Our History of Revolt

The American Revolution was not something that people just suddenly decided should happen. There were social, economic and political changes taking place in our country for decades that changed the relationship between the colonists and the King / the colonies and the country of England. Finally, the colonists decided that they would live under tyranny no longer and they began to revolt.

When a group of colonists were so frustrated by the Tea Act because it violated their right to taxation through elected representatives, they boarded ships and dumped the tea into the Boston Harbor on December 16, 1773. Most of us understand their actions and no one dares to claim that this was “manufactured anger.”

Finally, war came in 1775 and the Declaration of Independence was written in 1776. Colonists wanted freedom to choose their own representatives, create their own taxes, and reap the benefit of their hard labor and difficult lives in a new land. No one doubted their sincerity.
When a few women called a meeting in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848, their Declaration of Sentiments began a struggle that argued equal treatment for women. This movement eventually led to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. This amendment provided the right to vote, regardless of one’s gender. No one would challenge that the women who held rallies, marches, and went to jail for this cause were dedicated to the cause.

In the late 1850s and early 1860s, slave-owning settlers became nervous about a centralized government with too much power – so much power that they could declare what the states could and could not do. A huge issue was slavery and while I am adamantly against slavery in any form, I can understand the desire for states to make choices without interference from a federal government. Today, we can see how the Southern states were certainly correct about the growth of the Federal government. Once it starts, it becomes a huge monster.

Before, during and after the Civil War, however, regardless of where you live or which side you would have fought for, no one would say that the deadliest war in American history was caused by “manufactured anger.” Nope. People on both sides were doggone mad and ready to fight for what they believed to be their undeniable rights.

When Malcolm X advocated “black power” in the early 1960s, he captured the attention of the media and the government – and both declared that this amazing man was exercising his right to freedom of speech.

He called white people “devils” and said:

“The day that the black man takes an uncompromising step and realizes that he's within his rights, when his own freedom is being jeopardized, to use any means necessary to bring about his freedom or put a halt to that injustice, I don't think he'll be by himself.”

No one said his anger was just “part of the Civil Rights Movement” and we should ignore him or report him to the White House terrorism office because he was advising the use of “any means necessary” to bring about reform.

When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger, no one said she was just doing what she was told as a leading member of the local NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored Persons). While I admire Ms. Parks for her refusal to give up the seat, do we not think for a minute that this was a “planned” and “organized” protest against segregation?

While Martin Luther King, Jr. advocated non-violent protest, he nonetheless stirred up some of the African American population to riots and revolts. No one claimed that this was “manufactured anger.”

When protestors took to the streets and called for abortion rights, eyebrows were raised, but no one claimed that those people weren’t sincere about what they believed.

When people protested the Vietnam War, Korean War or the Gulf War, no one accused protestors of faking their anger. And the protests received more coverage than the rallies supporting our troops or the funerals of our American soldiers who came home in coffins.
When gays and lesbians take to the streets and demand equal rights – including gay marriage, which would give equal treatment under the law (i.e. – YOUR tax dollars would go to support the gay partner under insurance plans, etc.) – NO ONE has said, “Gee, they’re just doing what they’re told as part of that left-wing liberal agenda.”

When you see photos of the riots, rallies, and marches or when you consider the fact that the LGBT community has DEMANDED a repeal of Proposition 8 – something that was voted on legally according to our Constitution and passed to deny homosexual marriage in California – NO ONE says, “Boy, they sure are SORE LOSERS!” Nope. They don’t say that. They say, “The vote was unduly influenced by a high turnout of a population of voters who normally don’t vote so that’s really not fair to them….”

Yet, the media has suddenly decided that the millions of people protesting the suggested reforms to health care are exhibiting “manufactured anger.” Not only is this insulting, but I can assure you – all of you liberal media, reporters, bloggers, lobbyists, congressmen, and you, Mr. President – that the anger we are experiencing is a lot of things, but it is not fake.

Our disgust with the health care package and the other things we see going on in Washington is quite sincere. The problem is not that the “right” is promoting anger amongst the people.
The problem is that you are in trouble because citizens have started to wake up and smell the stench coming out of Washington – the reek of wasteful spending, spoiled congressmen, laws stained with the blood of unborn children, and odors of something worse around the corner.

Sonya Haskins
www.thehomeschooladvocate.com