By Sara Tipton
Being American is epic. But it’s an experience that only a small percentage of Earth’s inhabitants can enjoy. On this day, when we celebrate our Declaration of Independence from our country’s British overlords, we should remember that most of the world’s population labors under the yoke of government tyranny.
We’re lucky. But our liberation wasn’t a matter of luck. It was a matter of determination. Our Founding Fathers were determined to end the “long train of abuses and usurpations” so that Americans could be free. They did it, ultimately, under force of arms.
Those who truly stand for freedom know that Americans’ right to keep and bear arms isn’t about hunting. Or protection against criminals. Or defense against an invading army. It’s about protection against a tyrannical government. You cannot have freedom without the absence of tyranny. Our gun rights create the space for our freedoms to flourish.
As a people, we use this space to differ on matters of religion, sexual orientation, taxation, the role of the courts, the proper type of policing and on and on and on. The fact that we can do so without tearing the country apart – again – has everything to do with the fact that each individual can defend themselves individually, to protect their individual rights by exercising their individual right to keep and bear arms.
That said, we aren’t a country of free men and women because we own guns or the Constitution says so. We are free because natural law says that we have the right to defend our lives against those who would harm, enslave, or kill us.
Should statists repeal the Second Amendment, my right to protect myself, my freedom to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, remains mine. My gun rights are not granted by government. They’re inherent in me.
On this day we should celebrate our country’s courage, past and present. We should be thankful for the men and women we pay to protect that freedom. But we should also celebrate our own resolve. For it is that resolve that keeps us free, one American at a time.
All I know is…. Thank God I Was Born American!!
Me and you both. HAPPY INDEPENDANCE DAY
better here than anywhere!….
I’ve never lived anyplace but the US. For a reason. In my travels I have never found a place that appeals to me as the US does. I was close to buying a vacation cottage in France when the terrorist attacks occurred in Paris.
The attacks did not scare me off. it was the French .gov and their quasi fascist response to punish their own people that scared me off. In europe you can go to jail for talking. That’s absurd and is just one small aspect of the fascism retaking the continent.
You should take a look at Hungary…
Central Europe does look pretty good. Hungary, and Poland are on the right track. Austria, and Italy are also moving the right way. Czech republic is decent too, but needs more Christianity.
I do love the USA, but am gravely concerned about her future. We just return to Christ, or we will fall. There is no other way. Those who serve the One True King, will always be free. Those who serve their own appetites will always be slaves.
Artoutwest amen sad the world will learn this too late
The July 4 celebration in DC was great!
I watched the entire thing on the OAN channel.
Trump made a great speech and included a civil rights protestor as one of the people who made America great.
The military fly over made me feel especially patriotic.
The stealth bomber and fighters were really amazing.
good people there too [hungary]…they really hated communism and didn’t hesitate to tell you so…even as they chafed under it…
I find the most ardent anti-communist to be the ones who have had the unfortunate experience of experiencing it either directly or by a close relative. Russian Jews, Romanians, Hungarians, (recent) Poles, and Cubans who immigrated here have been hardliners. Today’s Americans, especially millennials, think socialism/communism is a fair paradise and don’t remember the true horror of its implementation.
Anymouse
Well said. I left Cuba half a century ago. One of my assistants just left a couple of years ago. Neither of us can understand why his millennial younger brother is enamored of a system both his parents and my parents risked their lives to free their children from. Wake up, these are the same people who took innocents on one way Jeep rides for desertion of posts they were never assigned to. The same ones who marched into our homes, sorted through our personal property, kept the best for themselves and tossed out the rest.
“In europe you can go to jail for talking.”
What do think “Hate Speech” laws are specifically designed to do?
Ohhhh pleeeaasseee. You were never gonna buy a “French vacation cottage” (meaning time share). How long were you gonna stay there, two weeks out of the year? That was too much for you? You let other peoples politics affect your own life decisions that much? Don’t you live in California? You only let other peoples politics effect your easy choices, like having no realistic use for a time share in France.
At that time you could buy, outright, a decent cottage in a village about 90 minutes away from Paris for 350,00o euros. More or less.
I stay in CA for 2 reasons, mostly. Grandkids being priority. But CA has been very good to me financially. Very damn good.
