Donald Trump and Elon Musk, two men who have the world at their feet are risking everything for America. They don't have to, but they do. Not so different than some others about 250 years ago.
Rush Limbaugh used to talk about a story his father told about the signers of the Declaration of Independence: “Of those 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence, nine died of wounds or hardships during the war. Five were captured and imprisoned, in each case with brutal treatment. Several lost wives, sons or entire families. One lost his 13 children. Two wives were brutally treated. All were at one time or another the victims of manhunts and driven from their homes. Twelve signers had their homes completely burned. Seventeen lost everything they owned. Yet not one defected or went back on his pledged word. Their honor, and the nation they sacrificed so much to create is still intact.”
The story had something of a resurrection in the early 2000s
and was often shared in various iterations on social media. Not surprisingly, a
minor industry emerged seeking to “fact check” them. An example of such is this from Snopes, which first began
fact checking them back in 2005:
“Five signers were captured by the British as traitors
and tortured before they died.
It is true that five signers of the Declaration of
Independence were captured by the British during the course of the
Revolutionary War. However, none of them died while a prisoner, and four of
them were taken into custody not because they were considered
"traitors" due to their status as signatories to that document, but
because they were captured as prisoners of war while actively engaged in
military operations against the British.”
Snopes concludes that the piece they reviewed (not the
Limbaugh piece) was “Mixed” in its accuracy. They’re right. Accuracy matters.
Particularly in matters of importance. They then add something that
backhandedly drives home the basic premise: “So great is our need for
simplified, dramatic events and heroes that even the real-life biographies of
the fifty-six men who risked their lives to publicly declare American
independence are no longer compelling enough.” This is the theme that most
of the gotcha fact checkers miss and indeed, largely ignored by those who seek
to debunk the audacity of what those 56 did… They were committing treason. They knew they were committing treason. They knew the penalty for committing treason
was hanging. And, yet, they did so,
risking everything they had.
What’s more, they weren’t committing treason against just
some random monarch with a few colonies to protect. No, they were committing treason against the
most powerful nation on the planet whose navy dominated the seas and whose
reach stretched across continents and oceans.
Whether they ended up dying of old age as Thomas Jefferson
and John Adams did – on the same day, exactly 50 years from the date of the
Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1826 – or died during the war
itself, as nine of the signatories did, all 56 of them knew they were risking
their fortunes, families and their lives if they signed that document. And they
did it nonetheless.
Today there are millions of Americans ready to sign a new
Declaration of Independence from the tyranny America has become. Tyranny you
say?
The American government in 2024 is far more tyrannical than
the British government under King George III ever was. And it’s not even close. With over 88,000
laws and rules passed by the federal government just between 1995 & 2016,
today it’s almost impossible for the average American to get through a single
day, nevermind a single year or life without breaking a law. In his book Three
Felonies A Day civil liberties lawyer Harvey Silverglate suggests that
American commit three federal felonies every day without even knowing it. And that doesn’t include the countless state
and local laws or authoritarian
fictions tyrants create.
From a different perspective, consider this: In 1880 there were 30,000
prisoners jailed in the United States, out of a population of 50 million,
for an incarceration rate of .06%. Today there are 1.6 million prisoners of a
population of 350 million, for an incarceration rate of .45%, and if one counts
the additional 3.4 million others in the system – i.e. probation and parole,
which were essentially nonexistent in 1880, you get a justice
system control rate of 1.45%. Are
Americans somehow 25 times more criminalized today than they were 140 years ago
or are there simply more crimes for which they can be convicted?
As any conscious person knows, it’s the latter.
Trump, unlike most politicians (presidents
and members
of congress alike) has actually lost money since becoming
president, to the tune
of $1.6 billion! From the moment he
announced he was running for president and continuing until this very day, the
swamp has used propaganda, lies and lawfare to hamper him winning the White
House, stonewall him while he was serving in it and today trying to keep him
from winning again. Beyond that treachery, he was shot in a bungled
assassination attempt and had at least one more thwarted.
Musk, while still the world’s richest man, has seen
governments around the world target
his businesses and threaten to put him in jail for his purchase of Twitter
and his defense of free speech. Indeed, just last week California blocked one
of his companies, SpaceX, from more launches from the state specifically
because of his tweets.
And why is that happening?
Because like the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence, Trump
and Musk recognize that the American government has become a tyranny. They recognize the government has become
bloated, inefficient and stultifying to American freedom and prosperity while at
the same time its fellow travelers in the media, finance, pharma, academia,
etc. – have become wealthy and above the law.
The duo not only recognize that tyranny, they’re telling
American citizens they’re going to destroy it. Trump promises to eliminate the Department
of Education while Musk wants to help slash
government by 80%! For the cabal of
government apparatchiks and the sundry hyenas who feed alongside them on the
body politic of America, this is a declaration of war. It threatens their very existence. And it
must be stopped, whatever it takes.
Which is exactly what makes what Trump and Musk are doing so
brave. Neither man needs to become embroiled in politics to live a life of
luxury or provide one to their progeny. Indeed, both have knowingly and
willingly put their fortunes and their lives in the crosshairs of the most
powerful tyranny in all of human history.
That is the kind of courage that animated the creation of the greatest
republic in human history. That’s the
kind of courage that inspired men from 13 separate colonies to put their differences
aside and to fight for freedom. Ideally the courage of these two modern day
patriots will inspire citizens across America’s 50 states to utilize the ballot
box to save the nation those 56 founders bequeathed to us. One Declaration of
Independence should be enough. Hopefully
we won’t need another.
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