Freedom-Fighters Forum

By William J. Dell – April 1993

At this Easter season when we commemorate the resurrection of the Saviour, this writer feels that another resurrection is very much needed in our nation. It is a resurrection of the indomitable will of decades of Americans. You ask who were these Americans? Consider the following.

From England in the beginning of the 17th Century, came the Pilgrims to Plymouth Rock. They came to escape oppression and find freedom to worship God according to the dictates of their hearts. The signing of the Mayflower Compact was America’s first effort at self-government. In 1621 William Penn, also from England, settled Pennsylvania under a royal charter. The Dutch came to the New York area. They chiefly belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church, but had a policy of religious freedom. Irish Catholics found their way to the Colonies along with German Lutherans. The Swedes came to the Delaware River Valley.

Millions of brave souls dared to take a perilous sea voyage to the New World in search of individual freedom. They fled oppressive governments and most of them fled religious persecution in one form or another. Each of them however had an indomitable will to control their own destiny – to be free.

In the Colonies however freedom was not to exist without trial. After several decades, the political requirements of England caused the King to look to the Colonies for revenue. The Americans; however, had little, if any, interest in the politics of Europe and viewed his efforts as an usurpation of their freedom. As more and more control was attempted, the indomitable will resisted. Finally, when all other avenues were closed, a civil war broke out in 1776 led by 56 Americans of indomitable will who signed a Declaration of Independence. Listen to the words of Patrick Henry, one such American with an indomitable will: “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” Because of the indomitable will of so many of our fore-fathers, independence was achieved and a nation was born.

The indomitable will was not abated with our newly gained independence. As more and more immigrants arrived to our shore a Westward migration began. These pioneers pushed and pushed the frontier until the nation went from ‘sea to shining sea’. The price they paid was enormous in terms of lives and suffering. The heritage they left us however, their attitudes of freedom and self-reliance, formed the very fiber of the American indomitable will.

Through the Industrial Revolution and into the 20th Century, these attitudes continued unabated. No man sought for anyone to do for him what he could do for himself. These Americans wanted no intrusion into their lives particularly from government.

Then came 1929 and the Great Depression when Americans were so down and out that they asked their government for a helping hand. Little did they realize they were surrendering their freedom. Little did they realize by ceding an inch of their Tenth Amendment freedom that the government over the next sixty years would take a mile of that freedom. Little did they realize that their government would use the helping hand as a springboard to a welfare state through New Deal Programs, Great Society Programs, and other national welfare programs that would destroy the indomitable will of many Americans. Programs that would make these Americans dependent on government from generation to generation. Programs that would instill an attitude in these Americans, to varying degrees, that the government ‘owes’ me, for whatever reason.

The cost of this loss of the indomitable will has been great as is indicated by DEFICIT U.S.A. at the left. The question is however, what can be done to overcome our present condition? What can be done to resurrect the indomitable will in every American?

The answer lies in the motto of this paper. It is God, Family, Country. We, each of us, as Patriarchs in our own families, have to:

1. Instill in our posterity a strong living faith in God and in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

2. Develop a strong vital work ethic that will NOT allow anyone, including government, to do for us what we can and should do for ourselves.

3. Do all that we can to reverse the trend of government being involved in the solution to every problem.

It is the belief of this writer that we, as a nation, can only resurrect the indomitable will of our fore-fathers and recapture our heritage one family at a time. Few of us have influence beyond the sphere of our own family. So if we are to save our nation, we must do it one family at a time. We must do it by instilling in our posterity the same principles and values that our fore-fathers had that built this nation over two hundred years ago.

Each of us need to remember the inspiring words of Abe Lincoln, “Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it” and “If we do right, God will be with us, and if God is with us, we cannot fail”.

It is time for WE, THE PEOPLE, to see that the Federal government limits it activities to those granted to it in our Divinely inspired Constitution. It is time for WE, THE PEOPLE, to see that the several State Governors stop looking to Washington for money and programs to solve their intrastate problems. Let the governors assume the responsibility for solving their respective States’ education, infra-structure, employment and welfare problems. It is their problem not the Federal government’s problem. The governors need to reclaim the power and the responsibility that is rightfully theirs. And WE, THE PEOPLE, need to restrict the Federal government to international and interstate issues because all other power was reserved to the States and WE, THE PEOPLE, by the Tenth Amendment of our Constitution.

Eternal vigilance is the price of Freedom.