In 1776, many Americans were poor dirt farmers, roving merchants and indentured servants who often lived from hand to mouth. We were struggling peasants immersed in the day-to-day struggle for survival. But we were taken with a dream of creating a new society free from the shackles of the overlord. We dared to unite in defiance of two formidable obstacles.
One was the British empire’s supreme monarch, King George III. Like all emperors, tsars and sultans, he exercised cruel, entitled power unrestrained by any law. We The People of the colonies yearned for a legal system under which all people would be accountable.
The other obstacle was the utter compliance a royal father figure could exact from some subjects, turning friend against free-thinking friend. “Loyalists” believed in the divine right of kings, and worshipped the rich celebrities of their day.
But the rest of us were unimpressed by wealth and power; we believed in the strength of our worker unity. We were willing to risk our lives against a mighty sovereign, based on our trust for and appreciation of our fellow workers. It was they who shared our hard labor in the fields, our passion for freedom and our love for our hungry families — not some entitled elite who had never worked a day.
Still, revolution was a big gamble: Would our fellows sell us out or hold true? Could a nation of workers trust each other? Could we self-govern? Through an imperfect evolution of thought and practice, a new worker’s government was born. Our revolution inspired workers around the world to throw off their chains and claim their future.
The reptilian eyes of oligarchs are focused on our democracy. We can see them devising ever more sophisticated methods to regain control, fine-tuning the messages that make us cynical, divided, tuned out and apathetic. In this new and different world, our task remains the same as our forefathers’ task: to protect every American’s rights by standing strong together. We may have different cultures, but no American bends a knee for a king.
We have the power to secure the rights of every American to a decent life, to equal participation, and to freedom from persecution. That’s our strength: an America of, by, and for the people.
Kirby MacLaurin
Durango, Colo.
Double
standard
I’m a recently turned 68-year-young man who is only a high school grad (PSJA 1973) but is worried about a double standard between our races. It’s bad enough when coach Jack Del Rio (Spanish American) was fined $100,000 by head coach Ron Rivera (Puerto Rican American) because Del Rio said the Capitol riot was a “dust-up,” while 604 black looters and rioters in Minneapolis were charged for crimes done to the business owners who lost everything.
Yet the mostly white Capitol rioters are now being taken to court!
And now a black, gay WNBA star, Brittney Griner, who is in a Russian jail because she was found with hash oil is now being tried in court but now there is pressure from black sports stars and the liberal media are demanding that she be released. There are white Americans detained in Russia for years, yet there is no one other then their families asking that they be let be go. Why are not the blacks and the liberal media not demanding their release? Plus, where is “Sleepy Joe” in all of this?
I remember a Mexican American saying: “We’re either children of God or children of the devil!”
Ricardo Rosales
Pharr
