🚀 go-pugleaf

Mike Smith, you and your ilk are traitorous scum of the worst kind.
Bootlicking toadie of those who have abused the power of thier Office.
You and your ilk have forgotten what it means to be an American.
Read this and LEARN SOMETHING before you call anyone who
excercises thier RIGHT to dissent a "traitor" or "aiding the enemy".
YOU AND YOUR ILK ARE THE REAL ENEMIES OF DEMOCRACY.

"Our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor." 
Our Founding Fathers paid the price for the United States of 
America.
By Jeff Jacoby, Globe Columnist
Copyright 2000 Boston Globe
On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted 12-0 -- New York 
abstained -- in favor of Richard Henry Lee's resolution "that these 
United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent 
States."
On July 4, the Declaration of Independence drafted by Thomas Jefferson 
-- heavily edited by Congress -- was adopted without dissent. On July 
8, the Declaration was publicly proclaimed in Philadelphia. On July 15, 
Congress learned that the New York Legislature had decided to endorse 
the Declaration.
On Aug. 2, a parchment copy was presented to the Congress for 
signature. Most of the 56 men who put their name to the document did so 
that day.
And then?
We tend to forget that to sign the Declaration of Independence was to 
commit an act of treason -- and the punishment for treason was death. 
To publicly accuse George III of "repeated injuries and usurpations," 
to announce that Americans were therefore "Absolved from all Allegiance 
to the British Crown," was a move fraught with danger -- so much so 
that the names of the signers were kept secret for six months
They were risking everything, and they knew it. That is the meaning of 
the Declaration's soaring last sentence:
"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the 
Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our 
Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."
Most of the signers survived the war; several went on to illustrious careers.
Two of them became presidents of the United States, and among the 
others were future vice presidents, senators, and governors. But not 
all were so fortunate.
Nine of the 56 died during the Revolution, and never tasted American 
independence.
Five were captured by the British.
Eighteen had their homes -- great estates, some of them - looted or 
burnt by the enemy.
Some lost everything they owned.
Two were wounded in battle.
Two others were the fathers of sons killed or captured during the war.
"Our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor." It was not just a 
rhetorical flourish.
We all recognize John Hancock's signature, but who ever notices the 
names beneath his? William Ellery, Thomas Nelson, Richard Stockton, 
Button Gwinnett, Francis Lewis -- to most of us, these are names 
without meaning.
But each represents a real human being, some of whom paid dearly "for 
the support of this Declaration" and American independence.
Lewis Morris of New York, for example, must have known when he signed 
the Declaration that he was signing away his fortune. Within weeks, the 
British ravaged his estate, destroyed his vast woodlands, butchered his 
cattle, and sent his family fleeing for their lives.
Another New Yorker, William Floyd, was also forced to flee when the 
British plundered his property. He and his family lived as refugees for 
seven years without income. The strain told on his wife; she died two 
years before the war ended.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, an aristocratic planter who had invested 
heavily in shipping, saw most of his vessels captured by the British 
navy. His estates were largely ruined, and by the end of his life he 
was a pauper.
The home of William Ellery, a Rhode Island delegate, was burned to the 
ground during the occupation of Newport.
Thomas Heyward Jr., Edward Rutledge, and Arthur Middleton, three 
members of the South Carolina delegation, all suffered the destruction 
or vandalizing of their homes at the hands of enemy troops. All three 
were captured when Charleston fell in 1780, and spent a year in a 
British prison.
"Our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."
Thomas Nelson Jr. of Virginia raised $2 million for the patriots' cause 
on his own personal credit. The government never reimbursed him, and 
repaying the loans wiped out his entire estate. During the battle of 
Yorktown, his house, which had been seized by the British, was occupied 
by General Cornwallis. Nelson quietly urged the gunners to fire on his 
own home. They did so, destroying it. He was never again a man of 
wealth. He died bankrupt and was buried in an unmarked grave.
Richard Stockton, a judge on New Jersey's supreme court, was betrayed 
by loyalist neighbors. He was dragged from his bed and thrown in 
prison, where he was brutally beaten and starved. His lands were 
devastated, his horses stolen, his library burnt. He was freed in 1777, 
but his health had so deteriorated that he died within five years. His 
family lived on charity for the rest of their lives.
In the British assault on New York, Francis Lewis's home and property 
were pillaged. His wife was captured and imprisoned; so harshly was she 
treated that she died soon after her release. Lewis spent the remainder 
of his days in relative poverty.
And then there was John Hart. The speaker of the New Jersey Assembly, 
he was forced to flee in the winter of 1776, at the age of 65, from his 
dying wife's bedside. While he hid in forests and caves, his home was 
demolished, his fields and mill laid waste, and his 13 children put to 
flight. When it was finally safe for him to return, he found his wife 
dead, his children missing, and his property decimated. He never saw 
any of his family again and died, a shattered man, in 1779.
The men who signed that piece of parchment in 1776 were the elite of 
their colonies. They were men of means and social standing, but for the 
sake of liberty, they pledged it all -- their lives, their fortunes, 
and their sacred honor.
We are in their debt to this day.

-- 
"Naturally the common people don't want war: Neither in Russia, nor in 
England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after 
all, IT IS THE LEADERS of the country who determine the policy and it 
is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a 
democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist 
dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to 
the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is TELL 
THEM THEY ARE BEING ATTACKED, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of 
patriotism and exposing the country to danger. IT WORKS THE SAME IN ANY 
COUNTRY."
 
--Goering at the Nuremberg Trials