I’m glad to see the Idyllwild knob turned to red.
Some years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. But experience hath shown, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.
Be afraid, Wall Street, be very afraid; for if a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
Man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor. Be ever mindful that a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.
Moreover, never forget that force is the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism, and those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
Take heart, occupiers. Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not forget that a man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.
Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you. All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent. There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.
Many have suggested that the Occupy movement has no clearly defined goal. Well, let me suggest one: Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.
Whether or not enlightenment of the people is a stated goal, I believe the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement is beginning to accomplish just that.
Long we have slept, warm and comfortable, unaware that our freedoms, our wealth, and, indeed, our very country were being stolen from us. It will take more than a gentle nudge to wake us. Let’s hope that OWS will shake us long and hard enough that we open a sleepy eye, realize our danger and rise to action.
Does some of the above sound familiar? Not surprising; much of it is taken directly from [Thomas] Jefferson, [Abraham] Lincoln, and John F. Kennedy.
Dan Pietsch
Idyllwild