Independence does require Boldness

Written for the High Plains Journal Independence Day 2024 visit

As Independence Day 2024 is upon us, I am doing some reflecting on what has turned out to be a major year for my travels. The year was 2012 and it seemed to be centered around a certain trip to Dublin, Ireland. First, it was the first real encounter with Andrew Henderson from the United Kingdom who I now do Across the Pond TV program live every morning from 6:30-7:00 am central. In addition, we toured the countryside in Ireland including the amazing castles that have become a major tourist attraction in the past 100 years. But I must say that as I was walking this castle all I could think about was how that could not have been a great time to be alive if you had to fortify your living conditions to the extreme measure.

If you look throughout some documented history of this 12th century in the whole of Europe, you find examples of the reasons for building castles to be something like this:

In medieval Ireland, castles were essential for maintaining control and authority over the land. They provided protection and a strategic advantage in times of conflict. The feudal lords who ruled these castles would often levy taxes on the surrounding lands, further enhancing their power and wealth.

And then of course you have the tourist attraction in communist China that brings people from around the global to walk The Great Wall of China. The History Channel reports it this way:

Between the 18th and 20th centuries, the Great Wall emerged as the most common emblem of China for the Western world, and a symbol both physical—as a manifestation of Chinese strength—and a psychological representation of the barrier maintained by the Chinese state to repel foreign influences and exert control over its citizens.

In the early days of the United States as we were “settling the West,” we know that forts were built to protect the Cavalry as they were invading and conquering land from the American Indians. During that time the Indians were constantly battling other tribes before the early explorers and the Army arrived but it always had the same in result: conquer the people and take the land.

In Russia in late 1800 through 1917, the Bolscheviks who wore the title of peasants better than anyone before us, initially voted for the comfort of working for the government but soon decided that was a mistake and they must stand against the government in the quest for their land.

The rural revolutions exposed the national and regional authorities’ powerlessness. Neither the Provisional Government nor the Petrograd Soviet addressed peasant concerns and demands. They asked the rural population to wait patiently for the Constituent Assembly to enact land redistribution.

Peasants largely ignored these appeals, and the central government couldn’t prevent their actions. Regional authorities started in 1917 with the belief that rural revolutions emerged from misunderstandings and assumed that conciliation and education would halt disturbances. By that summer, the self-conscious assertiveness of rural communities who sought to make their own revolutions without recourse to central plans had eroded these beliefs.

I have shared examples of where the everyday working people get fed up with the elites in charge and fortify their lives to protect themselves from pissed off peasants. As we once again gather with family and friends to celebrate independence in 2024, I ask everyone to question how we currently stand on the quest for “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness?”

I contend, as I look around this very nation, that our federal and state governments have fortified their surroundings unlike any time in U.S. history. They have tied up land and attempted to limit the number of folks who can lay claim to it. They are far less approachable than at any time in my life because they don’t really what to hear what we peasants have to say.

The Veterans of this nation risked their lives for the Constitution of the United States not the individuals who presume to be elected. Throughout the course of human history, Liberty is only achieved when we the people have had enough and we storm the Castle.

“Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.” 2 Corinthians 3:12