Common Sense

Here’s something to read and think about - not only while on the way to vote, but anytime. It’s an email I received. Some of it has the earmarks of being spurious, but there’s no hiding the essential truth contained in it. Here it is:

HOW LONG DO WE HAVE?

This is the most interesting thing I’ve read in a long time. The sad thing about it, you can see it coming.

I have always heard about this democracy countdown. It is interesting to see it in print. God help us, not that we deserve it.

How Long Do We Have?

About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh , had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years earlier:

‘A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government.’

‘A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.’

‘From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.’

‘The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years’

‘During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence:

1. from bondage to spiritual faith;

2. from spiritual faith to great courage;

3. from courage to liberty;

4. from liberty to abundance;

5. from abundance to complacency;

6. from complacency to apathy;

7. from apathy to dependence;

8. from dependence back into bondage’

Professor Joseph Olson of Hemline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the 2000 Presidential election:

Number of States won by: Democrats: 19 Republicans: 29

Square miles of land won by: Democrats: 580,000 Republicans: 2,427,000

Population of counties won by: Democrats: 127 million Republicans: 143 million

Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Democrats: 13.2 Republicans: 2.1

Professor Olson adds: ‘In aggregate, the map of the territory Republican won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of this great country. Democrat territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare…’ Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the ‘complacency and apathy’ phase of Professor Tyler’s definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation’s population already having reached the ‘governmental dependency’ phase.

If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegal’s and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years.

If you are in favor of this, then by all means, delete this message. If you are not, then pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake, knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom.

Thanks for reading. Please pass this along

According to www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/tyler.asp, Tyler never wrote a book by the title cited, nor did any Professor Olson of “Hemline University School of Law” contribute any of the above. (Heck, it seemed suspicious to me in the first place that any professor from any college in Minnesota would write such a thing - or could, without getting canned.)

But, like a Revolutionary War screed written by “Publicola” or “Novangelus”, the minor facts pale in face of core truths contained within.

When I posted this on the Appleseed forum at www.rwva.org someone made this cogent response on why every person is important to the Appleseed effort:

Appleseed is the first step for many. The first step that allows the wool to be pulled off of their eyes, as to who really “owns” this nation. To the fact that ONE PERSON can have a positive impact on this nation.

I like to bring up at shoots, that the excuse of “I am just one person” does not cut it.

One person, said “Are we going to let them burn down our town?”

One person said, “Put two lanterns in the steeple”

You are all here, due to the efforts of just one person. The efforts of one person, is why you are here, at this shoot. The efforts of one person, started the whole Appleseed program.

The dedicated, persistent American is a might, might force. The tales we tell of the Americans of 1775, is not about “groups”, mostly of “individuals”.

It is the action of one person, the one you get to greet in the mirror every day that is the one that is important. Do you sit, “being an american” or do you stand up and act like an American?!?

We are here, in hopes of preserving the nation, by getting folks to individually stand for America. ‘Doing” what they can, in their corner of their state, in their “America”.

There are over 300 million “individuals” in this nation. If we can just get 1/1000th of a percent of them to actually be active, to “preserve and defend” the foundations of this nation, that is one serious force for Freedom.

Being American is not a spectator sport, it is active participation. No requirement to face Red Coats at 65 yards, 18″ bayonets, prospects of gangrene, losing family and friends, just work on your corner of the country, doing what you can, doing what many others are already doing via the Appleseed Project.

On your way to the polls, or any time in every day life, think about it: Appleseed is about hope.

Appleseed is about empowering you to save a country.

Appleseed is about associating with fellow Americans in a common endeavor, a noble one, to pass liberty on to the next generation by waking current generations to the debt we owe the founders of this great nation.

How can you resist it?

Dear Rush,

The other day you mentioned being asked at a social gathering by someone concerned about things, “What do we do?” - and you pointed out what this person really meant is “what can be done - and not by me?”

I had to smile.

Three years ago, I started up a program to relink Americans to their historic past - specifically, the events that started it all, on April 19th, 1775.

The vehicle chosen was to conduct weekend-long rifle marksmanship courses at which, in addition to learning how to shoot, participants receive a healthy dose of the ‘real’ events of that long-ago day, the version they don’t hear in school.

