Chris's Corner

"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 it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."
-Thomas Paine: The Crisis




The year of 1776 was trying of men's souls indeed. Americans had suffered years of abuse at the hands of the British Crown; which, would culminate with America declaring its independence on July 4, 1776. In November of that same year, Thomas Paine was traveling with the Continental Army as it headed into Trenton, New Jersey after several humiliating defeats to the British. The Continentals were hardly what we recognize as an army. They lacked adequate arms, training, clothing, supplies, pay, and about anything else you could imagine. Full of despair but, inspired by the undaunted perseverance of his fellow Americans, Paine penned his famous paper, The Crisis.

Today--we as a nation--again face a crisis. Sure, we are in a recession, people are losing their jobs, and there is a lot of uncertainty out there. I do not mean to underscore any of these things; but, there is another crisis unfolding in front of our very eyes. One with repercussions that not only reach us but, our children and our children's children. This crisis is an ever expanding Federal Government with an insatiable appetite for our money.

We now have a President and a Democrat controlled Congress that is as far Left as anything ever witnessed in this country. They continually speak down of our country, incite anger among the classes, and have no reverence of our founding documents--The Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. The President and many in Congress are pro-abortion, anti-religion, anti-capitalist, and they spend billions of our tax dollars under the guise of 'stimulus'. In reality, the majority of this spending has nothing to do with stimulus but, is a laundry list of pet projects of the Democrat Party.

WE DO NOT HAVE THIS MONEY! Government can not borrow or print its way out of debt. Government can not continue to bailout failing companies. Government can not continue to seize private property from the productive side of the economy and 'redistribute' it to the people who refuse to do for themselves. Daniel Hannan, Member of British Parliament, summed it up best addressing the British Prime Minister early last week.




Our freedoms are quickly being eroded, our Nations founding principles cast aside, all in the name of a Socialistic Utopia. This experiment in socialism does nothing to encourage people to better themselves but, only spreads poverty and misery across the board. Worse, our politicians ignore history--and count on our ignorance--when they fail to mention that socialism has failed throughout Europe everywhere it has been tried.

So now the time has come to decide if you are a "summer soldier" or a "sunshine patriot"? In the sports world this would be called a "fair weather fan". Will we wave our flags only on certain federal holidays or will we stand together, proud of our Nation and its founding principles, even in the toughest of times? In the last line of the Declaration of Independence our forefathers wrote, "...with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor".

I do not ask you to sacrifice so much but, I am asking you to make an appropriate sacrifice according to your means. Maybe your time--writing a letter to the editor, maybe a financial donation to a local politician in line with your views, the possibilities are endless. As for Sarah and I, we will be participating in the National Tax Day Tea Party on April 15th. Anyone wishing more information can contact us or go to www.taxdayteaparty.com.

God Bless America!