We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence.
It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men.
Of the latter we are in most danger at present: Let us therefore be aware of it. Let us contemplate our forefathers and posterity; and resolve to maintain the rights bequeathd to us from the former, for the sake of the latter.
Instead of sitting down satisfied with the efforts we have already made, which is the wish of our enemies, the necessity of the times, more than ever, calls for our utmost circumspection, deliberation, fortitude, and perseverance.
Let us remember that if we suffer tamely a lawless attack upon our liberty, we encourage it, and involve others in our doom. It is a very serious consideration, which should deeply impress our minds, that millions yet unborn may be the miserable sharers of the event.
Samuel Adams
[Samuel Adams, Essay, written under the pseudonym Candidus, in The Boston Gazette (14 October 1771), later published in The Life and Public Services of Samuel Adams
"Our government no longer does the will of the people: It does as it sees fit. THAT's the problem."
(self)But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update 6/14/2024, post DJT conviction under the latest round of DS assaults to keep us divided and heading into the very contentious months prior to the 2024 November election, triggered by the post, Wethersfield officials receive death threats after thin blue line flag decision:
Some of the comments at the OP thread are troubling. They strongly suggest that DS tactics to divide the right have overwhelmingly succeeded, so much so that FReeper Conservatives now stand on BOTH sides of the line, sadly representative of some emotional/biased positions suggestive of either undue DS influence or, regrettably, abject ignorance. My comment below is in open forum and now part of my public profile:
Comment below, opening with a quote of another FReeper's comment (in part):
That’s it. We now have a thin blue line flag, a thin green line flag, a thin red line flag, etc. While all of these flags have good intentions, they are bad for the country. Democrats are trying to divide the country. Such flags also divide us.
By that standard, this one should go, too:
It is one thing to unite as a body under one flag, and another to demonstrate individuality - and/or reverence - to groups within said body. There are unit flags, as well as state flags, and all manner of individual group flags throughout history...some honored and accepted by the majority, some fringe and others abhorrent. If some should go, then all should go, but that is not the banner under which I was born.
No, we accept all 3 under our First Amendment.
To be clear, I abhor the abomination another FReeper posted in this thread, but my only objection to it is being flown as though such subculture beliefs are a community standard by elements who would force such subculture beliefs upon the masses, including children. In contrast, the POW/MIA and Thin Blue Line flags demonstrate reverence - NOT some deviant 'supremacy' or absolute authority - respectively, to those who made significant/ultimate sacrifices in defense of our country from without and those who both serve & died upholding our laws which serve to preserve our country from within...i.e., protecting such rights (as the vast majority do).
Otherwise - as the federal government would prefer - state's rights be damned, as well as the U.S. Constitution (i.e., 1A).
There are bad apples everywhere - particularly their leadership and administrative management - but generally I respect LEO, as well as their symbol to honor both those who serve in defense of our society within, have served and those who died in the line of duty. It has little to do with my boy becoming LEO and my own pursuits, other than strengthening my convictions. I know the history and fully understand the nature of the controversy, and respect the reverence intended with this flag:
Division, indeed: 'They' manufacture such controversies as fodder for the weak-minded.
I could go on, including citing the hypocrisy of both the left and the elements who stoke divisions, but we need to be stronger, collectively, or we will NEVER defeat them, and that starts by not falling victim to DS tactics to keep us divided.