It’s amazing, the almost universal positive response from old and young, and all in-between, that we get when we tell this story. You sometimes can’t help but notice people with “moisture in their eyes”.

Some of the questions they get answers to: Who fired the first shots at Lexington? (Historians may not know, but riflemen do. The answer lies in comparing marksmanship performance of Americans and Redcoats at both Lexington and Concord’s North Bridge, in which case it’s clear the Redcoats opened fire first at Lexington.)

When and where was the American Revolution won? (Hint: It was not at Yorktown… John Adams said the American Revolution was won in the “hearts and minds of Americans” - and was won “before the first shot of the Revolutionary War was fired.” He and his cousin Sam drew a sharp distinction between the Revolutionary War - a collection of events and dates to be consigned to the history books - and the American Revolution, which was supposed to never die, but live on in the hearts and souls of Americans until the end of time…)

When and where did the Revolutionary War start on April 19, 1775? (Hint: It was not at Lexington Green, where firing broke out, and then died away - we call it “the first strike of the match” - nor was it at the North Bridge, where firing again broke out, but again died away - we call it “the second strike of the match”. No sir, the War broke out at an obscure spot in the road between Concord and Lexington known as “Merriam’s Corner”, where the Redcoat rear guard turned and fired on American militia following them - and from then on down the road to Boston, fighting was intense and continuous - we call this “the third strike of the match” - when the War actually caught fire - BTW, a recommended book on the first day of the American Revolution is David Fischer’s “Paul Reveres’ Ride”.)

We started this program in NC in 2006, and that year traveled to over a dozen states, putting on 18 of these events, and recruiting more volunteers to teach both the marksmanship and the history.

Why the marksmanship, you ask?

The easy answer is in our slogan: “April 19, 1775 - When Marksmanship met History, and Liberty was born…” (Without marksmanship, it might never have happened…..)

The second year, 2007, we expanded to 47 weekend events across the nation (we call these “Appleseeds” after Johnny Appleseed, who traveled the nation planting apple seeds, not so he could enjoy apples, but so future generations could enjoy apples…)

This year, 2008, the third year of the program, we’ve done 130+ (haven’t finished the year, yet) - and next year, we are planning on 300 “Appleseeds”. [Update: 2009 is shaping up to have 400, not 300, Appleseeds!]

Let me give you an example of how this unusual program works. A Wisconsin guy came to the April Appleseed in California this year.

He went back all enthused to Wisconsin, and talked his reluctant wife (who is a grandma) into coming with him to the Appleseed in Illinois in July. She didn’t want to - didn’t want to “lay out in the dirt, in the sun, with the bugs, dealing with sweat,” etc. - but agreed to come, as long as her husband would agree to bring her home Sunday for her daughter and son-in-laws’ birthdays.

So, on the long drive Saturday night back up to Wisconsin, talking over their experience that day at Appleseed, there occurred a silence. Then (the husband reports) she blurted out, “do you think we can cancel the birthday parties tomorrow, and come back for the Sunday Appleseed?”

She is now an Instructor-in-Training in this program, because she believes that this program has the potential to turn this country around. I agree with her.

We intend to keep doubling this program every year, training new instructors, and bringing more people to learn a traditional American skill while immersing them in a heritage they never knew about. By 2012, we should be greeting the 100,000th Appleseeder; by 2016 (another election year), number 1,000,000. Can we do it? I don’t know, but just as they stood up for Liberty on April 19th, 1775 - with no guarantee of victory, simply grit and determination - well, so can we…

Rush, every American we reach with this program is an American alive to the history, and unlikely to lose sight what the founders intended, or what price they paid.

We tell them, “to remember, is to honor”, and we quote John Adams to the effect that “posterity, you will never know the price my generation paid for your liberty. If you ever forget - if you ever forget - we will regret we ever made the effort.” (That’s a powerful quote, and faces are very serious, after they hear it, you bet.)

This program is all volunteer - not a soul is paid.

It’s been a thoroughly enjoyable effort, but at the same time a frustrating one, because we run across so many Americans like the one who asked you, “What can we do?” When all the time he means, “What can be done?” or “What can anyone-but-me do?”

