I think I have a good title for posts on this Blog. THINK. If there is anything I would have you take away from reading these few words on this piece of the net it would be that I made you think. I do not necessarily mean you thinking hmm... he’s right on the money but, maybe also to challenge you to dig deeper. Such as there has been a series of posts over on 7.62mm justice called Kyoto – A Perspective (Hat Tip TonyfromOz) about how we in the USA generate electricity and how, if we were to adopt the principals of the Kyoto treaty, our nation would be drug, rather quickly, back into the 1800’s. That has made me think about how we as a nation use energy and what we could do different and that has lead to MANY ideas about energy efficiency and alternative fuels.
Ideas will always lead to discussion and discussions will always lead to some type of discourse and THAT my friend is one of many things that have made this nation great. The 56 original members of congress did not sit down on July 4th, 1776 and write out and sign the document that has shaped our nation. This did not just happen! We all know or, rather, should know the story of our fight for independence. There were years of subjugation to the crown in England. There were unjust searches and seizures, Taxes levied with out the input of the Americans (Taxation with out Representation), forced billeting of troops in private homes. When the fighting actually started in April of 1775, the shadow governments that had been in place in all of the 13 colonies took control of their colonies and deposed the royal officials. The desire for full independence grew and in January 1776, Thomas Pain published his well known pamphlet ‘Common Sense’. The second Continental Congress appointed 5 men to draft what would become our founding document those men included Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and Samuel Adams. Many changes and additions were made to this document, for example Franklin himself made at least 48 corrections, including changing the slogan "Life, Liberty and Property" to "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness before it was presented to the main body of the Congress on June 28th 1776. I was not until July 4th 1776 that the document was approved and sent to a printer. John Hancock was the first to sign as the elected President of the Congress. It was not till August of that same year that the rest of the delegates signed the Declaration of Independence.
I went through that short history lesson to show you that the idea that all men were created to be free created a discourse and that discourse led to the birth, with all the pain and suffering I cannot call it created, of the United States of America. But to have that discourse, you have to have ideas, to have ideas you have to be able to think. Now there are those that say that thinking should be left to the experts. Some say I am not paid to think, I am paid to follow instructions. Anyone that has a brain can think. I believe it is a sad state of affairs when someone in TV or radio studio has to tell us what a speech just made by this politician or that world leader means and how mad or happy we should be because of it. Think for yourselves! I believe there is a nefarious scheme behind the decline in our ability to think for ourselves but that is for another post. Think! Read! Learn! This is how we will retain our freedom. This is how we come up with ideas that make us money and keep our economy strong. This is how we keep informed and know when to stand in support of or against ideologies that threaten our liberties or our way of life. In America we live in the greatest secular country on earth. There are few that even compare.
Thanks to all the veterans for the sacrifice they have made, God Bless you everyone!
