Don’t Tread on Me! (Or anybody else either!)
Gadsden Flag, Don't Tread on Me
Four years ago today, I changed the flag that I fly outside my home to the Gadsden flag. A little history for you: the Gadsden flag flew above navy ships during the revolutionary war and is considered one of the very first flags of our nation.
The change was a symbol of a change in myself, one which had changed my view of my world and nearly everything in it.
The freedoms we celebrate today are gone. We may be taxed for simply existing and NOT buying a product, imprisoned indefinitely without charge, be forced to testify against ourselves, and even targeted for assassination without so much as a trial in absentia. And the vast majority of people who champion the cause of these civil liberties are silent because their man is in the White House. I point the finger at myself too. I sat idly by as the former President, one I campaigned for, wiretapped American citizens without warrant and intervened in foreign affairs where history has shown we had no business being involved. I even defended those actions.
I began to repent of hypocrisy four years ago. I will no longer insist on my benefit at the expense of others, whether they be next door or around the world. I will no longer overlook bad in one area to glean the benefit of good elsewhere. I will understand that championing liberty sometimes means that others will do unsavory things with that liberty.
Lord, have mercy.