Samuel Adams, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, and renown as a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution said, "While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader."What is this virtue which Samuel Adams is referring? I believe he was talking about our steadfast, God-given right, not only to use our voices, but to use them in defiance of tyranny. Samuel Adams would later realize that it was a people’s boldness to speak out - and not remain silent - which would not only defy a monarch thousands of miles across the ocean, but would secure liberty for a nation we now call the United States of America.
Today, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, called those who have come out to oppose congress' recent health care proposal "un-American". Exercising our freedom to speak is anything but "un-American". On the contrary, it is the reason why we can even call ourselves American. Millions of men and women who have worn the uniform have fought and died, and continue to fight and die today for our freedom to speak out, without fear from those who have been elected to represent us.
When we are otherwise inclined to surrender our liberty to freely speak out because we fear how the government may respond, let us remind ourselves of the privilege, and even the duty, to exercise our patriotism through our constitutional rights under the first amendment. To suppress our voices out of fear is to decry the memories of those we stop to recognize every 4th of July, Memorial Day, and Veterans Day.
"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds" - Samuel Adams
Let us follow the example of Samuel Adams, who resolved to set brush fires in the minds of an otherwise fearful people. Take courage! THIS is what it means to be an American.
- Izzy Avila
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