Memorial Day, a Motor Boat and Oops, it was just a Joke!

     For the past several years I’ve heard people state the opinion that our country is not great or unique. This is a fact: our country is the greatest for a multitude of reasons.

     We took the best ideologies of Greco-Roman scholars and teachers. We also took the teachings of Christ that everyone is equal and we need to forgive, and allow people freedom and new starts. Biblically that new start is called repentance. In the American tradition, it is the chance to begin a new life.

     For us to have freedom, we must have a government that is accountable. Our founders established NOT a king, but a president, with two extra branches of leadership: a congress of individuals that we choose to represent citizens and a supreme court to judge weighty issues facing "we the people". That way, one division of leadership would not become greater than the other.

     Sadly, in the two centuries that we’ve been a nation, career politicians, special interest groups and lawyers have taken over Washington and managed to corrupt the process. Also, despite dedicated teachers in each and every state, “education” failed a majority of students. Textbooks were written to state dry facts in the most boring way. I credit one teacher in particular for kindling within me the will to learn, not just parrot a few statements back. He taught for the Taylor School District and his name was Mr. Harrison Caswell. He made Michigan History come alive for me.

     Once I got out of the public school system and did my own independent studying, I learned more about United States and world history, actual HISTORY, going back more than just the last fifty years. I learned about Plato, Socrates, Thomas Payne, the Revolutionary War, Egypt, Rome, Greece and more. I wanted to know about my ancestors and what they faced on the other side of the world. I wondered what they thought when they journeyed from Europe. I discovered that some politicians (in Washington) displaced entire groups of people to the Indian Territories no matter what race they were, although most were a Cherokee mix. Many politicians and their supporters saw the beauty of the land and wanted the resources for themselves. Why? Because they felt they had the right, that they were above "we the people".  I learned that many Americans were against this displacement, but a corrupt President, one-time war hero Andrew Jackson, was the head of this forced move to what was then called the Indian Territory. I wanted to know more about how some settlers traded alongside the Native Americans yet others claimed the land for themselves as soon as their Cherokee neighbors were made to leave at gunpoint. I wanted to know why Native Americans were allowed by fellow Americans to be displaced from their homes.  I later thought about my ancestor Pherribba Talley and the separation from her sister Nancy who was forcibly moved west to present day Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears. I wanted to know the stories of WHY our many ancestors came here in the first place; beyond the Pilgrims’ reasons. Then I wanted to know more about the people who were called Pilgrims and why they moved from England, to the Netherlands and ultimately a new and intimidating land.  (Let me tell you, it was quite an adventure!) I wanted to know why slaves were taken from Africa, traded for goods, chained in cramped conditions on ships, sold at markets then held as prisoners and forced to work for a master. I found out that some Cherokees had slaves, some Native Americans enslaved people from other villages, and then I learned that even the Irish were traded around the world as slaves until the era of Saint Patrick when he implored English ship captains to put a stop to trading and selling his new Christian converts! I learned about political prisoners traded by the English and used as slaves here until our Revolutionary War. I learned that one of my ancestors was a widow and that after her husband was killed during the Civil War, her man-servant stayed on for a time. I learned about some settlements where the color of skin didn't matter; just a strong back and a will to make a living on the land.

     Each and every time, Americans held up the ideals of our Constitution and Bill of Rights to lawfully support the causes of people who were downtrodden and oppressed in our country. Any abuses were at some point put to a stop.

     We do not have a caste system that entire people are born into that they will never leave as do countries like India. Each of us has the opportunity to crawl out of poverty. We abolished slavery more than a century ago and despite that victory, politicians tried to enact Jim Crow laws to suppress voting. Elections were eventually opened to all people, even women who fought with all their might to be allowed the right to vote in all states. In some countries, women are still second-class citizens in each and every facet of that phrase. They are still chattel that are not allowed to make a decision apart from the man that is the patriarch of their family: a father, older brother, younger brother, husband.  Additionally, we do not have a state religion as do some nations. You can worship, or not. We do not shoot people in the street or throw them off rooftops for being gay. The basic laws of the United States, when followed, are now boiled down to the popular phrase, “You do you, I’ll do me.” I learned the words, “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness,” which was allowed as long as it did not infringe upon the rights of others. For example, I can build a shed in my backyard, even if you hate that I painted it yellow – and it is decorated with big metal daisies all over its roof. Now if that shed is harboring rabid rats that invade your yard. . . well, I hope you are getting the idea.