We’ve found that even Americans who volunteer to help us often don’t know how to “do anything” anymore, and we have to educate and show them how to do something most of them have never done before in their lives - actually get off the couch and take action to accomplish a goal, one we call The Mission.

The Mission being to put their fellow Americans in touch with their history and heritage, so that they will have an unshakable anchor to hold them steady when a politician starts talking sweet talk to them.

We have a website at www.rwva.org which I hope you will visit.

Naturally, if you’d like to come to an Appleseed (we have a growing program in Florida!), we’d be delighted to have you, and keep you as anonymous as possible if you want, so you can really see it as it is.

Oh, I forgot to mention: This year April 19th fell on a Saturday, so we held the first coast-to-coast memorial shooting event in our nation’s history, with 13 Appleseeds that weekend, from CA to TX to IL to FL to NC to MA. And one part of it was a simultaneous coast-to-coast 13-rd shoot in honor of the founders. (Some of the Appleseeds read off names of the dead in between shots - and it moved some participants to tears.)

Next year (2009), April 19th falls on a Sunday, and we plan 50 Appleseeds from coast-to-coast! [Update: The total was 53, and we're planning 200 for next April, in 2010.]

If you agree with me this is a deserving program, perhaps you can help plug this next year.

If you will permit me, I’d like to end on a favorite George Washington quote from the War:

“…Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions — The Eyes of all our Countrymen are now upon us, and we shall have their blessings, and praises, if happily we are the instruments of saving them from the Tyranny mediated against them. Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world, that a free man contending for Liberty on his own ground is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth.” - George Washington, 1776

In a way, it sums up the Appleseed program. We have little to rely upon save the Goodness of the Cause, and the Aid of the Supreme Being - and convincing our fellow Americans “that a free man contending for Liberty on his own ground is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth”.

Like the Rev War, if we win this second Revolution, one to reconnect Americans to the “Spirit of ‘76″, it will be a miracle. But it was done once before…

Thank you, Rush, if you have read this far…

A Volunteer named Fred
919-663-2027

I recently received this Personal Message from a forum member (”Cav”) on the www.rwva.org site, with the words “I am a retard” in the “subject” line:

Fred, I have been searching through to forum half the night to get all the current plans for AS - “the structural, scheduled, organized way”, one of the “cores” of AS that you have laid out. Can you point me in the right direction. I want to be “on board’ all the way. If you could get me there I would be that much better off. I would hate to look like a jackass and spout off on something that you have said AS wont do. Thanks

My response may help lay out the program for you a bit:

Cav, if you can translate that “I am a retard” into German, you might have a political rallying cry for the next Brandenberg Gate speech by a US president.

The “plan” has been laid out so many times, and so many places…

I suggest you search on “doubling 2012″ as the likeliest way to get one or more hits - but the search function sometimes doesn’t turn up stuff I know is there, even if most of the time it works OK.

Briefly, the “doubling” is to create a program with max impact at earliest date.

By starting with “1,000 Appleseeders” for the first year, 2006, of the program, it works out like this:

2007: 2000

2008: 4000

2009: 8000

2010: 16,000

2011: 32,000

2012: 64,000 This year is a key Appleseed year - an election year, and the first year our numbers hit six figures. I look forward to shaking the hand of “the 100,000th Appleseeder” sometime in 2012 (when you add in all the previous years to the 2012 total). And I will ask the question: “We now have 100,000 Americans on the road to being Riflemen! Shall we stop now?” and hope to hear a thunderous assortment of “No”, “No Way!”, “Keep Going!” etc.

If we can continue to double (there’s no guarantee, of course - but who are we to ask for guarantees, when there were none on April 19th, 1775? Besides, if you’re saving your country, how can you do otherwise?), then a second important crossroads is yet another election year - 2016 - when Appleseeder #1,000,000 passes thru the program - and I will again ask, “Should we stop now?”

“Doubling” of course gets more problematic as we continue. We could fail to double as early as next year - or ten years from now (4,096,000 Appleseeders, BTW) - but there’s a pool of from 40 mil to 80 mil gunowners, so it’s a very deep potential pool, indeed.

Ultimately, it will come down to a question: Do the American people want to save their country?

If they do, they will get off the couch, and do it. If they don’t, they won’t.

All we can do is try and reach as many of them as possible with as effective a message as possible.

