Brushfire of Freedom

The Conservative Cowboy

Note: Originally published at Brushfire Sparks on July 2nd, 2009

As we approach one of the biggest anniversaries in our young history as a country I would like to address a couple of different items.  The first of which is to remember how and why this day is such an important piece of our history.  This day is so important for the simple fact that it is the day that this country was created.  The Declaration of Independence was simply that, a document that was sent to the King of England stating that we would no longer be a colony under British rule.  With the creation of this document the founders faced a daunting task, gain our independence from England through the Revolutionary War and create a new form of government that would rule this new country.  So know that we know the how we can look at the why.

The founders realized that the people of a nation should be the ones that control the powers that govern the nation.  This was realized through a series of unpopular policies enacted by the King of England.  These same items that caused our founding fathers to stand up against tyranny are something that we have faced since that day in 1776 and face today.  We are in danger today because we are giving up the rights and liberties that our founding fathers fought for, not to a government that is across the pond but to a government in our own country.  We cannot forget the principles that created this country.  Some arguments to this ideology are the fact that we as a nation and as a world have since changed and evolved into something new, our technology and thus knowledge base has improved greatly in the past 233 years.

With all of these technological advancements and what I will simply refer to as the evolution of the human race, we are faced with the same daunting task as our founding fathers.  Our government must change and improve as these advancements continue.  With this change in our government we cannot forget the building blocks of our nation; which is in fact the very foundation of our country.  Principles that are in fact timeless such as: freedom, personal responsibility, humanity, faith and the pursuit of happiness.  We are in a critical juncture right now in this country, we are sitting on the cusp of letting the government take away some of the simple principles.  We the people have sat on the sidelines for too long and watched as our rights and liberties are stripped away in the name of security or equality or political correctness.

This independence day we should all take a moment to look back at the timeless principles that our founding fathers used to construct a government that has the ability to change and adapt to the current evolutions and needs of the people today.  Our Government also has the ability to take from the people if we give them the power to do this; a power that the founding fathers believed the people deserved and should always maintain.  I have included a quote from one of the greatest of those founding fathers.  A man who is often overlooked by the general public but was one of the most influential minds of our great nation.  We must change in order to keep up with the evolution of the human race, but in that change we cannot forget the lessons of the past.   

Please have a safe and patriotic Independence Day.

"But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever." - John Adams 

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Copyright 2009.  The published content is the sole property of the author.  Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws.

 Brushfire of Freedom

The Conservative Cowboy

I heard a song this week, and I was very impressed by the lyrics and the resolve presented by Darryl Worley.  I have always liked Darryl’s songs; he is not influenced by the MSM, and simply writes songs about how he feels.  I think that music is one of the most powerful forms of expression, and can personify everything about individual life, social norms, and current events.  Music can remind us of feelings, events, and emotions, and individual songs can bring us back to any of those feelings of the past, present, and even future in some cases.  Well this song provides a perfect example of how many Americans feel right now, and how I have been feeling since the election season started in 2008.

“IF YOU SEE ME HOLD MY HAND OVER MY HEART BEFORE I START THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
THERE'S A REASON, IT'S TO HONOR THOSE WHO DIED
AND IF YOU SEE ME CLOSE MY EYES AND BOW MY HEAD BEFORE I BREAK BREAD WITH MY FAMILY
IT AIN'T A HABIT, IT'S IMPORTANT AND IT'S MY RIGHT
I WORK HALF A YEAR FOR ME THE OTHER HALF FOR UNCLE SAM
WHILE HE'S BAILING OUT THOSE SINKING SHIPS AND DROWNING THE LITTLE MAN

I WATCH THE NEWS AND HAVE TO WONDER IF THIS COUNTRY'S GOING CRAZY
TALKIN' BOUT HOW MUCH THEY LOVE IT HERE BUT HOW THEY WANNA REARRANGE IT
I'M JUST YOUR AVERAGE JOE AND THAT MAKES ME SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW
THERE'S A BUNCH OF US OUT HERE THAT FEEL THE SAME
GONNA KEEP OUR GOD, OUR FREEDOM, A LITTLE MONEY IN THE BANK
Y'ALL CAN KEEP THE CHANGE

NOW THE FAT CATS ON THE HILL ACTING SO BRILLIANT
AIN'T SMART ENOUGH TO NOTICE THAT WE'RE ANGRY
AND AMERICA'S IN TROUBLE
IF THEY DON'T WISE UP AND STOP
BUSTING OUT THE BLOCKS THAT WERE LAID AS A FOUNDATION
THIS NATION COULD WAKE UP IN A PILE OF RUBBLE
THEY SAY WE'RE MAKING PROGRESS BUT IT'S A BIG 'OL SHAME TO ME
THAT COMMON SENSE AIN'T NEAR AS COMMON AS IT USED TO BE

