CROSSROADS
MichaelConnelly.
It is the 2012 Christmas season, yet many of my
fellow Americans are not feeling the usual joy that
has historically come with this time of year when we
not only celebrate the birth of Christ, but
celebrate a time to spend with friends and family.
Instead, I sense there is almost a feeling of
despair and desperation in the air.
Christmas itself and our right to celebrate it are
under attack by those who want to strip America of
our traditions and our values. In addition, millions
of Americans are unemployed, and even many of those
who do have jobs face an uncertain future.
Regardless of what happens with the so-called
“fiscal cliff” the hidden taxes in Obamacare will
kick in on January 1, 2013 and people will see their
take home pay decrease while their insurance
premiums and cost of health care take a huge jump.
At the same time, thousands of new onerous and
unnecessary regulations are being imposed on
American businesses by the Obama administration that
are going to result in increases in the prices of
everything from food to energy and the loss of even
more jobs. Small businesses are in the cross hairs
of the Obama campaign to bring the American economy
to its knees and everyone is afraid except for those
who are looking forward to more “free stuff” from
our new “Lord and Savior” as actor Jamie Foxx refers
to our President.
The New Year will also see massive cuts to our
military even as the Obama foreign policy of
coddling our enemies is leading to rapid growth of
Al Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood, and other radical
Islamic groups who have vowed to destroy Western
civilization. In fact, the Obama administration’s
latest move to “protect” America in a politically
correct manner is have the military issue a new 75
page manual to the members of the military
prohibiting our troops from saying anything that
might be offensive to the Taliban or other Muslim
extremists.
Many Americans believe that we have lost our moral
compass and committed national suicide by reelecting
a President who will continue to take away our basic
freedoms. That is clearly the goal of our Dictator
in Chief, but all is not lost yet. There are still
many true Americans out there and we need to take
heart from some of our past Christmases when all
seemed lost.
In December 1777 General George Washington led a
bedraggled and apparently thoroughly beaten
Continental Army into its winter camp in Valley
Forge, Pennsylvania. There were only 12,000 men left
in the army at that point and many left bloody
footprints in the snow as they marched since they
had no shoes. They also had little food, ammunition,
and adequate clothing or blankets. That Christmas of
1777 was spent trying to construct enough shelters
to keep them from freezing to death.
The outcome seemed inevitable; the promise of a new
nation, free from British oppression, that had been
born just seventeen months earlier by the signing of
the Declaration of Independence, was not to be. As
the winter got worse 2500 members of the meager army
succumbed to various diseases, yet the rest
continued to drill and train and they refused to
give up. They emerged in the spring as a fighting
force that would always be outnumbered and out
gunned, yet they would fight for five more years and
against all odds ultimately prevail.
Now fast forward to another Christmas season in
Europe in 1944. The Nazis had launched a surprise
offensive in the Ardennes in Belgium, overrun and
virtually destroyed several American infantry
divisions and trapped the 101st Airborne
Division in the small town of Bastogne. The town was
where several key roads merged and if it fell there
was nothing to stop the Germans from dividing the
Allied armies and prolonging WW II indefinitely.
The American paratroopers were outnumbered and
running out of food, ammunition, and medical
supplies, yet they refused to surrender and they
stopped the Nazi offensive. When the Germans failed
to take Bastogne they tried to bypass it shortly
after Christmas and they found a gap in the U.S.
lines. SS troops surged through it at night and
after a fierce fight in the village of Sadzot
overran Company B of the 87th Chemical
Mortar Battalion killing, wounding or capturing half
of the company and taking all of the 4.2 mortars.
The surviving Mortarmen, including my father 1st
LT Roy Connelly, regrouped and with the help of a
small contingent of stranded paratroopers and combat
engineers they took back the town and their mortars.
Then they held off the Nazi armored battalion for
three days until relieved. There are countless
stories like this throughout our history and they
should give us comfort and hope.
We can’t give up and the people in Washington D.C.
who think that they have a green light to subjugate
us should remember that the United States is not a
democracy and was never meant to be. Our founding
fathers knew that a democracy could become a vehicle
for a small majority of people to vote to deny basic
human rights to everyone else.
In a Republic this can’t happen because the rights
of all individuals are protected by law and in our
case that Law is the Constitution. If any effort is
made to take away those rights than we have a right
and a duty to resist, and that is what we must do at
every level. We must fight tyranny in our school
boards, our city councils, state legislatures, in
congress, and in the courts. Whether it is the
tyranny of UN Agenda 21, gun control, denying us our
religious freedom, or invading our privacy we can
and will resist.
Christmas has always been a time of hope and this
year must be no different. We must start off the New
Year by redoubling our effort to take back our
country. God Bless America and Merry Christmas.
mrobertc@hotmail.com
Michael Connelly blog
www.usjf.net
Constitutional Law
Alliance