The Sun is Setting

With permission from the original author, I am re-posting this from the Oath Keepers forums.

By Victory Bill
There is a stirring in America. The sun has long since passed its apex and will soon be setting on the days of acquiescence. And with the end of these days, political and intellectual servitude will become ghosts of the past. I dread, yet welcome, the dawn of the new day. For this new day will determine whether my children, and my grand children yet to be born, will become free men and women. Free to pursue their happiness and determine their destiny. It is my firm belief that the coming new day will bring a struggle not seen in this country in over a century. From the most basic of relationships between individuals to the more complex of relationships between the states themselves and those relationships with the federal government will be strained. The coming day’s struggle will shape the future of our country and the future for our posterity. Will this country turn away from our present course, toward returning to the principles of our Founders? Or will individual liberty and sovereignty meet a violent end in the face of tyranny?

For the past 100 years, through gradual yet steady encroachments, the liberty fought for by our Founding Fathers, has been eroded. It has been eroded to the point where the modern American hasn’t experienced true liberty nor could possibly provide an adequate example of it. Notice I didn’t say “our liberty.” I didn’t do so because we have yet to earn it and I’d argue, at this point we don’t truly deserve it. In Common Sense, Thomas Payne wrote, “What we obtain, too cheap, we esteem too lightly:--'Tis dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to set a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if so celestial an article as Freedom should not be highly rated.” We don't experience the liberty established by our Founding Fathers because we didn’t endure the struggle for it nor have we been adequate stewards of it. For had we, the country we live in today would be a much different place and this writing would not be warranted. But as it is, we have held the ideal of liberty with little esteem. For many of us have stood atop the mountain, proclaiming how free we are, while ignoring the statists gradually chipping away at the mountain’s foundation.



Our Founders were all too aware of the threats to liberty. They wrote extensively on those dangers. They provided us, all the necessary insight on recognition and means of resistance to those seeking to consolidate power in a centralized government determined to extinguish the flame of liberty. In particular, James Madison foretold our current state of affairs in an address to the Virginia Ratifying Convention in 1788. “Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” They entrusted future generations with the protection of liberty and we stand at this precipice today because we have either become complacent, lazy, apathetic or any combination of the three. We are here because we have failed to recognize and act upon these silent encroachments. Modern examples of these are plentiful; the incandescent light bulb, the water tanks on our toilets, CAFÉ standards on automobiles, health care to name a few.

In the realm of ideas, there are countless persons willing to raise their voice, gnash their teeth and pound an angry fist. Unfortunately however, when the time comes to cast in one’s lot, those fervent antagonists make their precipitous exit and shrink from the fight they claim to support. There will always be those that benefit from the fruit of others’ struggles. We are all such people at this time in our history. The question remaining to be answered is where will we stand when history calls upon us? Will we shrink from our obligations to our Founders? Will we stand shoulder to shoulder to make the proclamation to the world that we will not sit idly by while our freedoms are stripped from us, one excruciating layer after another?

Most of us have, at one time or another, raised our right hand and swore in the presence of man and God to “…support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic;…” To each of us, in our own way, those words are more than a ceremonial exercise. Many state and restate this portion of the oath with regularity. For some, it is the most poignant statement in the oath. For myself, the follow on clause is just as important. “…; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same;…” To me, this second clause speaks to courage, moral strength and willingness to do what is necessary to succeed in carrying out the previous. When the time comes, my lot will be cast with the Constitution of the United States and those like-minded. For this, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, I pledge my life, my fortunes and my sacred honor.

There is a stirring in America…

V.B.