Now, to round out the dissertation with the “other core” of AS, it’s to say that “Appleseed is a program about action - about 1. getting off the couch, 2. getting to an Appleseed, 3. learning to shoot like a Rifleman - and then 4. becoming an Instructor, and 5. teaching your fellow Americans.” Ultimately, and eventually, you’ll be training Instructors - “training the trainers” - surely about as much multiplying your efforts as you can get.

It goes without saying that a heavy dose of history and heritage is ladled out to all these newly-awake Americans - in fact, serves to “wake them up”.

Maybe you want to start a new forum topic, “The Core of Appleseed” and post “Fred asked someone to lay out the principles and goals of Appleseed, so I am taking him up on that” - and then post the above - so I can come on and give you a big “pat on the back”.

[from a post by Junior Birdman at www.rwva.org/forum/]

Goals are a fine thing. We all shoot for certain goals in our personal or professional lives. Setting and achieving goals is a healthy and normal part of life. Those without goals are usually the slacker types, satisfied with where they are or what they are accomplishing in life. Going nowhere, but it’s OK.

But you’re not the slacker type, right? Nope, or you likely wouldn’t be reading THIS post. No, you’re the type who sets goals. Some of them are quite lofty. You have a lot of things going on in your life, but you still manage to work on those goals and you meet and even exceed them at times. You don’t let things stop you or get in the way of attaining your goals, big or small. Sure, there are obstacles, but you work at it and find a way to make it happen.

And you know the feeling you get when you realize the vision? That feeling that picks you up and carries you through the next few days just a little higher. You walk a little faster, laugh a little easier.

Then you start to think about that next goal. The one that’s been percolating in the back of your mind. And not being the slacker type, you set about making the next goal happen.

Appleseed is much the same way. We started out with a goal to double in size every year.

Now, if you just take a minute to think about that, it’s really a huge goal: Twice the size we were this time last year……… Only half as big as we’ll be this time next year. Wow! It’s a bit daunting, even for me who’s been in this thing a while and seen some goals achieved, even smashed.

The biggest obstacle we have isn’t finding places to hold Appleseed shoots. It’s not even finding people who want to learn to shoot well and learn a bit about their heritage of marksmanship.

The biggest obstacle facing this project is getting enough instructors.

This bears repeating for emphasis:

THE APPLESEED PROJECT’S BIGGEST OBSTACLE IS GETTING ENOUGH INSTRUCTORS.

Look, we’re a bunch of goal oriented people at Project Appleseed, and as such, we intend to overcome all obstacles in our way. But I have to admit that this obstacle has me very frustrated.

How can we NOT have “would be” instructors beating our doors down? I mean, here is a project to help Americans wake up, change things, set and achieve goals, and become real Americans again. I would think that EVERY shooter who’s been to an Appleseed event would be signing on to hit the “Appleseed Trail”, that every shooter who earned that Rifleman’s patch would be begging for an opportunity to show others what he’d learned, wake them up, set them on a life course to be a better American.

But it’s just not so. In fact, believe it or not, some shooters think that the Rifleman’s patch IS the goal. Somehow they got the idea that if they could just score better than 210 on the AQT and get that little green patch, that they could “check off” that square and move on to their next goal of learning to fly that RC helicopter or shoot a golf score under par.

To them, Appleseed is just a way to achieve THEIR goal. They walk a little faster, laugh a little easier for about a week. And then we never hear or see them again. They just vanish. And Appleseed goes on without them. And we both lose.

They never even see the REAL goal right in front of them. The real goal isn’t about them.
In fact, it’s not even about Appleseed. It’s about the country. It’s about knowing what the men and women of 1775 did to secure OUR future, not theirs. It’s about a whole country chock full of people who have no idea about what it truly means to be an American. It’s about their own posterity and how they will live in the future.

Don’t believe me? Then read this. In fact, read it a few times. Slowly. Let it sink in.

“Posterity, you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it”

This was written by John Adams, a man with a goal. He had the wherewithal to work hard at his goal, and to see it through. His goal was preserving YOUR freedom. And on the day he wrote this he had ridden out on a horse to see for himself the aftermath of the actions on 19 April, 1775 on the road from Boston to Concord.

