Edmund Burke said “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” As I read the reports of, if not actual fraud, questionable vote counting practices, I am eerily reminded of a part of our past I’m sure most Americans would not like to repeat.
Athens, TN is the county seat of McMinn county. Located in eastern Tennessee about halfway between Chattanooga and Knoxville, in 1946 it was the center of a civil uprising that is not only worth learning about, but learning from as well.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Several years ago I wrote an article about the Battle of Athens, TN. In the article I showed the corruption in McMinn County Sheriff’s Department, where the Sheriff and his deputies did not receive a salary, but were paid for everyone they booked, incarcerated, and released. This perverse incentive let to deputies routinely boarding buses to “fine” and jail the passengers for any alleged violations they could come up with. When subject to this corruption, many GIs returning from World War II were led to challenge the corrupt county Sheriff and other office holders. This challenge led not only to an embattled election, but an armed uprising in an attempt to restore the rule of law.
Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Most of us who grew up here in America learned about the battles of Lexington and Concorde from this Longfellow poem. Who does not remember, “One if by land, and two if by sea;” or Paul Revere’s cries of “The British are coming! The British are coming!”?
The part is most of the stories we have heard are not true. Whether poetic license or outright propaganda has been lost to history. However, the story behind those battles is not only well worth the telling, but of great importance to anyone today who still claims the title American.
The gun grabbers in Congress are at it again. Attempts to disarm the American people have only been moderately successful over the past few years. So a bill was recently introduced in the House of Representatives entitled “Preventing Private Paramilitary Activity Act of 2024”. This bill wants to make it a crime for private citizens to work together to defend their rights. If this bill were to become law some day, even training together could not only get you fined, but placed in jail, possibly for life.
The widely reported shooting and stabbing events the weekend before New Year, 2020 should be a reminder of one of the reasons we have a Second Amendment.
I love when people ask questions or ask me to discuss certain topics. I was asked to review the 2nd Amendment, so here we go, next on the Constitution Study. Battle of Athens, TN Check out this episode!
I love when people ask questions or ask me to discuss certain topics. I was asked to review the 2nd Amendment, so here we go, next on the Constitution Study. Battle of Athens, TN:
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