Well dangit, Anna... we're just going to have to blogroll you.I don't know, Mr.A... sounds kinky.
Oh, and regarding your link:
Posted on 04/21/2006 8:11:31 AM PDT by AnnaZ
Of Mice and Minutemen
April 21st, 2006
Minutemen -- ready for battle in a minute's notice; enthusiastic, reliable, strong. Not too many nations can boast of such a term, such a legend, or such a reality. There are a few, but none so much as America, where the citizen-soldier is the embodiment of Independence and resolve.
There is a remarkable difference between a subject and a citizen, between one dependent upon one's government and one dependent upon no one.
Two recent examples:
On September 11th, 2001, thousands were killed while millions helplessly watched. But beyond the spectators, and among some survivors and some victims, were seen glorious acts of self-sacrifice and, thereby, the greatest act of love -- laying down one's life for a friend, in a moment when even a perfect stranger becomes that dear and worthy friend.
Many of these acts were seen only by God, who saw them all, but some were witnessed, and some have become the stuff of legends. Legends are good when they can be used to refresh and reinspire those who were far away from the original moment. Or who have forgotten. Legends can unify and point the visions of many into one focused direction.
One week from today, Americans will get an opportunity to, for a couple of hours, immerse themselves in the retelling of such a legend. On April 28th, in (thus far) 1700 theaters around the country, Paul Greengrass via Universal Pictures will present United 93, an (according to The Hollywood Reporter) "emphatic political document, a movie about defiance against tyranny and terrorism." A story from that horrific September day of collective and individual civilian, no-chance-to-survive-make-your-time defiance.
Everyday, men and women and, really, boys and girls, volunteer themselves to take up that mantle, to willingly don the uniform of that defiance, even at the risk of never seeing the fruit of that labor. As President George W. Bush has said, "We exercise power without conquest, and we sacrifice for the liberty of strangers."
But Minutemen do not only summon up that courage when the danger is foreign, sometimes the danger is more subtle, not flaring up in an instant but rather in a slow smoking that will burn brightly eventually nonetheless.
What is perhaps the cheekiest component of the Minuteman persona is the defiance towards the domestic danger, even if only cloaked in the banal banner of bureaucracy, and thus we arrive at the second example: Chris Simcox and his band of undocumented border patrollers, who have made a gesture of such true American spirit, one can really only stand up and cheer, or, at the very least, chuckle.
From yesterday's Associated Press: "Minuteman border watch leader Chris Simcox has a message for President Bush: Build new security fencing along the border with Mexico or private citizens will."
Regardless of how one feels about a fence, it's hard not to love the bravura. This is really the defining of the American attitude -- if something has to be done, and the government is blathering and dithering and doing meanwhile nothing, this does not in any way mean that it will not get done.
If more folks around the world took upon themselves this courage and determination, we'd have a lot less sacrificing to do on their behalf.
If illegal immigrants, instead of marching through the streets of America with demands, marched through their native streets with such passion, we might not need a fence.
If subjects of tyranny collectively realized that death was preferable to tacitly accepting barbarity, we'd need less uniforms.
And if the folks in charge find it easier to succumb to the mob than honor the law-abiding, they needn't be surprised when the law is taken back into the People's hands, from where it was taken. That ain't vigilantism, it's the American way.
You bring tears to my eyes, sweet and cherished FRiend.
Thank you!
I can't wait to not miss L.A. It gives me hope that you got out.
Anyone who knows even a little of U.S. history should feel proud when they hear the term "Minuteman"...I remember that there was some (North Eastern) school who, having a Minuteman as their mascot, was attempting to re-do him without the rifle. Don't know whatever became of that...
Rarely now do Californians express a confidence in our national culture or a willingness to defend the larger values of Western civilization. The result is that our public schools are either apathetic about, or outright hostile to, the Western paradigm—even as millions from the south risk their lives to enjoy what we so often smugly dismiss.I read Mexifornia, and had the privelege of interviewing VDH afterwards.
Anna,
I loved your piece on the Minutemen, and I hope you don't mind that I posted it in my Space? I of course credited you!
Have a wonderful Sunday afternoon!
You are very welcome.
You make it easy. ;o)
All the best to you, and yours, too.
"No country upon earth ever had it more in its power to attain these blessings than United America. Wondrously strange, then, and much to be regretted indeed would it be, were we to neglect the means and to depart from the road which Providence has pointed us to so plainly..." -- George Washington (letter to Benjamin Lincoln, 29 June 1788)
I can't wait to not miss L.A. It gives me hope that you got out.I never thought I'd leave L.A., I lived there longer than I've lived anywhere, and I really thought it would be "home". Now, although I desperately miss the Getty, I can't imagine raising my children there. I keep waiting to hear that the city is burning.
Well dangit, Anna... we're just going to have to blogroll you.
Here's one you might like, given your own thoughts...
Well dangit, Anna... we're just going to have to blogroll you.I don't know, Mr.A... sounds kinky.
btw, I may be in exhile here in Oregon, but I'm originally from Giddings! Your writing reminds me that there is a State of sanity out there. I should get back to it more often.
The part I live in is fairly peaceful... all working folks or retirees ... but I see the riff-raff moving westward.
I love the views from up at the Getty, and the Santa Monica mountains in general. You would not believe how rainy it has been this past month.
:)
I love the views from up at the Getty, and the Santa Monica mountains in general. You would not believe how rainy it has been this past month.Ahhh, but if it's rainy, when it stops, for about 24 hours you'll actually be able to take in those views and the mountains. And then the brown, fuzzy goo will begin building up again.
I gotta go out and spend some dinero.
Thanks for the flag.
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