Thomas Paine: The American Crisis

O.K., I am officially sick of the hand wringers and bed wetters who are now having a fit of the vapors, swooning, wrending their garments, gnashing their teeth, and otherwise mewling over the recent resignation of Dr Sesbastian Gorka and the less recent resignation of Steve Bannon. I mean, over on The Gateway Pundit, folks are acting like they have glimpsed the Sweet Meteor of Death and have gone so far as to declare themselves over and done with Trump.

Really? I mean, really?

Here we are, not yet ten months into trump's first term and you're giving up that easily? Kinda reminds me of this guy:

Funny that they did not seem to be so despondent on November 8th when 62 million of us kicked Hillary and her asshole cabal to the curb. And they were exultant when Trump was inaugurated on January 20th, proclaiming that -- with a snap of The Donald's fingers -- the swamp would be drained. So here it is entering the last week of August and the vermin, snakes, insects, and pond scum that comprise the swamp have risen up and are fighting desperately to hang onto the turf that was theirs for the last -- what? -- eight, sixteen, or fifty years depending on how you call it.

It might do well for them (and ALL of us) to read the words Thomas Paine penned just a little over 240 years ago and this country was being borne. Here it is in its entirety. Feel free to clip and save, assholes:

The Crisis
by Thomas Paine
December 23, 1776

THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but "to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER" and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.

Whether the independence of the continent was declared too soon, or delayed too long, I will not now enter into as an argument; my own simple opinion is, that had it been eight months earlier, it would have been much better. We did not make a proper use of last winter, neither could we, while we were in a dependent state. However, the fault, if it were one, was all our own [NOTE]; we have none to blame but ourselves. But no great deal is lost yet. All that Howe has been doing for this month past, is rather a ravage than a conquest, which the spirit of the Jerseys, a year ago, would have quickly repulsed, and which time and a little resolution will soon recover.
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'Tis surprising to see how rapidly a panic will sometimes run through a country. All nations and ages have been subject to them. Britain has trembled like an ague at the report of a French fleet of flat-bottomed boats; and in the fourteenth [fifteenth] century the whole English army, after ravaging the kingdom of France, was driven back like men petrified with fear; and this brave exploit was performed by a few broken forces collected and headed by a woman, Joan of Arc. Would that heaven might inspire some Jersey maid to spirit up her countrymen, and save her fair fellow sufferers from ravage and ravishment! Yet panics, in some cases, have their uses; they produce as much good as hurt. Their duration is always short; the mind soon grows through them, and acquires a firmer habit than before. But their peculiar advantage is, that they are the touchstones of sincerity and hypocrisy, and bring things and men to light, which might otherwise have lain forever undiscovered. In fact, they have the same effect on secret traitors, which an imaginary apparition would have upon a private murderer. They sift out the hidden thoughts of man, and hold them up in public to the world. Many a disguised Tory has lately shown his head, that shall penitentially solemnize with curses the day on which Howe arrived upon the Delaware.
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I shall not now attempt to give all the particulars of our retreat to the Delaware; suffice it for the present to say, that both officers and men, though greatly harassed and fatigued, frequently without rest, covering, or provision, the inevitable consequences of a long retreat, bore it with a manly and martial spirit. All their wishes centred in one, which was, that the country would turn out and help them to drive the enemy back. Voltaire has remarked that King William never appeared to full advantage but in difficulties and in action; the same remark may be made on General Washington, for the character fits him. There is a natural firmness in some minds which cannot be unlocked by trifles, but which, when unlocked, discovers a cabinet of fortitude; and I reckon it among those kind of public blessings, which we do not immediately see, that God hath blessed him with uninterrupted health, and given him a mind that can even flourish upon care.
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I thank God, that I fear not. I see no real cause for fear. I know our situation well, and can see the way out of it. While our army was collected, Howe dared not risk a battle; and it is no credit to him that he decamped from the White Plains, and waited a mean opportunity to ravage the defenceless Jerseys; but it is great credit to us, that, with a handful of men, we sustained an orderly retreat for near an hundred miles, brought off our ammunition, all our field pieces, the greatest part of our stores, and had four rivers to pass. None can say that our retreat was precipitate, for we were near three weeks in performing it, that the country might have time to come in. Twice we marched back to meet the enemy, and remained out till dark. The sign of fear was not seen in our camp, and had not some of the cowardly and disaffected inhabitants spread false alarms through the country, the Jerseys had never been ravaged. Once more we are again collected and collecting; our new army at both ends of the continent is recruiting fast, and we shall be able to open the next campaign with sixty thousand men, well armed and clothed. This is our situation, and who will may know it. By perseverance and fortitude we have the prospect of a glorious issue; by cowardice and submission, the sad choice of a variety of evils - a ravaged country - a depopulated city - habitations without safety, and slavery without hope - our homes turned into barracks and bawdy-houses for Hessians, and a future race to provide for, whose fathers we shall doubt of. Look on this picture and weep over it! and if there yet remains one thoughtless wretch who believes it not, let him suffer it unlamented.

December 23, 1776

You should read this essay in its entirety. Paine not only laments the "Summer Soldier and Sunshine Patriot" but he goes on to describe Revolutionary affairs to date -- fully a year and a half after the first shots were fired at Lexington and Concord and the Battle of Bunker Hill two months after -- including the first battlefield defeats and the low points that the Continental Army was experiencing. And they had not even had to endure the travails of Valley Forge nor had they even reached the acknowledged turning point of the war -- the battle of Saratoga -- which was to come just a little under a year later. The ultimate victory would not come for four years after Saratoga. And yet the small army and only one-third of the colonists favored the struggle against one of the mightiest military and naval powers in the world.

Today, we have arguably half of the people in this nation who were brave enough to defy the swamp creatures back in November and wanted to start a revolution against the political swamp that is D.C. politics. Yet, now, some wilt now just because a couple of Trump's staff decide to take their war against the swamp creatures public and without the fetters and strict Rules Of Engagement that accrues to being part of the administration?

Disgusting and gutless!

I could go on, but you get the point. I will leave it at this: if the bed wetters and hand wringers been around back during the Revolution, we all would be wishing long life and prosperity to our good Queen Elizabeth!