 |
Fred's
Columns
1 July 05: This July 4, Is Patriotism Dead?
You might certainly think so.
You can make a good argument it is.
But to understand why, you need to be reminded about an iron rule of life:
Ideas, opinions, values, beliefs? All of them are useless unless acted on.
Acted on. As in, getting off the couch, and doing something to support - as in, advance - the belief, value, or idea. (“Com’on Fred - get off the couch? You can’t tell us to do that...”)
Because ideas, beliefs, and values tend to go away if they are not advanced, promoted, acted on. Life doesn’t have time or the politeness to allow things to continue unless they are strong enough to win the battle, the battle for survival. It’s as true in the world of ideas as in the battle for physical survival in nature. You have to fight for ‘em...
So if you are liberal, but you don’t get off the couch and go vote for Hillary, are you really a liberal? In Fred’s definition, the answer is you may be a liberal at heart, but to the liberal cause you are a worthless traitor. That’s objective analysis, of course. Fred can find a slight soft spot in his heart for ‘potato’ liberals, as they are harmless to him and all he holds dear, and will soon disappear, along with, if there are enough of ‘em, liberalism itself.
So a liberal couch potato, one who doesn’t help the cause, is not only worthless, but active liberals could justifiably argue he’s not a real liberal at all. That he’s even a traitor to liberalism. Especially if he’s willing to remain reclined in front of the tube while liberalism goes down the drain.
“Hey Fred? Clue me in. What are you trying to say, here?”
Simple, my man. I want you to try to understand that it’s not all about YOU.
What you THINK does not count, unless it gets outside you head, into the realm of ACTION.
To get it out, you can open your mouth, and speak. In certain circumstances, that can be very positive.
Or you can wear a pro-gun or pro-Bill-of-Rights shirt around, and that would be action. The new RWVA shirt, extolling the value of marksmanship and history arising out of April 19, 1775, would be a good one to wear.
Or you can vote & sway others to vote. Truly valuable action.
Or you can write a letter-to-the-editor, and that would be good action.
But you have to DO something. The world, life itself, doesn’t care a whit what secret opinions you lock away in your brain. You have to let ‘em out!
Think about it another way:
Were any of those boys along Battle Road 230 years ago keeping it to themselves, or were they out there doing their duty, communicating their opinions to the redcoats?
What would the outcome on Battle Day, April 19, 1775 have been, if all those boys stayed at home, and thought ferocious, fightin’ thoughts? Would thinking have made any difference? Even thinking real hard?
Now if Fred were a liberal, he’d be (and rightly, in his mind) scathing of any liberal laying on the couch, sleeping or thinking, when liberalism needs only a little more push to take over the good ol’ US of A. So close, and liberal ‘potatoes’ (the ‘traitors’ to their cause) sleeping (or thinking) at home, on the couch? The most polite thing active liberals would call ‘em is worthless doofuses, you bet.
So, take a minute and explain to me, if you will, how you, sleeping on the couch, are an asset to the Cause. The Tradition. The Heritage.
How you, doing nothing on July 4th, are patriotic, when the Founders told you to celebrate the Day with the sound of gunfire? (Sure, they also said with bells and whistles, and if you are limp-wristed enough, guess you could ring a bell or blow a whistle - what a sight you’d be, with your whistle, compared to how you’d look, say, with a rifle...)
“But Fred”, you say, “I’m taking the family to see the fireworks!”
Fine, my friend. Just don’t think you’re doing anything patriotic, because seeing fireworks doesn’t advance the Cause, and advancing the Cause is what is patriotic, not looking at pretties.
To Fred (who, having been around a few blocks in life, should know) being patriotic on the 4th of July means going to the range, taking your family (sure, you can picnic, nothing unpatriotic about that), and immersing yourself in the Heritage, learning to shoot, enjoying it, whilst celebrating the Fourth like the Founders wanted, with the sound of guns: rapid, accurate, aimed fire.
And in Fred’s book, as long as you are still reading along with ‘im, patriotism cannot exist for a day.
Patriotism is for a lifetime.
And Patriotism is Action.
Action for a lifetime. Voting, letters, phone calls to reps, swaying friends and strangers, working for the Cause: the Bill of Rights. Not only NOT sleeping on the couch, but STAYING OFF THE COUCH entirely. (Maybe, one day, we’ll be able to take a day or two and rest on the couch, but not while the Bill of Rights is under attack, not while the Tradition is withering away, not while the liberals are teaching the youth of America...)
Whatever day you are reading this is a good day to start. To change from a mushroom to a free citizen, a man of Liberty, a man whose enemies will respect him, who may even fear him (can you say that, now?).
Yessir, today is a good day to sign on to the Appleseed Program. (See www.rwva.org)
To learn to shoot a rifle. To get others shooting. To wake America up. At least, your corner of it.
“Learning to shoot a rifle? Isn’t that hard, Fred?”
Have to tell you, you’ll think so. (But didn’t we just get thru telling you what you think doesn’t count - that it’s actions that count?)
The first obstacle for you is gonna be the positions, how uncomfortable they are, until you get used to them, and they become comfortable, so comfortable that on a warm day, you can actually fall asleep, slung-up in prone.
To get to where they are comfortable, you have to PERSIST.
You have to stay at it.
The good news is, you can do that part at home:
Get into sitting and prone several times a week, dry-fire a dozen shots, and you’ll soon be comfortable, even BEFORE you get to the range. Cool!
The second is not you practicing trigger squeeze while keeping the sight on the target, no sir - tho you’ll think it is.
