Stand for freedom

by Tim Hancock, Stevensville

I turned 70 this year and as I reflect on this Veterans Day and my life as a whole, I am proud to have worn the uniform of this country and to have served. My service was honorable but undistinguished, but I served with some distinguished men I’m proud to have known. Part of my reflection is on the things I’ve witnessed over the years. Some things I wish I could unsee and never want to experience again, but in all cases I’m grateful for the experience as it made me a better man and made me who I am. I reflect today on the State of the Nation… and I never thought I would see her in this condition.

I lived through the sixties and that turmoil, but never would I have thought I would live long enough to witness what I am seeing today. We used to be able to disagree with our neighbor or coworker about politics or religion and still be neighbors and friendly. Not today in the cancel culture propagated by the left.

The Constitution of the United States was ratified in 1788 and that document guarantees the rights of the Citizens of the United States by our Creator. The Constitution has been under attack ever since. During and immediately after WW2, politicians from both sides of the aisle have eroded those rights and freedoms, tried and succeeded in moving power to the Federal Government from the people and States. But never more so than in the last 10 months under the current administration. This President, and the shadow government that controls this puppet, has done more to erode the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution than the previous 50 years, with, until recently, little or no push back from the public and very few politicians.

Within months totally ignored Immigration Law and threw open the border to “illegal” immigrants in unprecedented numbers along with criminals and illicit drugs. I never thought I’d see the government and U.S. Military abandon American citizens in a foreign country being taken over by terrorists. The loss of the 13 soldiers/sailor in the fiasco is another story! They have taken a virus with a 99% (+/-) survival rate and, helped by the mainstream and leftist media, created fear in the general populace and used that fear to implement mask and now vaccine mandates (including children) and a means to control the population… and to what outcome? The January 6th Capitol protest and unfortunate trespass by some has been used as a political tool and many American citizens have been imprisoned in DC federal prisons in horrible conditions, physical abuse, and solitary confinement without ever being charged with a crime. This encroachment upon our rights and freedoms in unprecedented in our history. The trajectory toward tyranny and totalitarianism is frankly frightening to those who watch and study history. Please educate yourself!

I’ve never seen this country so divided nor the outright attack on the freedoms of this country. When the whole world is running toward a cliff and the few people running in the opposite direction appear to have lost their minds – but, I think the whole world will figure it out soon enough, hopefully before it is too late. I for one will obey the Constitution and never bend to any threat nor cower to any earthly master and I feel that an organized minority will always overcome the disorganized majority. You are going to have to decide what you will tolerate and the less conviction you have for your freedom and rights, the more you will tolerate. I refuse to live in fear nor give up my freedoms and rights without a fight. A fight that first begins at the voting booth and hopefully never escalates from there. A fight to hold elected officials accountable to the Constitution and State Constitution. Get involved and don’t be complacent, inaction and stagnation will destroy this country. Find a local group and get involved, speak out and don’t hide in the woods while the country is destroyed. If the virus finds me, I won’t be cowering and living in fear, I will be living FREE as an American citizen.

I especially encourage you veterans to take a stand and push back wherever you can. Stand up for what many of you put your lives on the line for. This country is under attack from within and without by nefarious elites and others wanting to bring this country, a beacon of light for the world, down. We all should reflect on the sacrifices of those men and women who have served this country since its formation and paid a price for the freedoms we enjoy but are now under attack. Maybe we should remember those men/women in national cemeteries from Arlington, Gettysburg, etc. to those dozens of American cemeteries at Normandy and spread across Europe and the Pacific who died fighting for the freedoms we enjoy today but are under attack as never before. Americans in uniform have always gone to defend the freedoms of nations under attack from tyranny and those cemeteries honor those who died for those freedoms. Unfortunately, the attack that is coming today is mostly from within, the political left, socialists, Antifa, Marxist BLM and the very government itself in the form of elitist politicians, Gates and the ever-present Shadow Government or as some would call it, the Deep State. Not asking you to take up arms, but to put on the uniform of an American citizen and stand against tyranny and STAND FOR FREEDOM and make Ravalli County a bastion for freedom.