Let me see, they assault us every day. Where can we hide? Where can we go that is out of their reach? Are we safe on our jobs? Safe in our homes? In our churches? Where can we hide? They pursue us! They assault us! They steal our money! They seize our property! They propagandize our children! They mock our faith! I hate violence! We need to be peaceful. But protesting between 9-5 only at the Capital or their offices may one day just not be enough. No detail in our lives is too small for them to regulate or control! Yet, I think too many of them feel they are safe behind their marble walls and security details. Who do we have to protect us from them? What marble wall can we build that will stop their taxes? Stop their regulations? None!
We need to keep it peaceful, but we do not any longer have to be pleasant and cordial.
They tell us, sir, that we are weak, unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed...? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of Hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?
Patrick Henry
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
Yes, we have been here before...