Freedom Heroes

My family, at least parts of it, came to the colonies from England and Wales before the Revolution. One loyal British subject ancestor, one of the original Rangers, the Snowshoe Soldiers, fought in the French and Indian War.

That ancestor fought in the Revolution alongside others who valued liberty above loyalty to the crown. Elected captain by his company, he led other farmers and tradesmen in the fight for liberty. Those are the people who fought, bled and died for our right to vote and everything else guaranteed by our Constitution and the amendments.

The majority of the people who fought in our Revolution were illiterate, poor people who came here to live their dreams, impossible to do where they had come from. In the British Isles and Europe they were constrained by law and custom to live within their caste and not complain. There could be little, if any, upward mobility and surely resistance to crown law was not permitted.

Resistance to crown law wasn't exactly permitted in the colonies but people like my ancestor chose to fight for what they viewed as their rights as Englishmen first, then independence. They bet it all, their lives and their possible futures, they had no fortunes, and lived their honor. These common people overthrew the crown in America and gave us what we have today.

Washington, LaFayette, Koskiusko, von Steuben and others would have had no one to lead if it had not been for the common people, Freedom Heroes, and this would be a far different place today. Other revolutionaries around the world followed in their wake.

Since that time our country's young men have stepped up to serve and fight as needed. Some were active in the Civil Rights battles of the nineteen-sixties and seventies. They have done this because what we have is worth defending.

Today the battle is against those who would take from us what the blood of heroes in the Revolution and Freedom Summer bought for us. This is no time to sit back and let the modern Tories take by guile what those Tories of old could not take by force of arms. It is time once again to wear the three cornered hat of the first Freedom Heroes.

-- submitted by Robert G.

Pledge of Allegiance

I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America

And to the republic which it defines

One Nation, Indivisible

With Liberty and Justice Restored to all.

-- Submitted by Steve S.

Freedom Slogan

Plant the seeds of freedom and let the cries ring out!
The mighty all now tremble because the timid will be free!

-- submitted by bronzedreams.com

Freedom Slogan

"Let's Win the Human Race--Stop Corporate Wars and Occupations"

-- Submitted by Linda J.

Freedom Slogan

Don't listen to the neo-cons:

Ignorance is NOT strength

War is NOT peace

Freedom is NOT slavery

let freedom reign in 2006

-- submitted by Mike T.

My Summers - A Civics Lesson

4th @ Estes Park mid 50's..3rd tallest lol

My heroes were Alvin York and Audy Murphy

John Wayne was an actor...me on right..

boy could we whup them injuns and nazi's

My sweetheart (what's her name) seeing

me off to Parris Island..summer 67

Dear John letter 3 wks later lol

I have seen and done a lot in the summers of my life, some I would just as soon forget. There was an innocence back then that has not served well for the future. Our greatest threat was always over there, we were America!! We kicked Nazi and Jap ass and we will do the same to the Commies. Kruchev had it right, we will be destroyed from within , not the Trade Unions, not the NAACP or the liberals at the ACLU, but it will be from the right and our government. How do you fight that? It's like pissing in the wind ...

I am so tired of the pompous asses on the right thinking they are the only patriots, how did this come to pass?

My summer of 63 was filled with change, I saw the voter rights march in Brownsville Tenn turn into carnage, with fire truck hoses and police dogs and night sticks swinging!!! The march had went to the right at the town square , as they passed , the fire trucks blocked their retreat and the cop cars stopped their advance and the beatings began.

We had our Yankee agitator from New York(white) , the cops arrested him right off , no resistance from him, basically non-violent! A day or two later my friend Fred and I skipped afternoon classes and went to his trial. When he walked in he was limping with two black eyes and his right arm in a sling, the only place for that to happen was the jailhouse. The hero of that day was the black Memphis lawyer defending him, trust me as a southern white boy in that day and time, you just did not see a black man stand up to white people and insist on being treated as an equal, but he did and he was, much to the chagrin of the audience around us, uppity nigger some body oughta kill him came out of more than one white males mouth.

That brings me to the summer of 06, where if you don't tow the line and do as we say do, then by God you are unAmerican, unpatriotic, anti war, lowlife scumbag who should be hung. That's the same mindset as in 63 , just a new generation.

How do we beat them? How do we counteract the rhetoric spewed forth by the Dan Coulters and Merry Milkins and Limpboughs(viagra helped) and O'reallys, who the moment you take a stand against them , out comes the flag and they wrap themselves in it , while they are wiping their ass with the constitution

Let's talk about it , I'm ready, I don't hate these people , I feel sorry for them. they don't know any better ..ignorance is bliss

About talked out, did me good just to write it down, don't know if it will see the light of day or not, doesn't matter

-- Submitted by Billy H.

Remembering Tom Paine

Nobody ever said anything any better than Tom Paine. Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of...America.

Tom Paine crying across the centuries:

"O Ye that love mankind! Ye that dares oppose not only the tyranny but the tyrant, stand forth!

- submitted by "Sunny Girl"

A "Freedom Slogan" Suggestion

- from "Argonaut":

"It's the Constitution, stupid."

But I have to say that New Hampshire has already done it for us. "Live
Free or Die."

The Fourth of July

Contributing - In The Spirit of “Freedom Summer 2006”

Want to contribute? Great.

Here’s the concept: We're dedicating this summer to freedom itself - and, in particular, to America's freedoms. We're calling it "Freedom Summer 2006." That name honors the brave souls who took part in the civil rights struggle during that first "freedom summer" of 1964.

