Kitchen Table Politics
Recent political events have encouraged some thoughtful kitchen table discussions at my home.
I thought that maybe I should invite you to consider some of what is being said.
What is the cost of liberty? Of the Constitution?
Ask the Ukrainians.
Thanks to my excellent in-laws, I discovered the book written about George and Martha Washington by Flora Fraser.
As the General of the American Revolution, General Washington kept many “state secrets” close to his heart, secrets that could cost him the War if they came out. Protecting these secrets was necessary if he hoped to be free to live under the choices framed by his own government rather than subjected to the choices inflicted on him from a distant government that was pursuing its own self interests. One of those secrets: His men were without clothing, food or shelter, dying like flies from various diseases. He could not let his enemies guess this terrible secret. The soldiers went unpaid. That means that not only were they suffering, but they had nothing to send back to the folks back home who depended on them. They were family men whom the Continental Congress left to freeze and starve while hosting sumptuous parties for each other.
Some of the soldiers revolted against such treatment: General Washington had their leaders executed in order to preserve order and a sense of decency. His wife and her friends, mostly the wives of fellow officers who were eyewitnesses to the suffering, raised funds to purchase what supplies they could to help out.
The wonder is not how many soldiers deserted the Cause; the wonder is how many did not.
On and off the battlefield, the soldiers paid with their blood and their lives- offerings to liberty that were given by themselves and by those who loved and depended on them. They could not have won on their own. They went through the crucible of refinement, and through time, they were carefully instilled with the conviction that Divine Providence was in charge of their destiny. When they finally learned and submitted to this lesson, the War ended. They had won the internal battle and achieved the more important victory.
That is the price of liberty and our Constitution, and it has been repurchased several times throughout our history by the same means and with the same lesson attached. And now we contemplate actions that could sell this liberty under the Constitution- our birthright.
Are we willing to pay the same price again in order to restore it, or better yet, to protect and preserve it?