He saw burned out houses. He saw refugees streaming from their homes with their belongings on their backs. He rode around dead bodies in the road. He saw the widows weeping over their just buried husbands. He saw the ragged, bloody bandages wrapping the torsos and severed limbs of the country folks who had stood against tyranny and oppression and paid the price for YOUR liberty.

And he knew that the “goal” that lay ahead was even more incredible because he and every other “traitor” was now a wanted man and that the only thing that would save their life was victory. The goal became victory!

Nothing short of victory. The victory of a land of farmers and merchants and mechanics and laborers over one of the mightiest countries in the world! You think your goals are lofty? These men and women endured nearly 9 years where there was never enough to eat, never enough to keep them warm, never enough of anything to go around, and the ever present certainty of a hangman’s noose should they fall into the hands of the King’s men.

When you consider your goals, please consider your obligation to your country, your family, and your posterity. And consider joining us here at the Appleseed Project as an Instructor. Set your goals a little higher. Become a “Red Hat” with the RWVA and help us meet the goals we’ve set. (And just like that Rifleman’s patch, we don’t give Red Hats away. You have to EARN it!) In doing so, you’ll uncover a new American inside that you didn’t even know was there. And that American (and other Americans) will thank you.

We have in place 3 ways to help you achieve your new goal to become a Red Hat Instructor:

The “Appleseed Trail” method allows you to take a pace that works for you. You simply attend an Appleseed and express your desire to become one of the greatest rifle instructors on the planet. Then you just work at subsequent Appleseed events under the watchful eye of Red Hat Instructors who will train you and get you on your way.

The Rifleman’s Boot Camp, (RBC), method is a 6 day course that takes you through all the finer points of being a Rifleman and trains you to teach others what you’ve learned. You’ll even get a chance to teach Americans how to shoot and about their heritage at the Appleseed weekend that follows the Boot Camp.

The Instructors Boot Camp, (IBC), method is an intense 3 day course, (And sometimes an even more intense 2 days), that will take someone who is already a Rifleman, or darn close to it, and get them up to speed to engage shooters on the line at an Appleseed, troubleshooting and teaching other Americans about their heritage and marksmanship skills.

So there’s no excuse to put it off any longer. You can choose how you want to become an instructor, whichever way suits you best.

The main thing is to set the goal. You can’t improve, you can’t help other Americans, you can’t achieve your goal until you set it.

And in doing so, you’ll become a part of an organization that has as it’s goal the most noble and worthy object we can achieve here on this earth: The preservation of LIBERTY. Not just for ourselves, but for POSTERITY.

Still not sure about setting that goal? Just ask anyone who’s been there what it means to them. JB

[from a post on the RWVA forum:]

I have had the pleasure of spending some time, the last couple of weeks, with some quality Riflemen, and it has given me cause to reflect on Riflemen in general.

We talk about “Rifleman Standards” in marksmanship, shooting “Rifleman” and the steps and skills required to do both. We often speak of “persistence” being key for a Rifleman, and how a Rifleman conducts their self, while at the range and in shooting.

There is a glimpse in the discussion of Riflemen of the Revolutionary War, as to the spirit of a Rifleman. There is discussion of Riflemen being different in thoughts and actions, but in the course of a 2-day Appleseed, it is tough to convey this properly, and less time to have it demonstrated by the students.

Being in the presence of Riflemen, those that have gained that confidence of overcoming huge odds and mastering a skill that few have. Those that are truly humbled by the long line of American Riflemen that have proceeded them, from then to now. Those that have tasted the grit and determination, not just from the Appleseed trail, not just from becoming a master of their rifle, but that same grit that our Founders much have tasted as they worked to forged this nation.

“You know it when you see it”, was heard by my ears several times…..it rang true. You know a Rifleman, when you see one. They may not have the patch or score (yet) to display the fact, but the fact still remains.

Overcoming a feat that very few Americans have experienced, and joining a group of Americans that have been the cornerstone of this nation from day one, well, it puts a certain air of “determination” around a person. An ‘aura’ of humble confidence, dare I say, of someone who knows what they are about.

This is something that is recognizable by not only other Riflemen, but most who view this person. Though the “untrained” eye may not be able to identify what it is, or why it is, they know it is different.

