Sunday, April 12, 2009
Here we go again, at the shrine of Texas.
Throughout our history, brave, defiant fighters have armed themselves to stop oppressors, slavedrivers, tyrants, despots and punks of every stripe.
It doesn’t really matter who these oppressors are. We stop them all — Redcoats forcing taxation without representation, British goons coming after our guns, rioting gangs burning down the neighborhood in the name of Rodney King.
Bring it.
We don’t really care about the origin of evil, but we know it when we see it. Free men know that it must be halted by whatever means necessary.
Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, Col. William B. Travis and a ragtag cadre of courageous freedom fighters saw the steamroller of oppression metastasizing from Mexico those many years ago. They made their gallant stand at the Alamo. One hundred and eighty-six militia men, rough-and-tumble squirrel hunters and deer hunters, stood against thousands from Santa Anna’s army, crippling it just enough to be broken in the final showdown at San Jacinto.
Freedom was a bloody line drawn in the Texas sand.
Thank God that today the same intense, defiant spirit rages on in the belly of an otherwise soft, spoiled nation.
Like the sleeping giant roused by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, we the American people once again find ourselves with our backs against the wall. It’s time to protest a federal government out of control — corrupt, unaccountable.
We now have in office a U.S. Constitution-defying gang of bureaucrats running amok and turning on their employers, you and me.
Well-organized citizen protests, called Tea Parties, are gaining momentum across America. They borrow the name from that historical tax protest in Boston Harbor.
No better place exists for a Texas Tea Party than San Antonio at the shrine of Texas, of liberty, the Alamo.
I will be joining my friends Glenn Beck, the good Gov. Rick Perry, U.S. Navy SEAL hero Marcus Lattrell and a few thousand like-minded patriots who have not forgotten that America is a glorious experiment in self-government. The time has come for as many “selfs” as possible to stand up and take our country back.
Outraged by the not-so-stimulus spending orgy in a bill that no one even read, unauthorized bailouts, an unbelievable bonfire of wasted tax dollars too huge to imagine, we the people will peacefully demonstrate our heartfelt concerns. We will gather with civility, goodwill and decency, to shout it loud and proud that we simply will not take it anymore.
With the spirit of Crockett, Bowie, Travis, Charlton Heston and Martin Luther King Jr. in my soul, I will take the stage at the Alamo around 4 p.m. Wednesday — Tax Day — to speak my mind, celebrate freedom and perform a fire-breathing rendition of the National Anthem on my American-made guitar. I shall create a rousing soundtrack for righteous defiance across the land.
With hero warriors of the U.S. military in attendance, my guitar will not gently weep.
We hope our fellow Texans join us where Col. Travis’ warrior ethos steeled his men for battle. “God and Texas, victory or death.” Let’s get it on.
Ted Nugent is a Waco-based musician and television show host. Contact him directly at tednugent.com.
