Labor Day, 2010

It’s Labor Day, and I’m all worn out. Who knew Summer could be so tiring? I spent this last seek on vacation. But two parades, a town celebration, a tea party, and most of all, disappointment in a silly radio transmitter, have undone all the good. By the time I got to the Morristown Tea Party, I just about had enough energy to wave my flag. I let friend do all the cheering for me. But even he wasn’t feeling well, and we left earlier than we planned.

On the way out the back of the park, some more energetic tea partiers gave us scornful looks for deserting early. But if he had marched two miles in one parade, then two in another, and then traipsed another two miles for town pride day, he’d have deserted early, too.

I came home to rest and march through a little more of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. Oddly, the National Review panned its newfound popularity, the reviewer claiming that the author hates men and all sorts of other nonsense.

I’ve found it the perfect- if long – novel for Labor Day weeken. Especially for these times. The most creative and industrious people are being punished, slandered for their success. She was a prophetic novelist – Atlas Shrugged was written in 1957, yet it bears out all the lessons of the Obama Era.

The takeover of industry by the government. The meaningless mantras. The self-righteous pity for the poor. The redistribution of wealth to those who haven’t earned it. And the courage of the industrious to go on “strike” when their labors aren’t not only unrewarded but pilloried.

One of the speakers even quoted Ayn Rand.

As we were leaving, some Liberal shouted to us from a car, “That's right; go home!” It made me want to run right back into the midst of the Tea Party. In fact, run up to the podium and make a speech myself! My companion shouted something unfit for a family blog.

I figured I’ve done a lot of shouting since 2009. If I’d felt better, I’d have shouted something to him, too. But I had a temperature and chills, and thought discretion was the better part of valor this day. I was there, even if it was only for an hour, to show my Tea Party support.

I’ve been overcome by an unreasonable fear this last week or so, since the Restoring Honor Rally: that people won’t fight to the end, that they’ll give in like sheep. One or two people can’t do all the fighting. It must be all of us, with whatever energy we possess. I’m afraid that they’ll give up and I can’t do it all by myself.

I think it’s my heart that’s breaking; that we’ll surrender all that’s good about America. That if we don’t stand up for freedom, we’ll become enslaved by the very fear that takes my breath away sometimes. The other side is very good at shouting and being nasty, and we’re afraid of them. That’s what I got out of the Restoring Honor Rally, I’m sorry to say. Despair. Timidity.

I was pleased to see many signs at the Morristown Labor Day Tea Party. Even though I was feeling unwell, it cheered me to see them. I put them in the back of my memory to recall as I was resting later on. You haven’t forgotten.

But now the 9/11 Rally – on Sept. 11th – is coming up and that’s a different matter. I don’t know whether I’ll be able to make it as I have a prior commitment that evening. We must be more mindful of what day it is. By necessity, the cheering and the dissension must be more muted. On any other day, I would say raise the roof.

This is the 9th anniversary of the day nearly 3,000 people lost their lives. We can’t lose sight of that fact, all the while justifiably condemning the construction of this Victory Mosque. I heard someone talking, I guess on TV today, about the Prayer Warriors, who are the product of Glenn Beck’s rally. Who ever came up with the name, God Bless Them! I disagree with Glenn vehemently about signs, but if ever there was a moment for his Prayer Warriors, this 9/11 rally is it.

The government is clearly corrupt and is not going to help us. They’re standing behind the U.S. Constitution in regard to this (maybe we need to make an amendment about using common sense) and unless someone comes out with the truth about this imam and his backers, there’s not much ordinary people can do about it – except protest and pray.

This is an issue that goes beyond mere politics. This may be a job for God and the God Squad. Signs may still be useful however, even though this is a spiritual matter more than a political cause. And tee shirts and caps. In addition to the “No Mosques Here!” signs, the Prayer Warriors could carry signs identifying themselves as “Prayer Warriors” and underneath

       P R A Y E R                    W A R R I O R S

                                N O    V I C T O R Y    M O S Q U E!!!

W E    W I L L    N O T    S U B M I T!!!

Then on the reverse side of the sign, their favorite scriptural quote (i.e.):

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded to you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

We can’t stop our feckless government from allowing them to build the mosque, even though the imam was the low bidder and the owners could have gotten much more money for their property. But we can hold true to our own faith in God, one that doesn’t require women to wear veils or non-believers to pay a tax, a prison term, or a death sentence.