Where I Stand:

Real patriots among us stand for and tell the truth

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Jacquelyn Martin / AP

Cassidy Hutchinson, former aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, arrives to testify as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 28, 2022.

Sun, Jul 3, 2022 (2 a.m.)

July 4, 1776. That was a really big day. Right?

For those of you wondering what all the fuss is about this Monday, we are celebrating the 246th birthday of the United States of America. That was the day when the colonists declared their independence from England and the end of their allegiance to King George lll. (For reference, check out the musical “Hamilton.”)

That decision didn’t come easy. People were split on the proposition of either staying with Mother England and paying taxes without representation — doing whatever the good king declared — or going it on their own as an independent country without a real army, a real treasury or, frankly, a firm grasp on what it would take to make their way forward in a world dominated by England, France and, sometimes, Spain.

But they had an idea — a big idea way back then — that in order for people to live and be free, free to make their own decisions about their future, they would have to make a clean break from the king.

Well, as we all know from our history books — people still read them, right? — the break was anything but clean. It was messy, it was dangerous and it was life-altering. And the outcome of the Revolutionary War that followed our Declaration of Independence was basically uncertain until George Washington finally turned the tide.

My point is that this democracy we have today did not come cheap. It cost many lives, a great deal of money and, most importantly, a firm, unshakable commitment by patriots that what we would gain would be worth the effort.

When I was learning about the Revolutionary War, there were two names that came to signify the depths of that commitment to a free, independent country where the people would decide for themselves how they would be governed.

One was a patriot and a hero. And the other was a traitor.

Nathan Hale was a 21-year old teacher who came from a family of clergy and teachers who — unless my memory has failed me — came from a lineage that was deeply embedded in the culture of the colonies. In short, he was the kind of young man who would live and die for his country. Just so like many other Americans have done in the centuries that followed.

Hale was captured by the British, declared to be a spy — which he was for Gen. Washington — and hanged. Before he died, he is credited with saying the following: “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country.”

Nathan Hale was an American hero.

On the other side of the coin was Benedict Arnold, a sometimes successful man who supported the colonists and their desire to be free from King George.

Until he didn’t. He flipped to the British side in the middle of the war for what most accounts claim was the promise of a more lucrative lifestyle.

He was an American traitor.

Fast forward to today. Cassidy Hutchinson testified before the Jan. 6 committee this past week. She was truthful, she was crystal clear and she was devastating with her words and recollection about what happened on and around that fateful day when armed criminals marched on the Capitol, killed people and tried to stop the peaceful transition of power from one president to the next.

She is being hailed as a hero.

In today’s world, the 26-year old woman is a hero because she has braved threats to life, limb, property and future — all because she has done what is expected of every American citizen — to take an oath to tell the truth and, then tell it.

What distinguishes her from many other Americans today is that there are some who have sworn oaths of allegiance to our Constitution who are acting like cowards because they will not come forward, take an oath and tell the truth about what happened. And there are plenty of other Americans — on the national, state and local levels — who don’t seem to have a problem with such unpatriotic and despicable behavior.

If this kind of behavior happened during the Revolutionary War as our democracy was growing roots, how would it be characterized? What would we call the people and their actions?

We would have to call Cassidy a hero, no matter how low we have set the bar of patriotism.

And, as for those who planned, conspired, carried out and remain complicit in this insurrection to destroy our democracy and our Constitution? I believe we have to call them the Benedict Arnolds that they are.

The question for the rest of us as we celebrate Independence Day is what will we be called by our grandchildren and theirs when they study this time in history, when our country was attacked from within?

Will we be declared to have acted as American heroes by giving what we could to perpetuate this great democracy? Or will we be seen as turning tail and running to the other side, a side that promised an illusion of life but which most assuredly would disappear our democracy in the doing?

Happy July Fourth to the real American patriots among us.

Brian Greenspun is editor, publisher and owner of the Sun.

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