Sadly, it won’t likely be good for your grandkids. Cali serves Kali. It is a cut flower civilization, wilting fast.
At least buy some property in Missouri, Idaho, Kentucky, Montana, or somewhere decent. Your grandkids will bless your name in the years to come.
Golden handcuffs. They’re a curse, not a blessing.
Not sure what your post was about. We’re you trying to say they were talking themselves up financially because of the French cottage comment, or were you trying to say they were wrong for letting another countries political shortcomings affect their decision to live there, even temporarily?
I mean, both parts were way off in regards to the topics at hand and contribute nothing. I’m just wondering what your point was, if any. Or was it strictly an inflammatory stab at someone who you know nothing about whatsoever for the purposes of making yourself feel better in some miserable little way?
Honestly I dont see much of a point. Even the less insane parts of Europe, like Poland and the Czech Republic are too close to the rest of the EU’s insanity. And for all that, what do they really offer that you cant get here in the US? Culture? We have 50 different states worth of culture. Picturesque scenery? We have everything from frozen wastelands to arid wastelands to urban wastelands. Old castles? So who the hell wants to see them.
There’s plenty of places in the world I’d like to visit for a couple weeks. Yes even England and France. But none other than the US that I would want to spend any extended period of time in.
“But we should also celebrate our own resolve. For it is that resolve that keeps us free, one American at a time.”
Thank you, we stay free because we choose to.
I’m very glad to be an American. Hopefully the Supreme court can restore my rights in California:
1. Bear arms (carry).
2. Right to keep (buy, dang roster).
Before someone says move out, I’m divorced from an anti-gunner. She was livid to find out I had legally stored my collection. Bwaa haa haa! Sadly, how I did it is no longer, as of Jan 1, 2017, legal per some random definition.
I’m not worried about ammo nor are thousands of people I know.
I should have noted I have kids to stay close to in Cali.
Yeah, but you put them there, no?;-)
Anybody who wants to complain or berate can just MOVE!! Venezuela maybe, with Sean Penn. Or maybe to Spain which ruined 75% or the Western Hemisphere in the 15 and 16 hundreds. And the Mexicans who screwed many native Americans north of the Rio Grande and up to the Oregon border on the coast and they have no business complaining about us taking that territory because it wasn’t theirs in the first place. Don’t forget that the Spanish”explorers’ were called Conquistadors!
And the rest of Europeans, except the Spanish, were called Crusaders… and your point?
Nice to see your writing popping up in TTAG again, Sara. I hope to see even more of it in the future…
Dittos.
Ditto again.
Also huge praise for proclaiming the 2A is not for hunting, self defense or sport. 2A is for WHEN the government becomes tyrannical, not WHEN. History and repeating itself and all. This is the lesson that needs to accompany any conversation on 2A rights. Any introduction to firearms for us POTG needs to include this conversation.
Kinda need the edit button for the WHEN not IF mistake above.
We have not been free since Washington decided to crush the Whisky Rebellion.
We beg permission from our betters to own and carry guns
We pay rent tot he government on our property and hundreds of other taxes known and hidden
We are forced to send our children to schools that indoctrinate them in communist propaganda
All men 18 and older are forced to sign up for conscription (where are the feminists calling for equality there?)
We are now being forced to have our children poisoned by state mandated injections regardless of our beliefs
We are robbed blind at gun point (taxes) to pay for support of every no account lazy indigent malingerer who managers to cross our borders or squirt out of the baby cannon of a multigenerationally indigent mother.
The list could go on forever. Yes, I would rather be here than any other country, but free we are not.
Free-er?
Calm down. Every government has its problems. The difference is our ability to arm ourselves gives us the ability to contest it.
Happy 4th
“It’s a free country” was always dumb saying even if it is indeed freer than most, at least in some ways. I prefer it to the others I have lived in but I still recognize the size, scope, and intrusiveness of our massive governments. How much federal debt does the average tax payer owe now?
‘Pirate’ – not all immigrants are net liabilities, probably not even most.
I’m sure he’s referring to illegal immigrants, who are absolutely and entirely liabilities. Each and every single one.
