Saturday, July 4, 2015
Sad 4th of July
On this 4th of July I find that I am terribly saddened at the state of things. We should be celebrating freedom...a freedom won by much bloodshed and the sacrifices of many. However, we find ourselves in a land with less and less freedom. Many of us Americans are losing the freedom to celebrate our heritage. We are losing the right to fly the Confederate battle flag. It is a symbol of freedom, but because some yahoo chose to use it as a symbol of hate in his sick twisted mind the world has jumped on that bandwagon again. We have been through this before. No, it is not the only flag of the Confederacy but it is an important one. It is one that kept men alive on the battle field. Men that fought and died for freedom...not oppression. Unlike what many like to say the Civil War was about, the truth is that it was about freedom and we are still fighting for those freedoms today. The Supreme Court just this past week disregarded the Constitution of the United States to force the states to comply with a ruling that it was not granted the power to make. States Rights once again tread upon. What was fought for in 1776 was the same thing the Confederates fought for in 1856 and it is the same thing we are fighting now...a government grown too large and oppressive...the loss of true freedom. Now, that overgrown tyranny is threatening to take away and deny many Americans their heritage. While it is great and wonderful for others to celebrate their heritage, we are denied the celebration of ours. In fact, they are trying hard to wipe it completely out of existence. Our founding fathers must be turning over in their graves at the sad lot this country has become. The First Amendment officially died this past week, they are working hard on the second, and the Supreme Court once again overstepped its power and told the people of each state that their wants do not matter and they have no right to decide for themselves what is best for their state. I find this a sad 4th of July with nothing to celebrate...1776 means nothing in Amerika anymore. We should be a country in mourning...we have lost much.
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8 comments:
I think the 'sicko' was also holding an American Flag in his other hand in the unedited photo. What a messed up 'Hope and Change' ... so much is wrong today.
May I disagree? I comment as an outsider - that is, I live outside the US but have very close ties to it. Viewed from the outside, Americans remain perhaps the most free people on earth, and with the free-est of minds. Notwithstanding any current concerns, American liberty remains a very durable thing!
I agree completely!!! I have a hard time explaining why I feel so passionately about the Confederate flag, but I do. To me, it is a symbol of Pride, not prejudice. If people would only take the time and effort to read their history, more folks would see that the Civil War was in fact not about slavery and keeping slaves, or setting them free. Those issues were a by-product . The Civil War was an act of northern aggression toward the south for using thei rights, and legally seceding from the Union. The Civil War was economic based, and people don,t want to take the time to find that out. They would rather blame and condemn the past, our soldiers, our heritage, and a piece of colored cloth than face their own ignorance. And for the masses who think Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves, and that The Emancipation Proclamation did anything for that cause, or that Abraham Lincoln was a friend to the majority of the slave race, once again, I suggest you read your history. Read the actual document, and perhaps read a biography of Mr. Lincoln, and find out what his true feelings were for those folks who hold him in such high esteem. I believe a good many of you will be shocked. My Confederate flag is VERY important to me. It shows that I come from a people who were willing to take a stand when they saw things happening that they knew were not right. It means they stood by and were willing to die for their principles, and I am proud to come from that heritage. My ancestors were never slave owners, and I don't deserve the wrath for a wrong that I had nothing to do with. Take my Conferate flag, and the freedoms it represents...NO, I will NOT allow you to do that. Pick something else to bitch about!!!!!
I understand how you feel and have had those feelings, too. BUT, I am encouraged by my faith in God and that is what I focus on. Easier said than done some days.....I also stay determined to live as independently as possible, developing my homestead.
The worse things become in society, the less often I leave the property!
i find the state in which the usa finds itself in today as being quite sorrowful. and sadly, i dont forsee anything getting much better in the future either.
We are losing our freedoms quickly. We might still be more free than many nations, but we are losing what we have at a rapid pace.
I was not raised in the South, yet I strongly disagree with eliminating the right to fly the Confederate flag. To me, it represents the South; the cultural heritage of a group of people who fought bravely for what they believed in and many died doing so.
As for history and the Civil War, I totally agree that people have been fed false facts. Also, people believe what they are told or read in biased history books and do not research the facts out for themselves; this is why those who are ignorant of history repeat the same mistakes.
My paternal maternal(father's mother) side of the family descended from the Lincoln's. Mordecai Lincoln and Hannah Salter Lincoln were the third great grandparents of Abraham Lincoln. Mordecai and Hannah are my 9th great grandparents. My maternal side of the family landed in South Carolina in the early 1700's and everyone of my mother's relatives still reside there. So, I have heritage in both the North and the South. I was raised in the Midwest.
The Civil War was about control and fear of losing vast amounts of revenue. Abraham Lincoln wanted very much to send all the black people back to Africa after the war ended and had he lived and not been murdered, that might have happened. Facts are facts, regardless of how uncomfortable they are for a lot of people. Lincoln felt that it was wrong for blacks and whites to mingle. He did free the slaves because he felt slavery was wrong, also. Mordecai and Hannah Lincoln were Quakers and if anyone knows the history of slavery and Quakers you will understand the implication.
Another uncomfortable fact is that there were a lot of black slave owners. History has submerged the fact that the number of Free Blacks in the South was not small and many of them owned large plantations and owned many slaves. Real history is easy to find when one starts reading old wills and studying land plats and uncovering historical documents.
The majority of my maternal ancestors did not own slaves and some were fighting, much of the time, to prove their Native American heritage, so they would not have to pay the poll tax. One interesting fact about the South (at least in S.C.) is that the Free Blacks were readily accepted as part of the community and, often, were in roles of leadership. Another of those inconvenient facts we never hear mentioned.
I apologize for the length of this comment. I have never commented on your blog before, but felt this post was too important to remain a silent reader. Thank you for your blog and your wonderful posts, which I do truly enjoy.
Welcome everyone and thanks for posting. I will try to address everyone's post in order.
Anonymous-Yes, I believe that he was. Many have used the American flag as a symbol of oppression and hate, more so ever than the Confederate Battle Flag. But then the agenda is division and hatred among a country.
Stephen- So far yes you are right, we still have more freedom and liberty than most of the world. However, we are losing those rights and freedoms rapidly and once they are gone they will be lost forever. More and more Americans are apathetic to what the government is doing. Most Americans are too self absorbed to care. We are indeed a sad lot.
Junebug- thank you for posting. Lincoln would not have freed a single slave if it did not serve his purpose to get more money for his war against the south. Lincoln would have lost much revenue had the southern states been allowed to go their own way. It was all about money. Lincoln was the first to completely destroy the southern people and apparently he is not the last. We survived then and we will survive still.
Anonymous-I understand where you are coming from and that will work for a time until it no longer works. I rarely leave my farm either, or at least I try not to. However, at some point in time all through out history good people have had to leave their farms, band together and stand up for what is right.
Anonymous-I agree.
Glenda-Your post is a blessing. Thank you so much for adding so much truth. Please come and visit the blog regularly.
Great post about homesteading. thanks for sharing with us!!
homesteading | raising chickens | backyard chickens
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