On Reflection: These Are The Times That Try Men’s (and Women’s) Souls

~~By American Lassie

On December 10, 2008, Grail Guardian posted an article  entitled How Long Has This Been Going On? (”What They Want is the World”…The Roots of Our Current Coup d’Etat) .  The post opened with this quote:

“What is past is prologue.”

Her last statement in the article stuck in my mind and I couldn’t get past it. She said,  “The good news is America has been at it for 122 years, and some of us have no intention of letting go of our belief in our Constitution.”

A link in a comment by “Music Producer” on December 12, 2008, at 5:15 pm, following InsightAnalytical’s re-post of An Open Letter to Caroline Kennedy–July 13, 2008 (Reposted and Updated 12/11/08) pushed Grail’s statement to the front of my mind and I had to go back and read her post again. I’m sorry to say I missed the real gist of the post the first time because the reference to Oliver Stone turned me off.  My mistake – and I’m ashamed to say that took my attention away from the true message of the article, which was fabulous – and a little scary. But I’m finding many things scary these days.

> Vodpod videos no longer available.

Grail’s post and this video from “Music Producer” plus the disturbing comment on www.DemocraticDisaster.com from an asinine elector from North Carolina named Wayne Abraham  really ticked me off. (Abraham said that since the SCOTUS hasn’t defined “natural born citizen” he would use his own definition for the term. This elector is a hand-picked elector chosen by the Obama camp.) His reply is too long for me to repeat.  The comment that I saw when the site was operating is a sad example of  who made the choice for us on December 15, 2008. (Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, something strange has happened to www.DemocraticDisaster.com.)

A story from 11/26 in the Christian Science Monitor also quotes Abraham:

Wayne Abraham, a Democratic elector in Greensboro, N.C., says he’s received three letters – two signed, one not – and one phone call about Obama’s citizenship.

“I was surprised, but I’m not worried about it,” he says, dryly. “As I said to the lady on the phone, I figured that the Bush administration had ample opportunity to investigate Senator Obama, and if they had discovered he was not truly a citizen they … would have let us know.”

Wayne Abraham (L) Voting 12/15

The idiotic comments by this elector made me think of Thomas Paine and his passage which includes “These are the times that try men’s souls” quotation.  Of course Paine wasn’t referring to electors, but to those men and women of the colonies who were not convinced that the fight for freedom could be won.

Thomas Paine (January 29, 1737 – June 8, 1809) was an English pamphleteer, a participant in the American Revolution and a great patriot.

Paine wrote the following on December 23, 1776. The timing is important. It was written just before Washington’s Christmas attack on the British.

“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered, yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap (sic) we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods, and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as Freedom should not be highly rated.”

He goes on to say:

“Tis surprizing to see how rapidly a panic will sometimes run through a country. All nations and ages have been subject to them. Britain has trembled like an ague at the report of a French fleet of flat bottomed boats; and in the fourteenth (sic) (it was actually the fifteenth) century the whole English army, after ravaging the kingdom of France, was driven back like men petrified with fear; and this brave exploit was performed by a few broken forces collected and headed by a woman, Joan of Arc. Would that Heaven might inspire some Jersey maid to spirit up her countrymen, and save her fair fellow sufferers from ravage and ravishment.

(This  written while he was serving with the army on a narrow neck of land between the North River and the Hackensack, thus the reference to the “Jersey maid.”)

We could say this was prophetic in a way. We could have had a Joan of Arc, but we just didn’t have enough patriots to overcome the king’s forces. That doesn’t mean we have to give up, we can keep fighting for our Constitution as long as we remember what it really means and refuse to let those who want to undermine it win the  battle.

Our poor Joan of Arc has taken a different path now, but she should be wary. She is dealing with a devious crowd, and you know what happened to France’s Joan.

I have no illusions that the electors or the SCOTUS will have the guts of our forefathers to do the right thing about honoring our Constitution. I only pray that there are enough people left believing as Grail Guardian does (and many others, myself included) to keep the fight going even in light of the decisions made on December 15, 2008.

God Bless and keep our Constitution safe from those who would trash it, dishonor it, and condemn it to the dust bin of history. What our forefathers fought so hard for should not be allowed to be lost because a group of scoundrels wants to re-make America to suit themselves.

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Click here for a report on North Carolina’s Wayne Abraham and the electors’ vote.