Boy oh boy I couldn’t agree more Crimson, it’s if you read my mind
No one forces my kid into a government school. I pay for the education. And I make it a priority.
You’re a bigger fool than I thought if you think there’s a real difference between public and private schools anymore.
Natural rights? No – don’t think so. Rights are not inherent in our being. Rights are a human construct that can be attained or lost, given or taken away. Gravity is natural and cannot be violated. Rights are ephemeral and largely just an agreement. That is why they are rare in the world and must be fought for and protected with vigilance. If rights were natural everyone on earth would have them and would be maintained without effort. No – rights are unnatural. Not saying rights are undesirable – just not found inherent in anything.
+1, though I am not a philosopher by any stretch.
Basically my opinion. Rights are a construct of society. In nature you have whatever rights you’re strong enough, fast enough or smart enough to get for yourself.
Are you quoting Robert Heinlein?
Maybe – haven’t read Heinlen in decades. Could be what I read is bubbling up from the tar pits of my mind.
I am the quiet man. I am everyman who is a Man like my father before me and his father before him. I gi to work every day, render to Ceasar his due and listen with patience to those who judge an issue as only black or white, all the while knowing that it is the gray areas rule. But…should they (you know who they are) come for what is mine by right of an American I will fight to the death.
i LOVE THIS COUNTRY,MY HOME. But I do not love the people trying to destroy and tear it apart. Congress and the occupants has turned out to be useless. They cannot ever agree on any one single thing that is good for our country. All the big money people like Bloomberg are running the country and tearing it apart. We need a super hero to start eliminating these people. They have taken everything that makes this nation great and already destroyed it or trying to do so now. ONE NATION UNDER GOD!!
Dyslexic Woodworker says: Thank you Sara for being so eloquent in stating what so many of us wish we could say and totally agree with you.
As far as the second amendment protecting people from a “tyrannical government”, that is an old and outdated idea.
If you tried to rise up against this government, you’d be destroyed before it ever started…
You can try to use firearms against the US government, but you would lose that fight instantly.
So as far as you thinking your guns are protecting you from the government, you are sadly misinformed obviously…
Obvious troll is obvious.
If guns are so ineffective, why u so bugged if we have them?
The guys who stood on the village green in Lexington were undoubtedly told that if they dared to go against the king’s troops they’d be “destroyed instantly”. After all the British troops were well trained, well equipped and were regarded as best infantry in the world. The penalty for armed rebellion against the crown was to be drawn and quartered – look it up. Sensible and rational people would have paid their taxes, turned in their guns, and went back to being good subjects of the crown.
So tell me King George, how did that all work for you?
“””””””””””””””””””””So tell me King George, how did that all work for you?””””””””””””””””
Like most Conservatives you know little about history. If the British Government had listened to King George and not ended the war early they would have won the war and had the privileged of hanging the gangster criminal and incompetent George Washington and his corrupt criminal cronies. France had bankrupted itself when it came to the aid of the Americans and was on the verge of economic collapse due to a lot of reasons to lengthy to go into here. If it had not been for the French Navy and the professional French Army George Washington’s poor generalship and incompetence along with his hillbilly untrained army would have been easily defeated by the British Army who would go on to conquer the entire world and fight other insurgents in other countries that were often far better trained soldiers than the Americans were.
The revolutionary war was America’s greatest mistake and the war was not supported by the majority of Americans who were very conservative and well aware that staying in the British Empire was bringing far greater economic rewards than leaving it so the filthy rich in America could get out of paying any taxes thereby forcing only the common man to pay taxes. Sound familiar, its because its still going on today and thank the criminal founding father greed monger businessmen criminals for not only screwing the working man down to this very day but in the end taking any chance for democracy away from us as well which we would have secured under the British if we had only stayed with them.
Thousands of Americans called “loyalists” left American after the end of the Revolutionary War migrating to Canada and Canada ended up with the cream of the crop of American citizens who were intelligent enough to see the hypocrisy and the disaster for democracy that had come about when Britain withdrew from the war.
.
vlad tetanus. Proving you can create a whole world in your moms basement.
Every post of Vlad’s starts with “if only,” turns into a jumble of miserable garbage, and ends with a whimper. Just like the communism he adores.
