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These men were visionaries for sure; they were leaders in freedom
and independence. They risked their lives to break the tyranny of
repression and injustice brought by unfair taxation and force from
the rule of an adversarial force trying to remove freedom and
independence. These were men of character, integrity and high honor.
They believed in the principle of freedom, independence, self-rule,
with power derived from the people and leadership directed from
their Creator. But one ingredient in their formula for freedom is
not often examined. Yes, these men individually were consecrated to the idea of freedom,
and they put their minds, souls and talents into the creation and
development of a Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights,
Revolutionary War and the United States Constitution. But if they
were only a small group of educated, insightful, well-intentioned
group of patriotic elitists who tried to form an idea into a reality
for the entire country, they likely would have failed. It was
their countrymen throughout the entire land who provided the fuel
for the Founding Fathers to launch into the realization of their
ideals of self-government and freedom from tyranny. I suspect that
people throughout the 13 colonies had experienced the weight
of oppression delivered by a government thousands of miles away that
tried to impose on the New World population the monarchial rules of
yesteryear that frankly did not fit any longer. The population of
the colonies had gelled to the point of having a commonality of
their sense of justice. They contrasted the British garrisons dotted
throughout the land with the vastness of freedom that lay ahead
through the birth of a new nation that was experiencing pains of
renewal and regeneration.
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With like-minded countrymen throughout the colonies, the Founding
Fathers were able to spark the fire of revolt that would change all
of their lives forever. Countrymen who were just as smart, just as
educated and just as committed to freedom and justice as were the
individuals who rose to the level of Founding Fathers were willing
to commit their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to self-govern. As
those ideas were formulated into words that would eventually give
rise to hope in the future for individual independence I suspect
there were many "Patrick Henrys" across the colonies who were ready
and willing to sound the alarm and fight for freedom. So now we
find ourselves in a modern-day fire of revolt with leaders seemingly
unable to listen to "we the people" nor find direction in the
Constitution. We are experiencing an uneasy feeling that our
government has grown so large it is ready to consume us at a
moment's notice. Leaders are misrepresenting their intentions and
engaging in actions that are indeed bringing about a "fundamental
change" in the exceptionalism America has fought long and hard to
establish and maintain. Each day seems to bring yet another scandal
that diminishes America in the eyes of people groups around the
world. But the spirit of our forefathers and forebearers continues to
reside in the hearts of Americans. They have slowly recognized the
deceptions professional politicians have perpetrated, and they sense that
economic, political and self-governed rule seems to be sliding away
with each new revelation of trampling on the Constitution delivered
by those before us.
And so it is, as we celebrate our present-day American
exceptionalism, we cannot look only to the leaders of this great
nation that may have stumbled into dependency and collectivism as
well as perhaps grown likely well beyond the wildest dreams of our
Founding Fathers. Indeed, with long careers of political office,
exempting themselves from laws they pass that yoke the common
citizen with heavy taxes, restrictive regulations and market-killing
restraints, we the people must look to ourselves, our countrymen who
still believe in freedom, independence and self-rule with the divine
guidance from our Creator to keep us on course. We need to return to
those characteristics of our forefathers and leaders who possess the
principle of freedom, independence, self-rule, recognizing that
power is derived from the people and leadership directed from their
Creator.
[By JIM KILLEBREW]
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