By way of background, Samuel Adams was the Father of the American Revolution. He fearlessly agitated and organized day and night for liberty and independence. He founded and coordinated the activities of the Sons of Liberty, an underground organization of patriotic merchants, artisans, and street toughs dedicated to making life miserable for the British government, and advancing the cause of liberty and independence. He could arguably be called “America’s first community organizer,” before the term became associated with Marxist thugs hellbent on imposing their warped agenda on a politically ignorant citizenry.
So what would Sam Adams do today? Organize Tea Party bus tours, online petitions, phone calls to our congressional representatives? Hardly. Adams and his fellow travelers were active and in-your-face incendiaries in the cause of liberty. Tarring and feathering British officials and sympathizers or ransacking their homes was just another day at the office. Adams was a brilliant and fearless seditionist and revolutionary tactician--always one step ahead of the law and always outwitting and outmaneuvering his adversaries. And he did it with aplomb. Sure, Adams was a prolific writer, and would no doubt today be an active blogger. But Adams was primarily a man of action.
Sam Adams would, in all likelihood, consider today’s Tea Party a bunch of toothless wimps. The same goes for the Pajamas Media and the rest of the Tea Party bloggers and armchair, make-believe revolutionaries. Is blogging anonymously in your man-cave really comparable to openly pledging “our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor?” The answer is painfully obvious. Conservatives and libertarians and Tea Partiers all want change on the cheap. They want to radically change the system without leaving the comfort of their homes or getting their hands dirty. Very few, I’d wager, have the courage to put their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor on the line for their professed beliefs. (Imagine where we’d be if the Founders had said, “I don’t know about this Declaration of Independence thing. I mean, the British might get mad at us.”)
It’s time to face the grim reality---the United States is an occupied country. If Tea Partiers think they’re going to take back their country from their man-caves without making waves or breaking a sweat, they’re smoking pixie dust. It's going to take more than pithy Tweets or inspired commentary to make these establishment bastards stand up and take notice. It’s going to take a well-organized and sustained campaign of non-violent civil disobedience and resistance, while relentlessly and consistently speaking truth to power. We must aggressively challenge all who would have insidious designs on our liberty. This is not going to be quick or easy; it’s going to take years of pain and hard work and sacrifice. Adversity summons the hero in all of us.
Hear, hear
One issue, though: Sam Adams was never capable of being tracked real-time through his cell phone and credit card purchases, nor was his every thought captured at the NSA Data Warehouse in Utah.