This totally uninformed opinion on history does no one any good, other than exposing your poor attempt at revisionism. You kinda need to actually know the truth before you go trying to change it.
Commies gonna comm.
the brits knew they were vastly outnumbered outside of boston….they tried a preventative strike that failed miserably…
Exactly then how are governments overthrown these days? Sure looks like people with guns, determination and little else. There’s a very thin line that prevents large scale armed violence in this country and it ain’t the police or the military. It’s people but if tomorrow was the day the “government” and those in it would be dead or fleeing for their lives if the regular folks decided that was the day.
Darn Eric, I didn’t know you posted here, shouldn’t you be out kissing Fiensteins butt or something?
Listen Swalwell, you ain’t going to be President ever…..so no codes for you!
Besides we have dirty stuff to throw right back at you.
No one said one person was going to take on the government, clearly there’s more of us than there is of them, if there was an uprising of all the citizens that own weapons going against the government at once the government would loose, the people outnumber the government tremendously
“You can try to use firearms against the US government, but you would lose that fight instantly.”
Really? Does that explain how a few illiterate goat herders drove the Russians out of Afghanistan with their tails between their legs?
Asymmetric warfare, Spanky. You don’t know who to fire upon when you can’t tell the combatants from the civilians, asshole… 😉
All depends on how many on each side. I k kw we .ca t count on you, George.
BTW nice to see you unlocked the caps.
Actually, just recently at the Bundy ranch stand off they did exactly that, and they won. They even won in court afterwards. So much for your pissant little rant.
Concord Bridge, The Battle Of King’s Mountain . . .and Bundy Ranch. The spirit of patriotism, of liberty and freedom still lives—if only in the hearts of a few. I often wonder if there are now enough people who love freedom to make a difference.
We want to thank Our President for having the Courage to fight valiantly and unceasingly, for us to have Our Parade.
We hear that the backstabbing Bolshevik media will not cover Our Parade.
We don’t care, and won’t even notice.
We avoid their scheming fake news, their traitorous propaganda, their Demokrat toe sucking, and their treacherous demonic depravity.
For all we care, they can broadcast a psychodrama of Klunkerdick sucking Nike cleats coming off a pigskin playoff in a muddy pig lot.
We will be busy celebrating our freedom and our glorious nation, unique in the history of the world, divinely inspired, guided by the hand of Providence, and blessed beyond measure, with strength and abundance, by Our Creator.
We will be gallantly observant and forever mindful of the heroic sacrifices of Our Families who with no hesitation, gave with no limits, their blood, sweat, toil, and tears to found and protect these United States of America, one nation, under God, with freedom and liberty for all.
I don’t question our “natural rights,” but I do question our resolve. If Bloomberg, Soros, the Koch Brothers and the Democrap debates have showed us anything, it was that America is for sale — and cheap.
The USA was sold in December 1913. Dead man walking since. Probably why the prevalence of zombie movies/culture….were being mocked as the body is falling to the floor.
LETS PUT ASIDE ALL THE LIES AND PATRIOTIC BULLSHIT ABOUT HOW FREE WE REALLY ARE AS COMPARED TO OTHER COUNTRIES. THIS ARTICLE WILL SHOCK ONLY THE “UNWASHED” NOT ANYONE WHO IS A PRODUCT OF HIGHER EDUCATION.
These Are the Freest Countries in the World
The United States isn’t even close on a list topped by Hong Kong.
By Rachel Dicker, Associate Editor, Social Media Nov. 29, 2016, at 1:59 p.m.
More
U.S. News & World Report
These Are the Freest Countries in the World
More
The United States prides itself on upholding freedom, but recent research indicates America is not as free as many other countries.
In fact, it might be less free now than it was before.
[ READ: The 10 Most Corrupt Countries in the World ]
According to the Human Freedom Index, which “presents the state of human freedom in the world based on a broad measure that encompasses personal, civil, and economic freedom,” America is the 23rd freest country in the world.
The U.S. fell from 16th place in 2008 and 19th place in 2013.
The index is co-published by the Cato Institute, a libertarian, free-market-oriented think tank based in Washington, D.C., in collaboration with the conservative-leaning Fraser Institute in Canada, and the Liberales Institut at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom in Germany.
