Our ancestors died to give us the freedom to pursue happiness in our own manner. Rather than celebrating our differences, however, we are putting up flags which declare anyone an enemy who doesn’t believe precisely as we do.
But this is not what Americans, since there was an America, have been fighting and dying for!
During the American Revolution, Fort Morris was located in the now abandoned town of Sunbury, Georgia. In November, 1778, a troupe of British soldiers, led by Colonel Fuser, attempted to take the fort. Fuser sent a note to Colonel John McIntosh, leader of a small group of about 200 American soldiers, militiamen and local citizens, demanding their surrender.
McIntosh’s bold–and some would say “suicidal”–reply included the following words:
“COME AND TAKE IT!”
The British, lacking proper intelligence on the number of American soldiers waiting for them, withdrew and moved on. No doubt they were also taken aback by the entirety of a ragtag army willing to die for their country, even though they were outmanned and outgunned.
Yup, that’s America for ya.
I love that slogan so much I bought my son a t-shirt that said, “COME AND TAKE IT!” when my wife and I visited the Alamo, another site whose haunted walls tell the story of American bravado.
When the chips were down and the British came a’knockin’, we pulled together as Americans. Unconcerned about race, creed or religion, we stood as one, and defeated the beast.
Same with most every war we’ve been involved in since.
Whether you realize it or not, though, another war is looming just beyond the horizon. This time, it’s not the British or the Nazi’s who seek to divide and conquer: it’s the liberal media.
Before you roll your eyes and dismiss me as another gun-toting, conservative whack-job (well, like Meatloaf said, “Two outta three ain’t bad”), check out the articles on social media. Look at the trending articles on Facebook. How many seek to drive a wedge between us? You can find trigger words like “white, black, Christian, Muslim, hate,” and on and on.
After all people like Dr. Martin Luther King and Medgar Evers done to bring our country together, even laying down their own lives for the cause, and now we’re letting the media rip us apart.
I read about riots and hatred and violence, but I don’t see it on the streets of my hometown. Perhaps it’s different in larger cities, but in talking with others from more heavily populated areas, they are asking the same questions I am:
“Where are all the riots we see on the news? Where is all the picketing?”
I know it exists; I’m not blind. I’m just reminding you of the old media cliche, “If it bleeds, it leads.” They seek blood and hate for their front page, and we’re giving it to them. If one white man gets into a fight with a black man, that’s what you’ll see on the news.
What you won’t see are the millions and millions of hard-working, tax-paying, good-hearted Americans, just trying to live their lives in relative peace. You won’t hear about the white cop who carried a bouquet of flowers to the mother of a slain, black gangbanger. You won’t hear about the young, black girl who was accepted on a mostly-white softball team, proving we really can get along if we want to.
Yeah, the men in my family are a bit on the redneck side. We’re gun-toting, wooly and proud. But we’d also give you the shirt off our collective back, regardless of your skin color or sexual preference.
Just like Jesus.
So I say, “Peace is our country’s reward for hundreds of years of bloodshed, and if anyone wants to destroy it…
They’re gonna have to COME AND TAKE IT!”
Broken People 