Minutemen: Remember the Alamo, Remember Freedom
Minutemen: Remember the Alamo, Remember Freedom
The Battle of the Alamo is frequently portrayed as a battle of Anglo vs Mexican ethnicities.
If one compares:
- The Anglo as exemplified by George Washington's refusal to become
"king" of the newly independent colonies with,
[/*:m:31vd4zw6] - The Mexican as exemplified by the dictator Antonio López de Santa
Anna's insistence on being addressed as "Your Serene Highness"
after leading his country's war for independence from the
"emperor" of Spain.[/*:m:31vd4zw6]
...one can see their argument.
Some would say this is more than cultural -- that this hatred of central power and love of freedom is more a genetic predisposition of the Anglo compared to the Mexican. This belief is a belief, just as is the belief that Santa Ana's behavior is not representative of Mexican culture, nor of Mexican genetics, just as is the belief that George Washington's behavior is unrepresentative.
We can disagree on such beliefs and noone -- not President, Pope, dictator, Mulah, Rabbi, PhD, nor body politic -- has the right to prevent us from forming communities upholding our beliefs. Whether "experts" agree is not the point here, just as whether we believe someone else's beliefs to be "erroneous", "obscene" or "blasphemous" is not the point here.
The point here is "freedom", and _that_ is what those who fought Santa Ana, Mexican as well as Anglo, during the Battle of the Alamo were fighting for.
But just what is this "freedom" for which they fought?
Freedom means literally "free home". Your home is where your vital needs are met.
Freedom means you are beholding to no one for your vital needs: no taxation, rent nor debt service.
Moreover, your vital needs must include your ability to reproduce your genes and your beliefs -- sire or bear children which you raise in communities that share your beliefs. Anything short of this freedom of association among likeminded people is a violation of their right of self-determination, their freedom of religion, the very meaning of their lives as a grand experiment -- and must be fought.
Freedom does _not_ mean you can simply demand the universe insert a food tube to keep you alive, nor even that your home shall be free from invasion if you do not defend it. Just as you must go to the effort to breathe to retain the right to life, so you must go to the effort of defending your territory to retain your freedom.
What freedom means is a mutual insurance relationship between individuals where they pledge their lives and sacred honor to each other to defend against and, if necessary, preemptively destroy any government or other entity that threatens to make them tenants, debtors or tax payers on their vital activities and assets, or to invade the sanctity of their communities, regardless of whether said invasion is justified by rhetoric of "immigrant rights" or by the rhetoric of "civil rights".
Under this clear definition of freedom, derived directly from its ancient indoeuropean root words, those who fought Santa Ana at the Alamo died for freedom.
Today we have a new "Santa Ana" sitting in the Whitehouse. He believes that Americans have a duty to sacrifice their lives to defend, not the _vital_ assets of other citizens, but the huge centralized asset holdings of corporations and the wealthy. He believes not only must these Americans, most of whom can barely afford to raise a child, fight for these wealthy land barons and corporate tycoons, and then report to the government's tax collection bureau if they dare make more than $400/year even as they pay orders of magnitude more for their vital necessities. He believes that it is more important to pursue wars in the middle east to expand his empire than it is to defend the US border against the legacy of his role model, Santa Ana. Like Santa Ana, he wants an elitist class governing an underclass of poverty-stricken laborers.
There is a battle to be fought alright, but if we are to win this battle the first thing we must understand is the relationship the yeoman farmers of the New World British colonies had to the original Minutemen of George Washington's Revolutionary War -- and how, decades later, the yeoman farmers of the newly born Republic of Texas fought for their freedom against the betrayal of Mexico after the Mexican war for independence -- a betrayal committed by the dictator Antonio López de Santa Anna.
