July 7, 2000

In the days surrounding the Fourth of July we hear much talk about patriotism. We have parades, fireworks, flag waving, speeches in praise of our country, etc. Phrases like 'the greatest nation that has ever been' and 'the land of liberty' are heard often in the course of conversation. We have a grand celebration of Independence Day and feelings of patriotism stir many a heart. Unfortunately, there is little understanding of what truly constitutes patriotism. In the minds of most people patriotism is 'rooting' for my country like I might 'root' for my team at a football or basketball game. It is typified by comments like, "Despite its many faults this is still the greatest nation on earth." (with the implication that I will therefore blindly follow). My friends, these things do not constitute patriotism. Let me tell you what constitutes patriotism.

· Strives to defend and uphold the Constitution of the United States. That means, by the way, that a patriot is one that knows what that document says.

· Is willing to point out the fact that the government in power in Washington DC is illegitimate and illegal (despite having been elected) because it operates mostly outside of the constraints placed on it by the Constitution.

· Recognizes that this country is supposed to be a confederacy of sovereign states for whom the federal government is supposed to provide those services outlined in the Constitution - and nothing more!

· Understands that the states ARE NOT subdivisions of the federal government and that they ought to stop acting like they are.

· Recognizes that it is not "majority rule' but "rule of law" (the Constitution) that counts.

· Calls for liberty to be returned to the people rather than taken and turned over to global powers.

· Understands that freedom is a figment of our collective imagination when most working people spend nearly half the year in involuntary servitude to the government.

· Recognizes that God, and not the government, is our Provider.

· Knows that national liberty is a gift from God for "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord...." PSA 33:12 and for the individual liberty is found in "If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." JOH 8:36.

· Is often familiar with the following quotations and always familiar with the sentiments behind them.

o The essence of all slavery consists in taking the produce of another's labor by force. It is immaterial whether this force be founded upon ownership of the slave or ownership of the money that he must get to live. - Leo Tolstoy

o With respect to our State and federal governments, I do not think their relations correctly understood by foreigners. They generally suppose the former subordinate to the latter. But this is not the case. They are co-ordinate departments of one simple and integral whole. - Thomas Jefferson

o God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed their only sure basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that those liberties are the gift of God? - Thomas Jefferson

o The remaining revenue on the consumption of foreign luxuries to domestic comforts, being collected on our seaboard and frontiers only, and incorporated with the transactions of our mercantile citizens, it may be the pleasure and the pride of an American to ask, What farmer, what merchant, what laborer ever sees a tax gatherer of the United States? - Thomas Jefferson

(see http://www.mofirst.org/index-jeff.htm for more Jefferson quotes)

Simply put, the patriot is the one who recognizes that what we have in America today is a gross corruption of the free nation we are supposed to be. Some (perhaps many) would say that I tarnish the memory of those that died for freedom by denigrating the state of our nation today. I say that to blindly and willingly enter into bondage to tyrannical government is to tarnish that memory. It is time to change our thinking. Let us renounce blind loyalty to tyranny and return to the concepts that founded what once was, and can be again, the greatest nation God has ever established on this earth.

Mark Twain once said, "In the beginning of change, the Patriot is a scarce man, brave, hated, and scorned. When his cause succeeds, however, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot." Are there any true patriots out there?