“Well, Button,” he thought to himself, “you've certainly gotten yourself into something big this time,” as he stared into the box containing the remaining dueling pistol.
 It seems Button Gwinnett always ended up involved in big things.
 He didn't remember this much turmoil in his gut being the first (after Continental Congress president John Hancock) to sign his name to the Declaration of Independence.  That was a happier time, almost giddy.  Even with so much responsibility and haunting fear.  There was no time for timidity then, too much to do.  He and John Adams had a wonderful sparring match as the two of them drew up a draft of Georgia's state constitution.  Everyone thinks Adams so stodgy and strict.  They should see his quick, nimble, able mind in action.  Button returned to Georgia with the draft constitution rolled up in his pocket.

 “What's the delay, Gwinnett?  There's only one pistol left to choose.”  Lachlan McIntosh, his opponent, taunted.
 Oh how he would delight in shutting up that Scottish bastard McIntosh once and for all.  Button now noticed his knees shaking.  Don't let McIntosh see.  If it weren't for that neighing bastard. . .

 Were his knees shaking while leading the Georgia militia troops into Florida to attack the British?  He couldn't recall.  The attack had been so cleverly composed.  Planned to eliminate any risk to chance. 
 And yet, chance intervened regardless.  Only two days out, word came that the Legislature was convening to debate his proposed constitution.  He had to attend.  He left Colonel McIntosh in charge of the expedition.  Even a simpleton like him couldn't foul up so simple, yet devious a plan.
 The attack failed nonetheless.  Failed miserably.  News came back from Florida just as the legislature approved a reworked state constitution.  Buoyed, Button began his campaign for governor.
 This too failed – largely due to McIntosh blaming Gwinnett for the failed invasion of Florida!  Even calling for a board of inquiry into the disaster.  Shockingly, a board was appointed and it proved of little comfort that Button was exonerated of any wrongdoing.  The accusation bit deep into his heart and soul.
 Button challenged McIntosh to a duel.  The trained Continental soldier almost gleefully accepted. 
 Button picked up the pistol.  The hammer was already cocked.
 “Gentlemen, take ten paces...”
 “No,” Gwinnett barked, “five paces only.”  He knew that at ten paces, the Scotsman would have an a great advantage as he was better trained in the use of firearms.
 “Colonel, do you agree to five paces?” the man holding the empty pistol box asks.
 “Aye, makes no difference,” McIntosh replies.
 The two men took five paces, turned and each fired.  McIntosh was hit in the leg;  Gwinnett in the hip.
 Button Gwinnett died of gangrene three days later.   Lachlan McIntosh survived.

NOTE:  As you can assume, this was written from Mr. Gwinnett's point of view.  To this day, members of the McIntosh clan will tell you the problems with the militia resulted from Gwinnett's insistence of taking command (he was the civilian leader) over McIntosh (the military leader).  Their squabbling may have been the deciding factor in the Florida raid.

Washington, DC – FreedomWorks PAC is excited to announce its latest “Champion of Freedom” endorsement as part of the Take America Back in 2010 campaign. John Raese, a fiscal conservative with a diverse history of leadership experience, is running for Senate in West Virginia.

 

As a lifelong West Virginia resident, John Raese has seen firsthand how Congress’s path of wasteful deficit spending and excessive regulation burdens West Virginia small businesses and kills opportunities for entrepreneurship. FreedomWorks PAC applauds his commitment to a common-sense, limited government agenda that includes spending restrictions and relief from excessive market regulation.

 

Raese is also a signer of the Contract FROM America, an authentic grassroots document created by the people, for the people, expressing what a majority of Americans want for their future. After garnering nearly half a million votes in less than two months, the Contract was whittled down to ten core ideas which advocate fundamental tax reform, fiscal responsibility and limited government. 

 

FreedomWorks PAC plans to support the Raese campaign with numerous Get Out The Vote (GOTV) efforts, including direct mailings, yard sign distribution, volunteer phone banks and neighborhood literature drops leading up to election day.

 

“A Raese victory would result in a guaranteed Republican vote on November 3rd for a repeal of the unconstitutional Obama healthcare takeover," commented FreedomWorks PAC President Matt Kibbe.

 

“John Raese recognizes that the most effective government solution to America’s economic woes is to stay out of the way and give people the freedom to succeed on their own merits. This is exactly the kind of mindset we need in Washington right now.”

 

For more information about this race and others that FreedomWorks PAC will be targeting in 2010 as part of the Take America Back campaign, please visit the PAC website, http://FreedomWorksPAC.org/ or contact FreedomWorks PAC Managing Director Rob Jordan at (202) 942-7624 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting.          

I recently saw a program on TV dealing with the writings of the English journalist/philosopher G. K. Chesterton.  A statement that truly grabbed me referred to the three most destructive words in the English language: Marx, Darwin, and Freud.

Marx:  I could illustrate a hundred errors in the philosophy of Karl Marx; for brevity, I’ll just concentrate on one.  The idea that the cost of all products should reflect only the wages paid for their creation.*  Hey Karl, someone had to acquire the raw materials, pay for lights and heat or air conditioning used in creating this product.  That person would be a capitalist.  The person gambling (usually) his own money in the hopes the product will sell in sufficient numbers and at a sufficient price to repay the capitalist for his faith.  This is called “profit.”  And profits are used to create newer products, or new factories.  Either way, creating more wage earners.

Darwin:  Life is simply a happy coincidence; we are the result of a random mutation.   Parts of the theory have been distorted in many ways through the years.  The worst is probably survival-of-the-fittest.  Nature does cull a herd of its slowest and laziest members.  But mankind has repeatedly tried to take the role of nature unto itself.  Case in point: Eugenics.   A belief that mankind should rid itself of the “lesser” or ”defective” members.   The Planned Parenthood organization began as way to prevent procreation by Blacks.**  Hitler took Eugenics to the extreme by murdering 6 million “undesirables” to help keep the race pure.

Freud: Freudism means never having to say you’re sorry.***  “Serial rapists aren’t bad people,” a Freudian might state, “they just weren’t potty trained correctly, it’s the parents’ fault.”  The net result of this line of thinking is that no matter what someone does: cheating on their diet, cheating at cards, cheating on a spouse it’s all because they were a victim of some childhood trauma.  They’re ALL victims.  We’re all victims.  Personal responsibility?  What’s that?

And what does all of this have to do with the Tea Party?  Only the illustration of how our country has been led far from the intent of our Founding Fathers.  Science, media, and education have all espoused these various theories as fact.  Chesterton railed against them in 1911.  He saw then where we were heading.  And we have arrived.

 


* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surplus_value
** http://blackgenocide.org/sanger.html
*** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud#Psychosexual_development