So, Rifleman is more important than just a score or shooting skill. The Patch is a symbol of determination and will. Same as a Rifleman is more capable than thousands of other non-Rifleman, with a rifle, the Rifleman is vastly more capable than thousands of non-Rifleman in everyday functions as well. They carry with them the confidence that they can “will” and “persist” through any issue. They can find and implement the solution to the problems that they may face.

This confidence gives a Rifleman a boldness, something seldom seen in modern Americans today. However, this confidence is moderated by the knowledge that Americans greater than he have sacrificed, great sacrifices, for him to have the blessings of today. This confidence is moderated by the understanding that the generations to come are relying on him for the preservation of this nation, for their blessings.

While a Rifleman has confidence, he has the debt he owes on the front of his mind, and the weight of the obligation he has, on his shoulders.

At Appleseed, we do our best to “bring history alive”. It’s not all dry facts. It’s not all a droning retailing of dead history.

“The Story” of April 19, 1775 is about Americans and their relationship to Liberty - both then - and now.

So, at various times in the story, we compare and contrast between now and then, and ask “makes you think” questions.

First up, for me, is usually The Choice. Why did they make the choice they did on April 19th, 1775? Why, when it would have been much easier to stay home in a warm bed?

It was a warm bed on one side of the balance, and legal, medical, insurance, risk assessment/effectiveness issues, and no guarantees on the other - all, from a 21st-century point of view, weighing pretty heavily against getting involved.

Legal: To go from a loyal subject of the Crown to a felon, a traitor, and treason in the time it took to squeeze the trigger on a flintlock - in a era when any redcoat officer could authorize hanging you from the nearest tree - and knowing that the shot was a “die is cast” moment. In other words, you “can’t go back again” - for the next 24/7/365-plus, you either fought your way to victory, or were likely to be adjudged a traitor, and face the consequences.

As we make that point, we ask the attending Appleseeders “what choice would you have made?” (I usually indicate I’d have to gulp pretty hard in making the ‘right’ choice, if I’d've made it at all…)

Medical: People have to understand, if they are to appreciate the magnitude of the decision required on 4/19/1775, that there was no medical support worthy of the name. You go out and face British lead and steel, and you basically live with whatever happens. Not much you can do. The notion that a body hit was a blessing, as it guaranteed a fast death, compared to a hit in arm or leg, which likely led to a lingering and painful death should convey the message.

Insurance: Sounds kinda cold and bureaucratic, when you may be fighting for liberty, but back then they had no insurance. So, you’d sure be concerned with the question, “what about my family?” You leave them to do your duty, and get hit, and are dead, then what? There’s no insurance. They either live off relatives as poor relations, or they scratch out a poor existence however they can. You come back crippled, and there’s no disability insurance, and all you can do is what you can do, to earn a living - which prob isn’t much, and not much better than death itself. So your family shares your fate, to a greater or lesser extent. Tough world, back then. Not at all like ours…

Risk assessment/effectiveness issues: Imagine my handing you a smooth-bore, muzzle-loading musket. Then I tell you you’ll have time to practice until you can load and fire a shot in 15 secs, just like 200+ years ago. But that musket, I tell you, is effective on a man-sized target out to maybe 65 to 85 yards at most.

Plus, you’ll be posted that distance from a road down which several hundred redcoats are expected in the next few minutes. And when you fire that first shot, British bayonets will be on you before you can reload.

That’s a high-risk, low-effectiveness environment, for sure. And they’re expected to risk life, family, and liberty for that? Tough Choice they made, back then. And a tough Choice, if it ever had to be made again.

No guarantees: But there’s more: I have to ask you to imagine that you don’t know the outcome. That, like the guys back then, I expect you kick open the door to a dark room, a room you cannot see into, a room that, going in, you may never come out of.

We know the outcome. It’s much easier for us to imagine making the decision, because we know the outcome. Not only that victory was the result, but that it was won in “only” eight years.

If you don’t know the outcome, as they surely did not, the Choice becomes double-difficult. Maybe even triple-difficult.

Maybe this notion of “no guarantees” is relevant to Appleseed. Why should we expect guarantees that Appleseed will do its job, that it will save the country - when they had no guarantees on 4/19?