     Since the early 20^th Century we’ve been putting celebrities and politicians in the place of true heroes. More recently I’ve noticed people worshiping not only individual politicians but their entire parties. They fall in line and goosestep to one extreme or another. Citizens have been abdicating their common sense and individualism, thinking the direction a celebrity or party urges voters to go must be the right way. Then they accuse the other side of having a narrow minded ideology as well, that if they voted for Suzy MacSmythe, they must also be for eliminating pennies from the banking system and eating possums on Fridays for lent - irregardless if they themselves would never eat opossums on any day of the week any time of the year.

     Although they’ve earned their positions in life by hard work, entrepreneurship, skills, inventions or otherwise, the rich and privileged do not have the right to pressure any business or company to put them above and beyond the common individual. Then they are no better than bullies or organized crime. If allowed to set themselves above "we the people" then we become, “those the oppressed”.

     We cannot look aside when politicians put themselves above those citizens that work hard for a living. When they do, it is called "Tyranny". Beware of anyone who supports actual tyranny. Open a few history books (not textbooks) that were printed before 1980. You can find them online. Most web pages have a bias one way or the other.

     You might ask why I’m blogging about freedom, history and tyranny. Aside from it being Memorial Day when we think about the servicemen and women who gave all and never returned alive to the country that they served and loved, it has also become a time for family. It’s more of a long weekend holiday – leading into the impetus for my post.

     Last week, in my home state of Michigan, after this long Covid lock-down, boaters were allowed to take their watercraft out again. A man called the marina and requested that his motor boat be prepared for use. An employee told the caller that due to recently being allowed to open, he’d get to the boat, but most likely not in time for Memorial Day as requested. The man on the other end of the line urged the marina employee to get the owner or manager, despite the fact that the small business owner was busy with other people ahead of him. The caller then asked if the fact that his wife is Governor Gretchen Whitmer would that get him moved up the line, ahead of everyone else, effectively like taking cuts in Kindergarten for the best cupcake at the kiddie-party – because mommy is the principal. At first, spokespeople for the governor denied that this had happened at all until employees proved that this was indeed the case and that it was Whitmer’s husband, not a prank caller. Ms. Gretchen Whitmer then held a press conference saying that her husband was the caller and he was merely joking around. He was just going to the family cottage to clean up a little, rake some leaves, on Memorial Day of all weekends. He did not take any family members, she said. So why then, did he need his boat? Why would he ask to be moved up the line ahead of other customers?

     The fact that our governor's husband would play the "My wife is the governor of Michigan" hand at all, let alone during this time that small businesses are concerned that they may lose their income completely and without mercy or recourse, concerns me and it should concern all of us. If that doesn't, if you still think this was a big joke, if this does not frighten you that your freedom might be in jeopardy one piece at a time, then the fact that our country might lose its position in the world is not the fault of Revolutionary Patriots nor our founding fathers. It is from people that do not hold these values in high enough esteem to actually get off their complaining backsides and vote. It is the fault of bullying mobs hiding behind podiums and their computers trying to overthrow one branch of the government, the presidency, instead of supporting viable candidates to try again at the next election. (Now before you get your little panties in a bunch, I did not vote for Donald Trump. I support the system as it was established.) That being said, if our country loses its place as the best nation in the world, it is not the fault of politicians. It is our fault for not being more involved beyond being keyboard warriors, by voting, running for office, learning history, teaching our children, listening to real sources of news. We are still the greatest nation in the world. Do not let this so-called "joke" be accepted, condoned and brushed aside. Freedom is not a joke.

     Tyranny is also, not a joke.

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