Listen, my children, and you shall hear

Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five:
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

On the night of April 18, 1775, General Thomas Gage, the British Royal Governor of Massachusetts, after being commanded by King George III, the Sovereign of Great Britain, moved to suppress the rebellious American Colonists. He ordered 700 British soldiers, under Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith and Marine Major John Pitcairn, to seize the colonists' military stores in Concord, 20 miles west of Boston. April 19th 1775, The American Revolution began at Lexington Common with the infamous shot "heard round the world" when British and American soldiers exchanged fire in the Massachusetts towns of Lexington and Concord.

The colonists had set up a system of signals and word-of-mouth communication that proved effective in warning the American volunteer militia men of the approach of the British troops. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "Paul Revere's Ride" tells how a lantern was displayed in the steeple of Christ Church on the night of April 18, 1775, as a signal to Paul Revere and others.

One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex, village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm.

At Lexington Green, the British were met by approximately seventy American Minute Men led by John Parker. At the North Bridge in Concord, the British were confronted again, this time by 300 to 400 armed colonists, and were forced to march back to Boston with the Americans firing on them all the way. By the end of the day, the colonists were singing "Yankee Doodle" and the American Revolution had begun.

All of these years later, we conservative Americans feel a kindred spirit with those that fought, pledging their lives and fortunes for what would become the greatest nation on God’s green earth, The United States of America.

It seems also that the stakes are just as high for America now as they were then. The freedoms that our Founding fathers fought and died for have been slowly eroded to the point where our freedom truly hangs in the balance. For the past 100 years, those that would wish to change our great republic into something reflecting the nation states of Europe have marched steadily toward that goal. That goal would be, “The fundamental transformation of The United States of America,” if we were to borrow a phrase from someone.

The onslaught of their continuous siege of our constitutional rights would shock our republic’s founders. The infringement on our freedoms, the escalating amount of taxes, the interfering into other nations business and the redistribution of the citizen’s wealth to others that haven’t worked for it would cause them to wash their hands of us all. How did we let it get this way? What can we do to stop it from getting worse? Those questions need answering and they need to be answered now, before it’s too late.

Just as those brave men did so long ago, we stand at a crossroads, a bridge so to speak. Conservative, Constitution believing Americans on one side and progressives of all sorts on the other. The past 2 years have codified for us what has to be done. The Tea Party people have awoken and will not slumber again. The lines have been drawn and the sides chosen.

There is an irreconcilable gulf between those on the progressive side and those on the Constitutional conservative side. Spend any time at all listening to liberal television, radio or web sites and you will see and hear for yourselves that they are committed to their endeavor. Are we? Are you?

Our nation is still a republic. As a republic, we are still the Captains of our own fates. The tide has been against us for some time now, but hopefully it’s not too late to save our republic. If we do save it, what will it look like? The last 2 years have changed us as a people. Whether we change the course that the progressives have brought us to or whether our nation’s freedoms and the Constitution die a slow death is yet to be seen.

We need to ask ourselves some serious questions. Will we be slaves? Will we be Masters? With our republic so equally divided between the Right and the Left, where do we go where both will be happy? The stakes are higher than most citizens think. Those that consider themselves undecided on the issues of the day are deluding themselves. Those that are undecided have still made a choice. They have chosen to let others carry the load. They are unworthy of the freedoms given to them by God and instilled in the Constitution,

One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex, village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm.

Vote. Spread the word. Make up your minds and stand. Carry on Patriots!

Photo Credit: Photograph of "The Minute Man," a statue by Daniel Chester French erected in 1875 in Concord, Massachusetts Public Dom.