These men and women risked everything during their Freedom Rides. They were young and old, black and white, male and female, Northern and Southern. Many of them were wounded, and three of them made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom when they were kidnapped and tortured to death in Philadelphia, Mississippi. (Remember their contribution on this Fourth of July, too. )

Remember that this fight belongs to all of us. Nobody is excluded: young or old, rich or poor, white or black, Southern or Northern, Progessive or true Conservative, Republican or Democrat or Green or undeclared.

This website is yours, if you can keep it. Its readers are its creators. The inspiration is "Sorry Everybody," which inspired so many people after the 2004 election.

Here's how it works:

You provide the content : You submit any content you like, provided it's in keeping with the "Freedom Summer 2006" theme. It can be text, photo, video, audio, or any combination of all of them. A suggestion, though: if it's text, video, or audio - try to keep it short.

You can post anything that you want to share with your fellow freedom-lovers - at home or around the world. Here are some suggested topics:

Give testaments to our freedom : What do you love about our freedom? Do you have an anecdote, an image, or a recording? Share it with the rest of us. It could be the inspiring story of a poor person voting for the first time, chasing Carolina fireflies at a summer picnic, or the memory of listening to Sly & the Family Stone sing "Hot Fun In The Summertime" when you were a kid. Doesn't matter - share it with us.

Let us know how much you appreciate our liberties. We'll take all your comments and make them an "open letter" - to our leaders, our country, our world - a tribute to liberty and a vow to defend it.

Honor our "Freedom Heroes": I've already honored Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner. They died for our voting rights - rights that are under attack in the ghettoes of Cleveland and the small towns of Florida. Who else should we honor? John Peter Zenger, who was imprisoned for criticizing his political leadership in a newspaper? Tell us.

Build a community : Got an idea for defending freedom in your area? Got an organization you want to build? Here's the place to do it.

Make concrete suggestions : How do we mobilize around the issue of protecting our freedoms? How to we reach out to other Americans, in different walks of life and of all political persuasions, to tell them what's at stake? What are some steps we can take to win this battle?

Propose a "freedom slogan": Here's my attempt, because I hate the terrorists and love our liberties: "I pledge to defend our freedoms against all enemies, foreign and domestic." But let's face it - I made it up, and it's lousy. You can do better.

There will be some simple rules: 1) There will be no comments - it's not a blog, although it sits on "blogger" right now. 2) You have to contribute in the proper spirit. If you want to debate other contributors, or the idea itself, take it elsewhere - like the comments section of the Huffington Post. 3) It's all "for fun and for free" - no hustling any personal projects.

Other than that, it's all yours.

(adapted from the announcement of “Freedom Summer 2006” in The Huffington Post)

How To Submit Your Work to "Freedom Summer 2006"

Here's how it works:

1. First, you create something you want to share that's consistent with the spirit of Fredom Summer 2006: A photo, a video, an audio recording, or a piece of writing.
2. Then, you send it to "freedomsummer@gmail.com."
   
3. If it requires any skill more technical than uploading a photo or embedding HTML from "YouTube," you tell the simpletons doing this project how to post it.
4. You let it go, emotionally or spiritually or whatever - in whatever manner suits you best!
   
5. The last step is - to live with the knowledge that you've sent a message about freedom out into the world. What happens then isn't up to any of us - but you've done something. Hokey - but true.

Why Do We Need Another "Freedom Summer"?

A small group of wealthy individuals will do or say anything to keep their power – and increase it. They’re busy turning the United States of America into their own private colony.

They’re not really “conservatives,” although they call themselves that. “They may use Burkean conservative philosophy when it suits them, but their real goal is power and wealth. Most Americans who call themselves "conservative" would want nothing to do with people like these, if they understood what they were really trying to do.

I call them “The New Tories.”

Like the original Tories, this cabal doesn't care about freedom or the public good. Like the original Tories, they don't believe in the fundamentals of human rights - abroad or at home. And like the original Tories, to them most Americans - black, brown or white, Northern and Southern, poor and middle-class alike - are nothing more than a servile class to be exploited and ignored.

To this pampered elite we only exist to buy the goods they produce, and to work in their offices, factories, and fields - unless they can find cheaper help elsewhere, of course, in which case we are to be tossed aside like spent shotgun shells.

Vote? Speak? Assemble? These rights are to be reserved for the privileged, not kept available for all. Think this is hyperbole? Then start reading the newspapers again (while you still can.) Enough information still penetrates the cloud of self-imposed spin to convince even the most skeptical - as long as they read with an open mind.

Hey, there's nothing wrong with getting rich. It's the American dream. But these guys don't want to get rich - they are rich, thanks to Daddy more often than not. They want to close the door for the rest of us so there's more for them.

And so, we’re fighting back. Our hope is that “Freedom Summer 2006” is the beginning of the end for the New Tories, and the start of a renewed dedication to freedom in the United States of America.

Freedom Summer Heroes: Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner

Presenting three"Freedom Summer heroes," Americans who died so that all would have right to vote - a right that's under assault now from Florida to Ohio, in a wave of "irregularities" that have disproportionately deprived minorities of the right to vote.

( more on Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner)

Introducing Freedom Summer 2006

Brave people fought - and some died - to bring civil rights in the Freedom Summer of 1963. We need a new Freedom Summer today, a Freedom Summer that will protect our most precious rights - our rights of speech, of privacy, of assembly, and to choose our leaders in free and fair elections.

We need a Freedom Summer for all Americans - for, as was observed in 1963, when one of us is not free then none of us is truly free.

The heroes of 1964 were guided and inspired by the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. We begin with the same words: