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RobMc's avatar

Hey, Chris, I’ve read a good many of your posts now, and I pretty much invariably appreciate them. This evening, having grown tired of reading way the hell too much, “There’s COCKROACHES in the KITCHEN!!!” whinging from way the hell too many sources, I decided to go way back in the Way Back Machine and see what my some of fav authors were writing 2-3 years ago, and see if their style and focus had changed, or had been changed.

Anyway, here I am in 2021. Excellent piece, I think. The YouTube dude was brilliant.

I think you are spot-on in your perspective of the Colonialists’ “gentlemanly patience”. That they endured fairly significant, Kingly, oppression for 12-15 years before they took the gloves off, has always fascinated me. They were truly Gentlemen Revolutionaries. (With Washington arguably being THE quintessential Gentleman Revolutionary.) And you can argue that they really didn’t take their gloves off; their gloves were taken off by the events of Lexington and Concord. They may have continued to be gentlemen for many more years—perhaps—had the events of that day-evening-morning not occurred. We’ll never know.

So, you get a 5/5 for staying the course, sir.

Godspeed.

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Chris Bray's avatar

Do you know the story of Major John André?

https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/john-andre/

Washington was always a gentleman, even in the darkest moments.

Thank you for reading all of this. Not many people do.

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RobMc's avatar

Yes, the André episode was detailed in Ron Chernow’s excellent biography of Washington. Chernow’s book should be mandatory reading in public schools, say for highschool seniors. It is a magnificent portrait of the labored birth of our Republic.

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Cape Tribulation's avatar

You describe in no uncertain terms our double-bind, catch-22 situation. I now find myself considering any piece of legislation coming out of DC with suspicion - how can “they” turn whatever it is against us? They have criminalized our 1st Amendment if not our entire Bill of Rights, but worse, applicable only against patriots. (Oh and love that “bastard child of Margaret Thatcher”.)

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Tim Rohde's avatar

Awesome

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Jellyfish's avatar

This is really wonderful. Thank you so much for the essay and its concluding clip. The comments to the clip apply equally to your great message.

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Chris Bray's avatar

Much appreciated! Please pass the thing around, and spread the word. My current readership would fit in my living room, and I'd like to grow it. There are interesting discussions to be had.

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Jellyfish's avatar

Keep at it. Writing of this quality will get recognised in due course. Bon courage!

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