by Tom Randall
Winningreen LLC
Chicago, 2020—In these days, when American history is taboo in many of our colleges and universities and misconstrued by the media, it’s easy to forget why our founders began leaving Europe 400 years ago.
The process actually began in 1517, when a Catholic monk named Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses for reformation of the Church to a parish door in Wittenberg, Germany. He created more than one of the greatest religious schisms in history. In doing so, he also sowed the seeds of the greatest restructuring of society since folks began living in caves— the political reformation.
After all, many began to think, if Luther was right that we are all equal in the eyes of God, and He alone governs us, how can the Church ordain a bunch of “Better” people– royals, kings, queens, princes and princesses, etc.—to rule them.
Such questioning spread like the plague the “Betters” considered it to be.
Soon the “Lessers” formed dozens of groups, from Calvinists to Huguenots, to share their religious and social beliefs and to campaign for the right to practice them. They literally became an epidemic surrounding the “Betters” (the Royals) as well as the Church. At first, the “Betters” tried to retrain and otherwise educate the lost souls of these miscreant groups. When these efforts proved useless, they resorted to more conventional persuasions such as floggings, stockades and executions — including some persuasive burnings at the stake.
None of these had the effect of bringing the “Lessers” into line with the “Betters’” views.
The social/political conflict raged on.
Then, Mirabili Dictu (Latin phrases seem the rage, today), in the early part of the 1600s the British “Lessers” and “Betters” reached a tacit agreement. The “Lessers” would pay everything they had to self-deport themselves aboard rickety, ill-equipped sailing ships to a mystery land loosely identified as America. The “Betters”, in turn, granted them the right to establish and live in colonies there. Each side believed themselves to be rid of the other.
They were wrong.
In less than a century of often enduring unimaginable hardships and suffering, the 13 British Colonies emerged as self-governing, innovative, economic powerhouses that were the envy of the western world. In recognition of this success, the British set about usurping it.
New strict governors strove to end the colonies’ self -government as a barrage of fresh taxes and regulations was aimed at confiscating their economic success—all at the direction of a far-off British crown and parliament.
Having become accustomed to faith-based self-rule and freedom over more than 150 years the colonists rebelled and in 1776 they codified their right to separate from the crown and England with their Declaration of Independence. That one-of-a-kind document boldly declared:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are created by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.—That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers form the consent of the governed,…”
These aren’t just words, yet they were not totally accomplished facts. They were noble goals we all, as a nation, have a duty to strive for. Many of us live that duty every day.
Many have abandoned it.
They are those who, with sham modesty, believe themselves to be today’s “Betters”.
They have convinced themselves we others are all “Lessers”.
They wear the label of liberals.
They swear all “Lessers” are unfit to govern.
But consider the parts of this country that are almost exclusively governed by the “Betters”, America’s big cities.
The schools, like the neighborhoods, are de facto segregated and have the lowest student performance in the nation — but the highest teacher pay. Millions of the citizens are just plain poor. There are no plans to alleviate these situations.
Weekend shootings in minority neighborhoods rival national mass-killing incidents but they go unreported even though they happen every week.
Infrastructure crumbles because, in spite of high taxes, the cities are broke.
Now, these wanton and wanting liberal “Betters” of today insist that they are the only ones fit to run the entire country.
Here we go again. Except we “Lessers” of today have no other continent to which we can deport ourselves. We must stand and fight. Now, every ballot, in every election, for every office, great and small must not just be contended. They must be won. We must stop today’s “Betters” at every turn with every tool we have. We must, once again, relegate them to the “dustbin of history”.