I WATCH THE NEWS AND HAVE TO WONDER IF THIS COUNTRY'S GOING CRAZY
TALKIN' BOUT HOW MUCH THEY LOVE IT HERE BUT HOW THEY WANNA REARRANGE IT
I'M JUST YOUR AVERAGE JOE AND THAT MAKES ME SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW
THERE'S A BUNCH OF US OUT HERE THAT FEEL THE SAME
GONNA KEEP OUR GOD, OUR FREEDOM, A LITTLE MONEY IN THE BANK
Y'ALL CAN KEEP THE CHANGE

I'LL BET OUR GRANDPAS ARE GETTING DIZZY
DOWN THERE IN THEIR GRAVES
ROLLING OVER AND OVER, OVER WHAT'S GOING ON THESE DAYS

I WATCH THE NEWS AND HAVE TO WONDER IF THIS COUNTRY'S GOING CRAZY
TALKIN' BOUT HOW MUCH THEY LOVE IT HERE BUT HOW THEY WANNA REARRANGE IT
I'M JUST YOUR AVERAGE JOE AND THAT MAKES ME SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW
THERE'S A BUNCH OF US OUT HERE THAT FEEL THE SAME
GONNA KEEP OUR GOD, OUR FREEDOM, A LITTLE MONEY IN THE BANK
Y'ALL CAN KEEP THE CHANGE”

One reason that I am posting this on my blog is that many of the radio stations will not play this song, I know because since I have heard it I have called every station that I knew to request this song be played.  I heard the song on FM 99.1 (K99) here in Denver and since then they are the only country station that will play this song, I suppose it is because the song is to “racy” for most of the stations in the area, and I would guess most of the stations in the country.  The other reason I posted this song is praise to Darryl Worley, and I implore you to pay the $0.99 to download this song on iTunes or rhapsody or any of the other music site that you use and support Darryl Worley for going against the grain and vocalizing the attitude of the majority of Americans. 

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Copyright 2010.  The published content is the sole property of the author.  Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws.

 Brushfire of Freedom

The Conservative Cowboy

I have been reading some of my latest posts and realized that I have not written about anything overly offensive in quite some time.  So this week I figured I might want to write about something that will probably make many people angry.  As some may know the world cup is going on right now and South Africa is the host, ESPN naturally is filling time in between games with inspired stories about the athletes and the home country, much like the Olympics.  I overheard on in particular about the day that Nelson Mandela was freed from prison after his wrongful incarceration.  Then the switched over to some of the current African American athletes and we had to listen to them about how important this day was in history, and how important it was for Blacks all around the world.  I am not going to try and downplay that nor am I going to refute the fact that it was a very big step racial equality.  This moment did however get my mind rolling on about all of the “blank” Americans here in this country; feel free to install the name of any other country where the blank is of course.

Now I have nothing against showing pride in one’s home country, customs and heritage but it cannot be at the expense of the current country that is providing that person with everything they need to live, and live quite well.  There is a reason that the person in question still does not reside in their home country, the majority of the time that reason has to do with some type of freedom whether it be financial, religious or just plain freedom.  These immigrants came here for a reason and my problem with all of these politically correct terms is that they are actually become a way these people view themselves.  They are Mexican before American, African before American, Asian before American and the list goes on and on, my point here is that these people should show more pride in their current nation than they do in their country of origin.

This is very important to me and let me explain why.  These “minorities” always complain about being treated fairly, affirmative action this and racial profiling that, well if you want to be included in our society start acting like it.  This country has been one born of immigrants so I am not chastising anyone who wants to come here to make a better life for themselves and their family, but if you do come here there must be a little bit of assimilation into this culture.  I wrote a three-part post on this you can find here.  Without making an effort to assimilate one simply alienates themselves from the group, you know the opposite of assimilate, funny how that works.  The MSM will tell you that we as Americans need to be more tolerant, how about we as Americans get met in the middle by the immigrants, first step learn to speak English! Second step pay your Taxes!  After those two things happen I will be tolerant towards your accent, skin color, and customs, anything you want. 

You see there will always be differences within our society, there are differences in the “white” portion of Americans as well, all the way down to the individual, but we all have the fact that we are white in common.

This same logic goes for the country, this is a country of differences and always has been but we have always been united by one fact, We Are Americans.

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Copyright 2010.  The published content is the sole property of the author.  Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws.

