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.