipper
"Our current circumstances in the 21st century are not greatly different from those surrounding our Founders, who remarked on the long train of abuses and usurpations whose ultimate design seemed clearly to abrogate all the citizens' rights and render them subjects of an absolute despotism. The Founders' impending tyranny arose under an unjust king; ours derives from a centralizing and increasingly powerful national government that intrudes into ever-growing aspects of our lives, and prevents us from freely exercising our acts of self-government. We New Federalists therefore seek a return to our foundation on the principles of self-government. We seek a new birth of federalism because we seek a new birth of freedom, both for ourselves and for our posterity." --Ronald Reagan

All That Is Hidden Is Made Known

Early Draft of the Constitution Found in Philadelphia
"The Continuation of the Scheme"

BY Mary Katharine Ham

The founder of a non-profit group that promotes teaching of the U.S. Constitution stumbled on an early draft of it in Philadelphia this week, penned by James Wilson and entitled, "The Continuation of the Scheme."

She was exploring in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, when she connected a short passage on the back of one draft of the Constitution, in Wilson's hand, to the rest of the document, buried in the archives among Wilson's papers.

"This was national scripture, a piece of our Constitution's history," she said of her find in November. "It was difficult to keep my hands from trembling."

As other researchers "realized what was happening, there was a sort of hushed awe that settled over the reading room," Toler said. "One of them said the hair on her arms stood on end."

Two drafts of the Constitution in Wilson's hand had been separated from his papers long ago. One of them included the beginning of still another draft and was apparently seen as part of a single working version, instead of a separate draft.

Toler said "The Continuation of the Scheme," including its provisions about the executive and judiciary branches, completes that draft, making it a third.

I guess there are worse pitches to make to possible donors for a Constitution non-profit than, "Remember that time I found a new draft of the Constitution?"

Thoughts on Liberty 101

That my blog partner couldn't find the time to attend.

....amidst the disparagement of grassroots efforts to push back on healthcare reform as currently envisioned in Congress, the former-community-organizer himself, President Obama, has tried to gin up grassroots workers who will pressure lawmakers into passing a massive healthcare overhaul. Contrast the “labor of love” work of my local compatriots to recent Craigslist advertisements to pay $15 per hour to “volunteers” to work to pass Obama's Healthcare Plan. Quite a difference in commitment, wouldn’t you agree? Real grassroots is “money-poor and people-rich” according to Wikipedia.
Hmmmm.....

I’ve been calling and writing to my representatives for nearly ten years. Yeah, a real time-waster, I know. Until this year, I had never marched in the vicinity of a legislator’s office, but I’ve now done so three times. I still haven’t carried a handmade sign! But I really do admire the creativity of my grassroots colleagues. Individuals around this great land have spoken up to our government leaders and found themselves thrust into the spotlight. So many of them have faced cameras and questions from all types of media and held their own in the debate. I have been enormously impressed by their courage and their passion. I don’t care much about the limelight, but I am going to keep working on the grassroots projects I’ve committed to.

No one has to pay me; it’s a labor of love.

Read the whole thing at Citizens Rountable.

Put A Lock-Out Tag on the Political Machine

Put A Lock-Out Tag on the Political Machine

Its time to insure conservative principles are the rule, not the exception.

Update from America's Right

and this is REALLY GOOD STUFF, folks:

Regardless of whether Barack Obama was born in a hospital in Honolulu or a hut in Kenya, the real question brought forth by Phillip Berg's civil action, to me, is not one of constitutional eligibility but rather of moral and intellectual and even ideological qualification.Barack Obama's actions show a penchant for blaming America first and placing Her needs second. His associations show that no unimaginably awful deed goes unrewarded, that the want for friendship, appeasement and superficial detente overshadows the need for a firm grasp on reality and unapologetic employment of common sense. His aspirations make us believe that we can live our lives blameless for societal and economic ills, and that centuries-old blood feuds can be solved with a handshake and conversation over coffee and a chilled plate of arugula.

John McCain, wrong on so many issues, was 100 percent right on Wednesday when he stated that he never questioned Obama's patriotism, only his judgment. At a time when the United States faces unprecedented threats from every angle, within and without, at a time when Congressional malfeasance--or, in the case of Pelosi's House and the energy crisis, nonfeasance--could have disastrous effects for decades to come, sound judgment is of the utmost importance.

For our founding fathers, unflinching patriotism, unassailable public virtue and unflappable judgment were inherent among those who helped to establish the United States of America, whether on the battlefield in Trenton or in Congress in Philadelphia, as those who were citizens "at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution" knew why they were there, what America was about, and why She was so desperately needed.

Regardless of whether he was born in Kenya or in Hawaii, regardless of whether his birth certificate is his half-sister's or his own, or whether he went by the name of Barack Obama or Barry Soetoro, this self-proclaimed "Citizen of the World" has much to learn about what it truly means to be an American.

Our Lives, Our Fortunes, Our Sacred Honor

Limbaugh Letter 1996

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

Richard Henry Lee, a delegate from Virginia, had introduced the resolution to adopt the Declaration of Independence in June of 1776. He was prophetic in his concluding remarks:

"Why then sir, why do we longer delay? Why still deliberate? Let this happy day give birth to an American Republic. Let her arise not to devastate and to conquer but to reestablish the reign of peace and law. The eyes of Europe are fixed upon us. She demands of us a living example of freedom that may exhibit a contrast in the felicity of the citizen to the ever increasing tyranny which desolates her polluted shores. She invites us to prepare an asylum where the unhappy may find solace, and the persecuted repost. If we are not this day wanting in our duty, the names of the American Legislatures of 1776 will be placed by posterity at the side of all of those whose memory has been and ever will be dear to virtuous men and good citizens."

The 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence proved by their every deed that they made no idle boast when they composed the most magnificent curtain line in history.

"And for the support of this Declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

I was doing some searches today and decided to enter Richard Henry Lee in the AltaVista engine. Richard was a hellion of the first order, a true visionary so far ahead of his time it borders on the spiritual, and had the faith of his convictions.

Check this out from Stratford Hall:

Confrontational by nature, Richard Henry possessed a fiery, rebellious spirit. These same qualities brought him fame as a leading patriot of the day and incited the wrath of his enemies. At one point, he was "outlawed" by a proclamation of English Governor Dunmore.

As a member of Virginia's House of Burgesses, Richard Henry's first bill boldly proposed "to lay so heavy a duty on the importation of slaves as to put an end to that iniquitous and disgraceful traffic within the colony of Virginia." Africans, he wrote, were "equally entitled to liberty and freedom by the great law of nature." Such words, coming as they did in 1759, have been called "the most extreme anti-slavery statements made before the nineteenth century."

In 1765, enforcement of the Stamp Act began. In response, the Lee brothers, led by Richard Henry, rallied 115 men of Westmoreland County at Leedstown on the Rappahannock River, a few miles south of Stratford. All signed the Westmoreland Resolves, co-authored by Richard Henry. The document threatened "danger and disgrace" to anyone who paid the tax.

Among the signers were Richard Henry, Thomas, Francis Lightfoot, and William Lee and the four brothers of George Washington. The signing of the Westmoreland Resolves was one of the first deliberate acts of sedition against the Crown and one that placed both Richard Henry and the state of Virginia at the vanguard of the coming revolution.

In 1768, Richard Henry proposed the systematic interchange of information between the colonies. As a result, the Committees of Correspondence were formed and became a major force uniting the Americans in their desire for independence. Receiving first-hand information on the decisions of the King and Parliament from his brothers, Arthur and William, now in London, he served as a communications commander for the colonies.