Stuff like this kinda “brings it home” and makes The Story impact the listener much more than it might otherwise do. And that’s what you want it to do.

As an RWVA instructor has said: “You need to believe The Story yourself. To suck it in, make it a part of you, not something you memorized, but something you feel. Something that you believe with your heart that every American should hear. Because we are in a battle for hearts and minds - and souls - and it’s a battle we want to - nay, have to - win.”

And so we try our best do it. To make forgotten history come to life, and have meaning for modern Americans. So they can appreciate, and so they can remember - and, in remembering, honor - the founders.

If that mighty Choice is “first up”, then second up is The Performance.

The basic fact that with no cellphones, no internet, and “some didn’t even have regular phones :-))” non-high-school grads 200+ years ago could, on the six hours notice from midnight to dawn, turn out 14,000 armed Americans to defend against a threat to their liberty.

That’s performance, my friends.

And it can’t be duplicated today. A point I make at Appleseeds by asking “how many could you get to show up at dawn, if you found out at midnight tonight about a certain and definite critical threat to liberty at dawn, tomorrow? 1,000? 100? 10?” - with pauses after each number to allow for someone to raise his hand - I once had someone raise his hand at “100″ but it’s rare to get a hand raised at even “10″.

That’s the contrast between Americans of today and Americans of the past. And the very reason for Appleseed’s existence.

Then I try to drive the point home further and harder by asking “what is the measure of the value of liberty? Is it willingness to turn out to defend it? If so, what does that say about Americans of today, compared to Americans of yesteryear?”

That’s some pretty tough stuff, in my estimation. Anyone with half-a-brain will have the scales fall from his eyes pretty quick.

But again, that’s Appleseed.

If the “first strike of the match” took place at Lexington early on the morning of April 19th, 1775 - at the crack of dawn, actually - then the “second strike of the match” took place an hour or two before lunch, at the North Bridge just outside Concord, when the colonists marched down the hill to the North Bridge, planning to continue into Concord, and stop the British from burning (so they think) their houses.

Only, at the North Bridge, the British open fire on the approaching American column. And the order is given, once our boys understand the British really are firing at them to “Fire, fellow soldiers, for God’s sake, fire! Fire as fast as you can!”

It was the first time British-Americans were given an order to fire on British troops.

And our boys do so, rapidly and effectively, so effectively that within 2 minutes the three British companies (ironically, two of them were the perpetrators of the Lexington massacre at dawn that day) break and run for Concord.

The casualty figures tell the story: On the British side, the casualty rate for officers is 44%; for enlisted, it’s 7%. Looks like our guys did what they were trained to do - aim for officers, first.

That’s performance, my friends.

And it clearly worked. Take out the leaders, and the rest lose heart and direction, and flee. Chop off the head of the snake, and the snake is not longer dangerous. Smart guys, trained guys, some of them green, others veterans of the French and Indian War. But all setting a standard - being effective with firearms - that became a tradition lasting thru many future generations of Americans.

Until the last few generations, who have shamefully let a great and proud American tradition “wither on the vine”. And we are all - all of us - not only the poorer for it, but the less secure for it. As is our continued possession of Liberty…

Yet, even after this sterling performance and precedence set for future generations, the firing died down, and the British, undisturbed, formed up and began the long march (approx 16 miles) back to Boston. And, for the first mile, maybe a little more, there was not a shot to be heard. The match struck the second time, and the flame went out…

The Revolutionary War was destined NOT to start at the North Bridge…

Next up: The Third Strike of the Match, and the Real Beginning of the fighting on April 19th, 1775.

At Appleseed, you learn not only to shoot a rifle, but you learn the history they didn’t teach you in school.

What happened on April 19th, 1775.

You’ll find out what historians are too wishy-washy to figure out, but riflemen aren’t: Who fired the first shots at Lexington Green - and we’ll show you the proof.

You’ll find out where the Revolutionary War started, and it’s not where you think (hint: Not at Lexington Green, not at Concord, not at the North Bridge).

You’ll find out where the American Revolution was fought and won, and when - and the time and place will be a time and place that will surprise you.

You’ll find out how a bunch of farmers and townsmen were able at the North Bridge to put the great British Army to flight in two minutes - and you’ll swell up with pride as you hear it.

