Tunisia. Egypt. Libya. The Middle East and North Africa are in turmoil as citizens stand up for their rights. It’s a long road. This quote appeared in today’s NY Times:
“Our task isn’t easy. We don’t have parties, we don’t have a constitution, we don’t have political organizations, we don’t have an effective civil society. We have to create a completely new state and we have to do it in the middle of a war and revolution.” ~ Mahmoud Bousalloum, graduate student and political organizer in Libya
History appears to be repeating itself. Our nation traveled this road 235 years ago. Below are the words of our founding fathers as the American Revolution drew near and citizens revolted against tyranny that inhibited their inherent rights:
“The ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation, to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy. An equal dispensation of protection, rights, privileges, and advantages, is what every part is entitled to, and ought to enjoy.” ~ Benjamin Franklin
“It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.” ~ Samuel Adams
“That these are our grievances which we have thus laid before his majesty, with that freedom of language and sentiment which becomes a free people claiming their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.” ~ Thomas Jefferson, 1774
“The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.” ~ Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775
“Objects of the most stupendous magnitude and measure in which the lives and liberties of millions yet unborn are intimately interested, are now before us. We are in the very midst of a revolution the most complete, unexpected and remarkable of any in the history of nations.” ~ John Adams, Letter to William Cushing, June 9, 1776
“If we wish to be free, if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending, if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight!” ~ Patrick Henry
“The hour is fast approaching, on which the Honor and Success of this army, and the safety of our bleeding Country depend. Remember officers and Soldiers, that you are free men, fighting for the blessings of Liberty – that slavery will be your portion, and that of your posterity, if you do not acquit yourselves like men.” ~ George Washington, 1776
