Can You Tell The Difference?, page 1

Here are some excerpts (The rest of the article can be found at the website) from a recent article (Titled "No Neo-Patriots Here") written by Chairman Bob Schultz at the We The People Foundation:
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We are grateful for the love of country and the courage exhibited by these 158 men and women. They are true patriots, Americans willing to act and to be associated with activists, Americans willing to stubbornly and persistently demand that government obey the Rule book - the Constitution of the United States of America.
They are a breath of fresh air, for as our government moves away from the Constitution and tyranny increases, patriotism in America is adapting to rationalism, giving rise to neo-patriotism and false patriots.
Beware of false patriots - that is, those who know the truth and bemoan the erosion of our Liberties, Rights and Freedoms but who are too afraid to stand in defense of them.
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I�ve long been familiar with the work of the Cato Institute, named for Cato's Letters, a series of libertarian pamphlets that helped lay the philosophical foundation for the American Revolution.
On its website Cato's Instutuite, the Institute asserts that it �seeks to broaden the parameters of public policy debate to allow consideration of the traditional American principles of limited government, individual liberty, free markets and peace. Toward that goal, the Institute strives to achieve greater involvement of the intelligent, concerned lay public in questions of policy and the proper role of government.�
(After speaking with several people at the Cato Institute, having already been promised speakers for the WTP annual meeting & then shortly having all communication with them shut off with a phone call that said, �Mr. Crane will not be returning the call. The Cato Institute will not be associated in any way with your convention.�, the article goes on to say...)
Charlie then explained, �There are true Patriots and false Patriots. The Cato Institute is among the �false� Patriots. They are academic elitists, willing to talk about liberty and the proper role of government, but afraid to risk their comfortable lifestyles by associating with activists, no matter how right the activists may be in their assessment of the severity of the loss of liberty and no matter how intellectual and professional the activists might be in their approach to solving the problem. They simply do not want to be seen as confrontational or drawing a line in the sand. They have been inside the beltway too long. They are sharing bedrooms with the tyrants. They are part of the problem.�
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Rounding out my �good patriot, bad patriot� experiences last week, I received a brief note and two large color photos from a man named Harold. The note was written on the stationery of a group in Omaha, Nebraska called, �Citizens Against Corrupt Law Enforcement.� The note merely referred to a website (The Remnant Trust). This, I found, to be a truly remarkable website. On their website I found the following words:
�It is easier to find a score of men wise enough to discover the truth than to find one intrepid enough, in the face of opposition, to stand up for it.�
The photos accompanying the note showed two signs that had been erected near a public roadway.
The signs were no ordinary signs. First, they were constructed of heavy black iron, with white lettering, much like the roadside signs we often see marking a place of some historic, usually revolutionary war or civil war era significance. Second, the signs were obviously private rather than government signs. Then, there were the stirring messages. One sign read:
�The great and direct end of liberty is government. Secure our government by privilege and the end of liberty is assured. If this be done, government is an evil; however, more evil than government, is he with:
�The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling who thinks that nothing is worth fighting for. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares about more than his own personal safety and pleasures is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
�The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena - whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood� A leader who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause - who, at best if he wins knows the thrills of high achievement - and if he fails, fails while daring greatly - so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.�
The The other sign was headlined, �The American�s Creed.� It read:
�I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon. I seek opportunity to develop whatever talents God gave me - not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fall and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia. I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any earthly master nor bend to any threat. It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say - �This, with God�s help, I have done�.� This is what it means to be an American.�
(The two excerpts above are examples of the type of opposition & aid that *true* patriots can expect to find...If they're brave enough to actually start looking...)
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In short, if you *really* want to make a difference in the way America is being led into a downward spiral into a Facist Hell, you need to be able to tell the difference between TRUE patriotism & FALSE patriotism.

the government's collective @$$3$ !!!!

[Edited on 7-11-2003 by MidnightDStroyer]