How I Became an American

I never realized how easy it was to lose free speech until the totalitarians came to police it

I grew up without a care in the world as to whether or not this was a free country. I watched the hippies bomb the Capitol. I saw them burn flags. I watched films that explored dark and provocative territory. It never occurred to me that one day, the party I called home would decide that free speech was too much of a threat, and they had the right to tell us what we could and couldn’t say.

Before Elon Musk bought Twitter, we were edging ever so close to the government censoring thought and speech via social media. A brave group of rebels fought back and confronted the government. There is a thriving independent press where free thought is still welcome.

The American Revolution is considered one of our history's Fourth Turnings. The Right sees this moment we’re living through now as a revolution of sorts. The Left sees it as a Civil War. They’ve cast themselves as the Union Army and MAGA as the Confederacy. They could not justify everything they’ve done to them otherwise.

I didn’t know I was an American until I felt the fundamental rights the revolutionaries fought for slipping away. The government in power now has abused its power, making the words in the Declaration of Independence ring true even today.

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

And:

A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Lucky for us, we don’t have to fight a bloody revolution. We can vote out the tyrants.

They keep hoping MAGA will emerge as the violent ones so they can throw the lot in jail. That’s one of the biggest lies they’ve imposed upon us in the last four years.

My friends on the Left believe that “both sides” are equal in their mass delusion. But it isn’t true. I might have believed that once, but now, I’ve spent enough time in both worlds to know what is true and what isn’t. I wish my friends could do the same.

Only one side has jailed political protesters and called them terrorists and “insurrectionists.” Only one side has weaponized the government and the criminal courts to destroy their political rival. Only one side has attempted to take control of social media to censor thought and speech.

Even still, I wish we weren’t living in such definitive “us vs. them” times. Every day I wake up forgetting that the hatred that spews forth from the Left exists. And every day I’m reminded that they are still awash in hysteria and fear. There was no other way for me but to escape.

It’s not an easy place to be, on the outside. Everyone I work with and work for, my friends and family, are on the inside. Just a handful of them will even talk to me anymore. What made me realize I was an American through and through is that I discovered I cared about the truth more than anything else. I live in a country where it should be okay to say it out loud.

The people in power do not believe that. They believe you are the words and thoughts you choose to say out loud. Something Trump said is still the worst thing that has ever happened to them.

A Revolutionary

I’m proud to say I am related to a soldier who fought in the Revolutionary War.

Only young minds who have not grown cynical yet, whose dreams haven’t completely died, could envision a crazy experiment like ours.

The founders based the First Amendment partly on the case of Thomas Maule, a cantankerous Quaker the Puritans kept throwing in jail. He had the wisdom and courage to write the book Truth Held Forth and Maintained. He laid out what the Church had done in killing and torturing so many citizens at the hands of a mass hysteria outbreak one cold winter in 1692.

They threw him in jail and banned his book. Being a cantankerous Quaker, he refused to stand down. One year later, he got a lawyer and was vindicated. His trial is said to have laid the groundwork for Freedom of the Press, Freedom of Religion, and Freedom of Speech.

Imagine spending a year in jail to fight for the right to speak the truth.

We’ll probably see our government become even more tyrannical as they head for the November election. I don’t think they’re going to allow Trump to win. I think Biden - our mad king - will insist he be jailed. If he doesn’t do it, Kamala Harris certainly will.

Happy Fourth to all my wonderful new friends here on Substack.

I wish you all the best on this day of days, the Fourth of July. Thank you for reading, commenting, and caring. Thanks for making my day every day.

Here are some videos of interest.