No sir, the second difficult part will be overcoming doubts along the way that you’ll ever make it, ever become a rifleman. Nightmares and insecurities that’ll corrode your will, weaken your resolve.
But, IF you PERSIST, you WILL make it. You will become a Rifleman. An AMERICAN Rifleman. Part of the long tradition. Part of the heritage.
And, when some newbie wannabee asks you if it was hard, you’ll think back, smile in realization, and answer “No, it really wasn’t”.
Does life have a sense of humor, my friends?
The tough part is recruiting others:
Howdy Fred, Just thought I would drop ya'll an email saying "Thank You" for what you are doing for America. I'm a...veteran...currently going to school... I get to the range on a weekly basis these days... It wasn't always so, I'm embarrassed to say. I did not go to the range for several years, having told myself all the crappy excuses that you cover in your column. After reading your column for several months, you finally shamed me into digging my old .30 cal out of the safe, dusting it off and hitting the range. That was 3 months ago....Man, did I stink that first time out. I'm happy to say that I don't stink any more.....
I now go to the range at least once a week, most times with my 4-year-old boy, Sebastian ...and he shoots under my supervision. He's doing quite well and I hope that he will turn into a real Rifleman someday. We have half a dozen standard pistol targets taped to the wall over his bed, most of the rounds center mass, that he shot at 50m with that rifle. He's very proud of them. [Fred: I bet Pop is, too!]
I have tried to get every male (and several females) I know to go to the range on my dime... I've even offered to let them use any of the rifles in my safe...but so far I have had no takers...I don't understand why people don't want to go to the range. If you had the opportunity to go...on someone else's dime, and didn't have to lay out cash for a rifle, ear protection, ammo, food...nothing, what would you do? I thought so.
I can't get anyone to go. It seems only 1 in 1000 (probably less) is someone who would even think about going to the range. Hell, my 4-year-old son could probably outshoot half the grown men I know... [Fred: Now there’s a statement to make you feel proud of your fellow Americans. How about you? Can you outshoot his son? Don’t know, until you try...]
It's disheartening, Fred. I had thought that there were "men" in this Southern state. Sure as hell, there are plenty enough rifles and places to shoot, but seems nobody wants to actually go practice. I've heard all the same excuses you've covered in your column, too. It's embarrassing. I won't give up, though. I won't stop till I get at least 10 people to go to the damn range and at least TRY to shoot....
You keep doing what you're doing, Fred. If what you're doing motivated me to get my broken-down-ass up off the couch and gimp over to the range, rifle in hand, then it's working. There are others.. there HAVE to be others.. even if we only get 25,000 nationwide, it's 25,000 RIFLEMEN! And that's one helluva thing. WS, Ky
It’s emails like this that keep Fred the Old Dope going...Fred the OD has no quick answers to WS’s problems with worthless people, except to keep plugging away, as you cannot give up - you must persist. If you don’t, you lose your country, not a nice thought on Independence Day, or any other day.
Heck, North Carolina, once home to riflemen of repute, is now wall-to-wall metrosexual. (There’s an unwritten paper on “TV’s Unmanning of the American Male” out there, somewhere.)
So, is patriotism dead? In one sense, the one of all those sleeping doofuses, clearly it is.
Yet that can all change, overnight - if you get off the couch, and start doing what the Founders would want and expect: to be vigilant, and capable, of defending the Constitution. Meaning being able to shoot a rifle, alert to threats, and fighting the soft war, of voting and waking up your fellow citizens...
To Answer the Question posed at the top:
Patriotism is as alive - or dead - as you are.
Now, you answer the question.
And how you answer means a lot for your country’s future. You bet.
July 4 at RWVA
Can’t forget to celebrate the Fourth like patriots down at RWVA. Heck, the Fourth is one of our main days, along with 4/19 and 12/15 - and mustn’t forget 10/24, either (that’s UN Day - but don’t need to tell you, your kids’ll be out collecting for UNICEF...).
But on July 4 you’ll be standing there, on the RWVA firing line, asking yourself what the Founders would’ve thought of tracers. Bet they would’ve thought ‘em pretty cool, esp when they float out 500 yards, and slam into a popup, knocking it down.
Then, mouth hanging open, you witness something you’ll rarely see: a “Mad Minute” of tracers, hundreds of tracers streaming downrange, in a fitting end to a long day at the range. And you’ll walk off with a feeling of being part of it, part of the tradition. Feeling the presence of the Founders.
You, whether rifleman or wannabee, are invited. Newbies are welcomed. And bring the kids - under 20 shoots free!
Some of you are going to use the opportunity to get ready for the upcoming “Battle of Battle Rifles” in October. Well, come on, let’s get it on!
Sign up in advance at Fred’s site, click on “Articles” or call our new phone.
Can’t make the Fourth? Then get ready for the hot “Firebase Ripcord” fired every August since time began in commemoration of the vets of Vietnam. Hot, muggy heat is what you need, the sweat pouring off your brow, the heat waves masking both front sight and target...and - “They’re in the wire!” - and it’s rapid fire all the way! Good thing your fully-loaded mags are lined up next to you. No way they get past the wire, and in your face...
Check out the new nation-saving Appleseed program. Can we save a country, by teaching rifle marksmanship and Revolutionary War history? Tune in and find out at www.appleseedinfo.org
Want to be part of the effort? www.appleseedinfo.org/smf/ and $20 will get you on a site where volunteer Americans are working hard to make this a Nation of Riflemen again. Maybe we'll save the country, in the process... |
|