It’s powerful stuff (which is why we teach it - along with the feeling that Americans should be ashamed if they don’t know it).

It’s history, yes, but it’s not The Story, until it’s connected to the present.

To us, living right here, in 21st-century America.

We divide The Story up into “Three Strikes of the Match” because, it turns out, it was hard to get the Revolutionary War started. It took not one, not two, but three strikes of the match before the fires of revolution were lit, before the fighting that would not end for 8 years broke out.

During the First Strike, you hear about The Choice they faced, and made:

On the one hand, if you were a colonist, you faced:

Now, that’s on one side of the ledger, what you might call the “negative side”. But it’s not all that’s on that side. What if I were to hand you a smooth-bore, and tell you it’s effective on a man-sized target at 65-75 yards and with some practice you can get 4 shots a minute off - then tell you “in a few hours there’ll be hundreds of Redcoats coming down this road, and I want you to stand here, 65 yards away, and stop ‘em - but be careful - after that first shot, you’ll have to run if you want to avoid a British bayonet…”

All that? But there’s more. Once you make The Choice, once you pull the trigger on the first shot, you never go home again. You may wake up a loyal subject of the Crown, but you go to bed - if you go to bed - a traitor with a price on his head. Give up security, give up tranquility, give up peace of mind.

From then on, it’s “24/7/365″ - and the only way out is to fight, win Liberty - or fight, and die for Liberty.

“Liberty, or Death” - not just pretty words, back then. We will never appreciate The Choice, because none of us will ever have to make it.

But let’s take a minute and look at the other side of the equation - the reasons for doing it, for risking all those risks. Call it, “the positive side” of the ledger.

You get the right to kick open a door to a dark future, and march boldly thru, into an unknown future that would terrify most of us.

Of course, we know they won, with the benefit of hindsight and history. But they did not know it - and looking at the history of the Rev War, it was nip-and-tuck for most of the 8 years the war lasted. Heck, even at the end there were threats - whether the army would try to seize power, or at least shake down congress for well-deserved back pay - even fears that Vermont would secede and go to the British side, and become part of Canada.

What a Choice! No certainty of winning, plenty of certainty of death and hardship.

But The Story doesn’t end here: we ask them how many of them would make The Choice. How many of their fellow Americans, right here, right now, if faced with The Choice - Liberty, or Death - would make the same choice they made back on April 19, 1775. Believe me, few would. Which is the reason for Appleseed.

Framing things this way puts The Story in perspective. No longer a recitation of cut-and-dried facts. No sir, people like us, faced with a Choice none of us would want to make, and yet, given the Choice, making a decision that brings them honor and glory - and throws us, today, into sharp contrast.

Guarantee, by the time we get thru with this, there’s a lot of serious faces in the audience, quite a few looking down, as it all sinks in - which is what it oughta do…

That’s the first strike of the match: The Choice. You can’t really tell The Story without telling about The Choice.

Then there’s the second strike. More on that, later.

PS: How and when we tell this part of The Story varies from Appleseed to Appleseed. Sometimes we tell the above as a “stand alone” - and a great time to do it, is in the ten minutes before they shoot first the first Redcoat. It “sets the stage” for the entire Appleseed weekend for them!

And because you want drive the point home (and you always do), we finish up with “they sacrificed life, limb, and liberty so that, a mere two hundred years later, we can forget all about ‘em. Being savvy about human nature, they worried about that.”

Then we hit ‘em with John Adams: we simply say “John Adams toured what became later known as Battle Road on the day after. He saw the fleeing families, worldly goods piled on wagons, fearing a return of the redcoats; he saw the militia companies pushing thru the crowds, making their way to Boston; he saw the dead being buried; he heard the cries of the wounded - and he smelled the smoke from the burned houses - and he left us a message: ‘Posterity [which means us], you will never know the sacrifice our generation made for your liberty. If you ever forget - if you ever forget [he didn't repeat, but we do, because you want to drive the point home, right into their hearts] - [slight pause] - we’ll be sorry we ever made the effort…’

“From a Founder’s mouth, straight to your heart…

“Now, let’s go shoot some Redcoats…and show ‘em what real Americans still can be!”

[from a future Shotgun News column:]