[ READ: American Prosperity Has Been Stagnant for the Past Decade, Study Says ]
“Human freedom is a social concept that recognizes the dignity of the individual. The declining performance of the United States, once considered the bastion of liberty, is worrisome,” Ian Vasquez, director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity and co-author of the study, said in a press release. “We should all be concerned with the impact on liberty of the war on terror, the war on drugs, and the decline in the rule of law and economic liberty in the United States.”
[ READ: The 10 Safest Countries in the World, Ranked ]
According to the release, the index “ranks 159 countries based on 79 distinct indicators of personal, civil, and economic freedom, using data from 2008 to 2014, the most recent year for which sufficient data is available.”
The index found Hong Kong to be the freest country, followed closely by Switzerland.
Other notable rankings include Russia, which ranked 115th, and China, which ranked 141st. Meanwhile, Iran, Yemen and Libya rounded out the bottom of the list.
COUNTRY NAME HUMAN FREEDOM RANK BEST COUNTRIES OVERALL RANK
Hong Kong 1 Not ranked
Switzerland 2 Not ranked
New Zealand 3 11
Ireland 4 18
Denmark 5 10
Canada 6 (tie) 2
United Kingdom 6 (tie) 3
Australia 6 (tie) 6
Finland 9 Not ranked
Netherlands 10 9
Rachel Dicker, Associate Editor, Social Media
You can follow Rachel Dicker on Twitter or reach her at [email protected].
Tags: Hong Kong, economy, United States, rankings, Cato Institute
It’s painfully obvious you’re not a ‘ product of higher education’. But then you fascists believe in fists, not brains. It makes it easier for us freedom lovers to beat you.
to JWM
If you had listened to Trumps 4th of July speech (and maybe you did). He spoke of going to Mars. What he did not tell you was why. Trump wants fellow zealot’s like yourself to sign up to be the first colonization of Mars by “all White people” because you will be the last White colony in the Universe because of creeping Multiculturalism where only brown skin is preferred and you will be the last colony of Christians because back on earth there now will be a new blend of all major religions called Chrisilamhindbuddhism. Sign up all your friends now and prepare to leave soon as the dystopia in the U.S. is soon to be a reality.
vlad tetanus. We all know you’re a racist. You don’t have to prove it with comments like this.
Ah wonderful. Another text wall by Vlad Tetanus. Two in one article is an achievement.
“the unwashed” , , , Now where have I heard that phrase before? Ahhh Yes now I remember. For shame, but Freedom is Freedom and you’ve got just as much right to be here as the other humans.
Who in their right mind considers Hong Kong to be an independent country?
Please note that fall to 23th place happened 2008 to 2013. All while under the watch of vladdy’s buddy obama.
Agreed. Also note the first three ranked countries – two of them have recently seen a massive decline in recognized gun rights. As far as I’m concerned, how much real freedom a country’s citizens have has a direct correlation to how free they are to own firearms. i.e. no guns = no freedom. Period.
When I ask myself what modern country(s) is/are actually more free than the U.S., the only one that comes to my mind is Slovenia. That in no way should excuse us however, we definitely could be freer. At least we live in a system that, theoretically at least, allows for corrections regarding infringements. Whether we’ll see it, or boogaloo instead, remains to be seen.
I thought militarism, foreign adventures, neocons, and chanting USA! kept me free? What about North Korean style military parades in DC? Where you have no 2nd amendment.
We’ve always had military parades in the US and had military vehicles, missiles, and tanks in standard parades.
Sorry, history did not start the day you were born.
I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. I did. I like David Barton. Many atheist don’t. That’s ok. We still have the 1st amendment. He always provides historical references. So you can look it up yourself.
The Second Amendment: American Masterclass with Historian David Barton | Louder With Crowder 26 minutes long
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3qU1lhzm1Q
what? no yoga pants?
well at least a tight tank top
I lived in various locations around the world for almost 7 1/2 years, all of them third world, each one worse than the other.
I wish all Americans had the opportunity to spend time in places like that so they can really appreciate what we have here in America. More and more I am including Europe in the third world class. The left wing governments have almost completed turning their countries over to Islam to the detriment of all, including us.
Be Prepared !
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