...with Liberty and Justice for all.

     Last night, my wife and I got on the subject of public school and what we would or would not want our future children to be forced/subjected to participate in. I think I gave her a bit of a shock when I mentioned the pledge of allegiance. She quickly asked me to justify why I would make such a suggestion. She immediately regretted that after the debate that followed, seeing as it was already late as it was. So I'm going to go through the subject of the pledge in this post, and the reasons why I would throw it out if it was up to me. Some of you are going to be angered by this, but let's remember the whole point of this blog is to give truth to some of our nation's biggest misconceptions, and unfortunately, since we are so far from the path intended, saying the truth hurts is an understatement.

     I was one of those kids in school that didn't do the pledge of allegiance. To avoid the imminent, cliche, and uninformed debates aimed at pressuring and embarrassing me enough to feel ashamed to the point of
"just saying it", I just stood up with everyone else and didn't recite. Does this make me less of a patriot? Hell, I would argue it made me more of one. Just hold back all the impulsive screams of "you ungrateful, unpatriotic little nitwit!", at least until the end of the article.

     First of all, let me say that my family is dominated by active military and veterans. I understand 100% what they fought for, and what many have died for...and it wasn't the pledge of allegiance. Take a minute to decide in your head what exactly America is to you. What does it mean to be American? Got it? Now, let's test your idea of America against mine and see what we get. Did your idea of America involve forcing five year olds to pledge their allegiance to their nation when they don't even have a clue what their nation is? A kindergartener has no idea what he/she is pledging allegiance to, or what they are saying in the pledge. They are merely being forced to repeat it every single day until it is brainwashed into their head to spew hatred and call anyone who doesn't mindlessly repeat this pledge a terrorist and a traitor. Does that sound American to you? I personally, I don't associate anything involving Nationalism with our founders or their plan.

     Moving on from the ridiculousness of the actual presentation of the pledge of allegiance, I'll move to the things we are stating our "allegiance" to. First off, we pledge our allegiance "to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands". That's funny, because every time I preach republicanism
(that's a little "r"), I get treated the same way I did when I didn't do the pledge. "Neo-Confederate!", they scream. "Paleo-con!", they yell. "Why don't you go to another country if you don't like it!", they rant. (If you don't know what republicanism is, we'll have to save that for another subject) Republican (once again, not the party) ideas are considered treason by many of the same people that defend the pledge, which means they obviously have no idea what they are actually pledging to. I'm as republican as it gets, but the statement is simply empty in the pledge. Next, "one nation". We are not one nation. This is a claim that upsets most everyone that I say it to. The founders never intended to create one nation, but you won't hear that in government run public schools where the conflict of interest runs wild. Thomas Jefferson specifically stated when declaring our independence from King George III:

     "We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America...publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States;...and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do." 

     Back in the good ole days, "state" meant "nation". It still does mean that, but our oh so intelligent and all knowing educational masters of public school have once again pounded a new meaning into our heads at such a young age, we believed it. Notice the format of "united States of America". 'United' is in lowercase, States in uppercase, America uppercase. This isn't an English lesson, but it's typically assumed that important words are written in uppercase. That is a republican system, which is what we are if you believe in that old book, the Constitution. Notice it doesn't say and to the democracy, for which it stands. We are a united federation of republican states. That is our system. So saying we pledge allegiance to a republic, as one nation, is completely contradictory. Is that a silly claim to base a debate on? Yeah, but I figured I'd mention it anyway. Look at the rest of the term use. As Free and Independent STATES, THEY have full Power to levy War, Conclude Peace, blah blah. If the intent was to create on Leviathan of a nation, wouldn't it have been written that IT has the power to levy war, etc? This union of States was created all those years ago.

     "One nation, under God." That's something i see a lot of folks arguing about. I'd say it's pretty irrelevant forcing everyone to say under God. I'm as Christian as the next guy, but it isn't exactly Jesus' style to force people to pledge their allegiance to God. Christianity has always been about free will. And how can you preach separation between church and state, while at the same time forcing everyone to pledge their allegiance to the state AND God. Once again, contradictory. 

     Now let's get to the next literary victim. "One nation, under God, indivisible." Ah, there's the blind Nationalism we all know and love. I swear, had dishonest Abe not long been dead, I would say that came straight from his lips. We are one nation, and if anyone tries to divide it, we'll kill you all by the thousands until you conform. As it just wouldn't be American if it didn't involve using the War Between the

States as an example to all those who support republican ideals. If you truly believe secession is illegal and outlawed in this indivisible nation, what exactly was that called when the States withdrew from the Articles of Confederation? How about Kentucky? They petitioned Virginia to secede and become their own state, which happened with Virginia's blessing. How about the other state to the West? West Virginia? What is this magical occurrence that causes a state to leave and do its own thing? I don't see massacres or lawsuits underway there. Seems we aren't so indivisible after all. Yet another act of republicanism being written off as an archaic practice that no educated patriot would ever support today. Repeat their pledge enough times, and you'll see nothing wrong with it...which is the idea.

     So we pledge allegiance to the flag of the united States of America, even though they aren't really united States, they are actually just one state, and to the republic for which that states stands, though we are also one indivisible nation (and therefore opposed to anything republican-like). And if you think otherwise you're a traitor, under the God that our one nation doesn't believe in.

