I’m not a Texan, so I doubt that the event holds as much significance for me as it does for my readers from the Former Republic of Texas, but nonetheless today is a significant day historically, as it marks the beginning of The Battle of the Alamo, which would last until March 6th, at which time the army of Santa Anna would overrun and annihilate the defenders of the Alamo.
When I was a kid, I visited the Alamo in San Antonio, and while I was mostly enraptured by the displays, I couldn’t but help feel a deep sense of history and connection to the place. In my adulthood, the Alamo serves a mental reminder of the power of a few men who are willing to take a stand against tyranny – a few imperfect men at that, as many of the defenders of the Alamo were not saints.
Today, what can we as gun owners learn from the Alamo, and the eventual battle of San Jancinto? Well, the first is that we should not forget the Alamo, or the horrible election result of 2008; even more importantly we must not forget what got us that result – a moribund Republican party, and a “media” only too willing to carry water for our opponent. Just as important as remember what got us here is to remember that hope, liberty, and the fundamental concepts that made America great are not lost. Just as the fledgling Texas Revolution experienced a great loss at the Alamo, they eventually went on to win the Battle of San Jancinto, and win their liberty. I have read much doom and gloom lately in conservative blogs – so many people are saying that “this is it”, and “we’re all screwed now” because Obama is the president, or because they passed a terrible bill through Congress, or whatever. I’m here to say knock that shit off. It is 1) annoying as hell, 2) defeatist, and 3) mostly it’s just annoying as hell. I don’t have time for whiners or doom-n’-gloom prognosticators, because they don’t get anything done except kill morale.
We should remember the Alamo – both the real Alamo and our figurative Alamo in the 2008 election. We cannot forget however that no matter how bad things appear to be in the short term, that hope, real hope, liberty, and the things that the Texians fought for, the ideals on which this country was founded are not lost. We just need to make 2010 and 2012 our San Jancinto.
We cannot forget however that no matter how bad things appear to be in the short term, that hope, real hope, liberty, and the things that the Texians fought for, the ideals on which this country was founded are not lost. We just need to make 2010 and 2012 our San Jancinto.
I hope you’re right, I really do. I just wonder if enough of us will play the role of the Texians to make it happen.
Israel has Mosada where people made a stand against the Romans. They debate that the people committed suicide. Perhaps they did. I like to think that they held out as long as they could. In America we have the Alamo where we (Texans – not yet Americans, stood against the double dealing Mexican government).
As of late there have been several movements in Texas history scholars that point out the Battle probably should not have been fought in San Antonio basically due to the fact that there were not enough men in the Alamo to cover the fort well. It was a constant shifting of internal lines to man the walls. Yes 13 days were bought by the actions of less than 200 men. Yes reinforcements could have probably made it to the Alamo earlier on – but the big question is would they have made a difference? If you want a case of leadership failure look at the leader at Goliad during this time.
The building that people to in San Antonio is the chapel. Outside of the building is the plaza and the Long Barracks. This is true holy ground like Shiloh and Gettysburg. All this ground has helped shape our people.
I like your non defeatist ideals in your reasoning. We are not defeated. We might as gun owners lost a battle. Our danger with this group of people in elected positions now – is that they are willing to shorten discussion and debate on key items. They want to ram through their changes for government programs.
Perhaps a better direction to go is to rely less on government programs and later defeat these people that promote this type of debt financed legislation. The pork stuff has got to stop. We no longer can afford this pork chop thinking. We need to write our representatives and let them know what we want. They need to know that they don’t have to pass pork to get re-elected every time.
My worry today is that with this increased debt we are vulnerable to other countries financing our debt. People know that we get our oil from other countries. Our debt financing is our weakness that could be exploited by our enemies either in war or in future relations.
Our next round of battle looks to be over national healthcare, Medicare, Medicaid, and future entitlements like Social Security. We need to encourage discussion and debate to try to fix these problems not with a fast fix, but with the correct fix.
As gun owners we need to watch our rights: to purchase, own guns, own ammunition, conceal carry where available, and go shoot at ranges. My favorite sound is to just pull up to my local range and listen to others making the sound of freedom.
Thanks for noting this, Caleb. Sometimes folks get lost in the bravado and, well, Texan-ness of us Texans and lose sight of all the stuff that makes us the way we are.
I would offer one small correction, though:
I’m here to say knock that shit off. It is 1) annoying as hell, 2) defeatist, and 3) flat out wrong.
Being defeatist doesn’t necessarily mean they’re wrong. But they are in this case.