Crockett’s Caution and Affirmations For Patriots

“We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of the public money.”

–Col. David Crockett

In one of the first essays I penned when I began this blog, I expressed my thoughts on government’s power to appropriate by recounting the experience of Colonel David Crockett, frontiersman, Congressman, and American hero. Because the greedy vultures in Washington are currently fighting over the few pieces of flesh that remain on the carcass of the American taxpayer, I thought it a good time to re-post that piece, and to make Davy’s story of his education in Constitutionalism available for downloading:

Not Theirs To Give

The first guy I ever talked to in Vietnam was a trooper from the 101st Airborne Division who was recuperating in the 6th Convalescent Center at Cam Ranh Bay after having been shot in the foot while sitting peacefully in his hootch at Phan Rang.  He was in the middle of his third tour, and said he planned to stay until the war was over or he was killed.

“Are you crazy?” I asked.  “I thought everybody wanted to get the hell out of here.”

He looked at me and sadly shook his head.  Then he uttered the truest thing I ever heard:  “After a while, Southeast Asia just gets into your blood.”

That’s the way I feel about America, the America of my youth—the former Land of the Free and Home of the Brave (& the Brooklyn Dodgers).  The principles and promises of that America are in my blood forever.  That country, of course, is gone now, having been sold by the pound to deep-pocketed aliens in order that our craven and venal domestic politicians could continue to spend money they didn’t have…

Colonel Davy Crockett, the hero whose likeness adorns the masthead of this website, was, while serving as the United States representative from Tennessee, admonished by one of his rustic constituents that Congress had no right to appropriate funds for reasons other than those specifically defined by the Constitution—that the money was “not theirs to give”.  Crockett, a man of integrity, agreed and was, of course, unceremoniously booted out of office by an angry electorate.  Shortly thereafter he began the fateful journey that ended at the Alamo.  There’s a moral lurking somewhere in that story, but I’m not sure I want to find it.

Crockett’s Constitutional tale may be downloaded below (.pdf file), courtesy of the Foundation for Economic Freedom:

Not Yours to Give

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Anthony Martin at Conservative Examiner offers 10 positive affirmations for patriots:

With America now involved in 3 different wars, an economy that continues to teeter on the edge of collapse, gasoline prices skyrocketing, and a Washington political class that increasingly appears hamstrung from doing what is necessary to dig the nation out of the hole, patriots are in a quandary. How do we proceed from here? How do we best address the issues that beset us?

Answers do not come easy but it is very easy to sink into despair and discouragement that saps us of our strength and resolve.

The following 10 positive affirmations are designed to help the weary patriot. They are worded in the first person so as to emphasize the personal, individual nature of these statements.

• I will renew my dedication to work tirelessly for what is right, for liberty, truth, and common sense in government.

• I believe that in the end the good will ultimately win over evil.

• “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” Philippians 4:13. (For Christian patriots).

• “But they that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings as eagles. They will run and not be weary. They will walk and not faint.” (For Jewish patriots).

• I will not be deterred by opposition no matter how fierce or how formidable.

• “Give me liberty or give me death.”

• I am endowed by my Creator will certain unalienable rights that no government and no earthly power can legitimately negate.

• I believe in the power of the one, the individual, who always takes precedence over the collective.

• I will take responsibility for my own life, my own choices, my own course, and refuse to allow my fellow citizens to take such responsibility, either through government or any other entity, except through voluntary expressions of assistance if there is a need.

• I believe in the American dream, the shining city on a hill, where all citizens have the equal opportunity to succeed, not where all citizens are forced to be ‘equal’ in the name of ‘social justice.’

It is to be hoped that these affirmations will provide the patriot with encouragement during these troublesome times.