     Yep, who wouldn't want to recite an ingenious piece of literature like that for every day of their life? Somehow, I just don't think that's what our brave men died for.

Welcome to the Son of Gadsden blog!

     Welcome to the Son of Gadsden blog. This was a kind of strange idea for me to write. I won't blame you if you don't like blogs, personally, I don't either. This was an idea spawned by the persuasion of some friends and contacts, along with a desire to take some sort of stand on the perversion, corruption, and ignorance that seems to be spread by just about everyone in "the system". So, there's a good start. After reading that statement, you may think I'm some tin-foil hat wearing, paranoid, new world order conspiracy theorist. Nothing could be further from the truth. I'm just a regular blue collar guy (and I suppose now, part time political activist) that wants the world I live in to have integrity, truth, and enlightenment...and this is my way of attempting to do something about the lack thereof. The articles you will see here are based on rational thought and facts, rather than opinion of propaganda. The internet is filled with bloggers spewing ignorance and opinions no one cares about. My opinions are not different, therefore that's not what this blog is based on. And there is no greater factual document of rational thought than the United States Constitution.

     Now let's get on to the name of the blog. I've been kicking around the idea of this blog for months now. I've always been a writer (albeit a closet writer). I've written songs, short stories, poems, and I've done my share of political rants. This, however, is my first official avenue of writing. Facebook and twitter followers, whether they liked or disliked my views suggested that I make a blog so that I could better structure my posts into real articles and and easier platform for access and log. So, I threw around a lot of names, thinking the whole idea was silly for most of the time. Two of which were "I was a teenage anarchist" and "Son of Washington". I'm a huge Against Me! fan, and the title and song fit, but I'm not an anarchist, and don't want to misguide my readers, not to mention I wanted something original. The latter was a result of my hopeless Washington Redskins fandom. I was going to stick with that, but I found it counter productive to the point of this blog, I'll get to that. "Son of Gadsden" ended up being "the one". Why? Now for the history lesson:

     Some of you may have heard the name "Gadsden", others may know of him through his flag. That would be the classic "Don't tread on me" with the rattlesnake ready to strike above it. I'm a huge fan of the flag, but the name is deeper than that. I would find being the son of a flag a bit lifeless, spare the irony. The name use here refers to the first Marine Committee to accompany American cargo ships carrying supplies for the Continental Army. These Marines carried yellow colored drums with a rattlesnake with thirteen segments in its rattle (representing the thirteen colonies). One of these Marines was Continental Colonel Christopher Gadsden. Colonel Gadsden would later present the Continental Navy's newly appointed Commander-in-chief with the flag we all know and love, and now know as the Gadsden flag, to fly at the mainmast of his flagship. It doesn't take a genius to understand the point of the flag, as it is pretty straight forward, but I'll go into it a bit for those of you who may be new to it.

     This is an essay published by Benjamin Franklin in December of 1775. He suggested that the rattlesnake was an excellent symbol for America's spirit of Independence:

"I recollected that her eye excelled in brightness, that of any other animal, and that she has no eye-lids—She may therefore be esteemed an emblem of vigilance.—She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders: She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage.—As if anxious to prevent all pretentions of quarrelling with her, the weapons with which nature has furnished her, she conceals in the roof of her mouth, so that, to those who are unacquainted with her, she appears to be a most defenceless animal; and even when those weapons are shewn and extended for her defence, they appear weak and contemptible; but their wounds however small, are decisive and fatal:—Conscious of this, she never wounds till she has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her.—Was I wrong, Sir, in thinking this a strong picture of the temper and conduct of America?"

     As a side note, Franklin was not a fan of the bald eagle. He found it to be a bird of "bad moral character" that often stole food from other birds. He did not find that it was a "proper emblem for the brave and the honest".

     I believe in Franklin's comparison whole-heartedly, and would like to think I live my life that way. Our country was founded on that lifestyle, and I hope to encourage others to regain that frame of mind, and restore Americans to the proud, self sustaining, self governing, hard working, independent people we once were. If you follow this blog, you will find political stances based on fact and logic, and inspired from the spirit of 1776. That being said, if you are a Democrat, you probably will not like this blog. So, Republicans, you can breathe a sigh of relief. Just kidding, you probably won't like this blog either. In reality, members of each party (blasphemous to the Constitution as they may be) will likely find things to love and hate about this blog, so if you're still reading, don't say I didn't warn you. I call myself a Constitutionalist. Radio hosts and other political activists such as Mike Church may call it [r]epublicanism (emphasize the "little r"). My views are that that I have read from the pages of the United States Constitution rather than the fallacies and hypocritical statements of the parties. My goal here is to educate on the facts and the true ratified intent of the Constitution, and the ideals of republicanism held by our founders. You'll find these beliefs and ideals are somewhat dead in our country today, and downright suppressed by our politicians and school systems. You may not agree with, or even believe some of the things I will write, and if you believe I am wrong or wish to educate me, feel free to do so. I wouldn't be so arrogant as to hold the view that I hold all the answers. Being an FFL holder and a gunsmith, I'll also throw in some firearm reviews, tutorials, and such here and there. I may add a few new categories for this and that. I may even accept some new writers for the blog for some different stances and views. This is a new thing for me, and I'm not really sure what direction it will go.

And with that, I'll end my introduction. Thank you for reading.