Foreword

Back in the 1700s, a group of men came together and talked. Each of these men had the same concern: money. More specifically, these men were concerned that someone was taking money away from them and their fellow man and giving them nothing in return. Furthermore, the men had recently read about a new concept called freedom, an idea that was fascinating and abstract. No doubt it was the happiest thought they had ever entertained, and which they certainly desired for their children and grandchildren. The men met in a small, crowded room and conspired against the government that they and their brothers had so recently come to resent.

There are many portrayals of this meeting in early American art. The room was exaggerated and made to look comfortable, with plenty of seating and room for so many people. The men wore suits that would have been exquisite in their age, and the light from a glowing window gently fell down to perfectly highlight their skin and silver hair.

But to those who have read into the story a little deeper, we know that the artist's depiction, while certainly romantic and heroic, could not be further from the truth. These men, now venerable and respected even in death, were cramped into a small meeting room meant for a quarter of their number. There were likely not enough chairs, and due to their oppressive government the meeting would have taken place on a cold night in Pennsylvania. The room would have been filled with the smoke of candles and the fireplace, and not all of them would have arrived on time. And, while the Declaration of Independence was signed, it would have been months before the names on that declaration were revealed to the public. Only in this manner were the men's identities kept secret, and their safety from the British government guaranteed.

And so, this group of men whom we now call the "Founding Fathers" informed the British Empire that the United States of America would no longer be controlled by tyranny, and persuaded the colonists to launch a war to defend their lives and their livelihood.

I embark on this blog as someone self-conflicted and worried that his government may be turning into that same tyrant with which the Founding Fathers were so familiar. Let it be known that I am an American that has loved the United States ever since I was born, and wholeheartedly wish to keep loving this great country. But I find that the America I grew to love is heading in a direction I could never accept. And so, as a concerned citizen of the United States of America, I will appeal to this great nation and its people once more: I wish each of us, the citizens, to stand up for what is right; to assist the men and women of Congress in ending the corruption in Washington, DC; to hold ourselves responsible for the actions we commit, without having to lean on our government to solve our own problems; and to fundamentally ask not what our government can do for us, but ask what we can do for our neighbors.