 Brushfire of Freedom

The Conservative Cowboy

One of my favorite people in history is John Adams.  There are many reasons why he is one of my favorites and the quote at the end of this post illustrates one of the main reasons.  You see John Adams was very foreword thinking, and that is why I think he deserves more credit then he will ever receive for the birth of this nation.  Ok of the soap box now and back to the point.  Fence sitter’s as they are known like to be in the middle of things, and no I do not mean they are fighters, quite the opposite actually, fence sitters are afraid to offend anyone, afraid of confrontation, afraid to offend anyone and afraid to fail.  You know who you are and you know who I am talking about, they are the ones that are quite for most of any conversation and just agree with everyone.  Now before you start the lynch mob, I married a fence sitter (sort of) because there is a place for those kinds of people, they slow down the type A’s of the world.

So now you have a little background about the type of people I am talking about now I want you to imagine those people on the senate floor, too afraid that something they say will offend someone, or that they don’t have clear evidence from either side of the argument to agree or disagree.  I know that was sort of a tricky fantasy because the people I am talking about would never go onto the senate floor to argue a point, for the very simple reason that they have no idea what side to argue for, or against.  In politics one must chose a side, whenever any situation arises, evidence for and against is analyzed and they take a side.  In politics that is a must, when voting that is a must, I think that our current situation in Washington illustrates that very clearly.  You see the voters in the middle put us in this situation.  You will always have some people that are separated from reality agree with punishing the successful with higher taxes and giving that money to the lazy.  On the other side you will have people like me that just want to be left alone, and reap the benefits of a hard day’s work.  But it is you fence sitters that elected BHO, easily swayed by fancy words from a teleprompter and bright colors in a television ad. The people that answer questions with a headline from the New Your Times or some other biased media outlet without any facts or opinion of their own. 

You may be thinking of what this has to do with any of the current events taking place right now?  Well the election season is in full swing and has been for a while.  The ads have started and will only get more abundant as November gets closer.  My only hope is that the current situation in Washington will prove as a lesson for the “moderates” in this country and they will educate themselves on their respective candidates before they vote this November.

Remember to learn from history, no one is infallible but we must learn from the successes and failures of the past.  In my experience I always look to the founders when I have to look for answers simply because they created the greatest country this world has ever seen and that is more than enough credibility when it comes to matters of government.  

I was going to leave you with something profound but I think I will let John Adams take care of that for me.

“In politics the middle way is none at all.” John Adams

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Copyright 2010.  The published content is the sole property of the author.  Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws.

 Brushfire of Freedom

The Conservative Cowboy

Note: Originally published Memorial Day, 2009 at Brushfire Sparks

Too often we as Americans take for granted the freedoms that we enjoy every day in this great nation.  Too often we are too busy with our lives to stop and remember why we enjoy these freedoms.  Too often we forget that this is the greatest country in the world.  The reason that we enjoy all of these items is simple, the American S oldier.  A person that is willing to give their lives so others can live in freedom.  As we take the long weekend that comes with Memorial Day we cannot forget the men and women whom we are honoring, and their sacrifice to this great nation.  

I want to take this opportunity to talk about a branch of the military that is often forgotten, but is just as vital to the perseverance of this country; The US Coast Guard.  The US Coast Guard was officially named a branch of our military service in 1915.  During a declaration of war the Coast Guard operates under the US Navy.  The US Coast Guard was a vital piece of our forces in WW2, Korea and Vietnam, operating patrols that supported our troops.  The Coast Guard was involved in numerous rescues of our service men and women during these Wars.   They were vital in enforcing the UN trade embargoes in the Persian Gulf in 2002.  In 2003 the Coast Guard was transferred to the Department of Homeland Security.  This is an important switch because the Coast Guard is now one of our greatest lines of defense against naval attacks on US soil.  

In addition to the help that the Coast Guard provides for our military, they are also given the responsibility to help our own citizens.  The Coast Guard was a huge part of the relief effort after hurricane Katrina, rescuing over 33,000 people.  The Coast guard is also charged with the safety of our personal and commerce related sea vessels.

Whether it is the US Coast Guard or any other branch of the military in this great country I am grateful everyday to those men and women who make the ultimate sacrifice to preserve our way of life.  The defense of this nation and our way of life is and should remain the top priority in this country, and I am glad that we have service men and women on the job everyday to help in that defense.  The service men and women of the country have always shared a common motivating factor in their defense of this nation; pride, the pride that this country provides people with the freedoms that all humans deserve.  The pride that the people of this nation will recognize their sacrifice and help preserve the very freedoms that separate this country from every other country in the world.

I salute those who have fallen and those who are willing to fall to fight for something that is bigger than all of us….the freedom of a great nation.     

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Copyright 2010.  The published content is the sole property of the author.  Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws.