"God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion.
The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is
wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts
they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions,
it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. ...
And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not
warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of
resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as
to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost
in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from
time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
It is its natural manure."

and that,

"The oppressed should rebel, and they will continue to rebel and raise disturbance until their civil rights are fully restored to them and all partial distinctions, exclusions and incapacitations are removed."

further,

“Every generation needs a new revolution.”

he also espoused that,

“Force is the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism.”

But perhaps Jefferson’s most persuasive argument is found in our Declaration of Independence,

“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed”

– which begs the critical question of exactly what are considered “light and transient causes”? Are the assaults on the Bill of Rights through the Patriot Acts light and transient? Is the usurpation by the federal government of states’ rights guaranteed through the 10^th Amendment light and transient? Are the wiretapping of the phone calls and the interception of the postal mail of American citizens light and transient? Is the treatment of American taxpayers as guilty until proven innocent by the IRS light and transient? Is the destruction of the “full faith and credit of the United States government” by irresponsible, pork-laden stimulus spending bills and corporate bailouts light and transient? Is the attempted seizure of vast tracts of the American economy such as the automotive industry, major banks, and the healthcare system light and transient? Is it the asking of the White House that the people inform on each other light and transient?

Where do we the people draw the line as to which “evils are sufferable” and, once drawn, how do we respond appropriately if we deem that our government has overstepped that line? When the European nations caution that their experience has taught them that our current direction toward socialism is along a road to ruin, why does our political leadership scold the American people for our “un-American” questioning of that path? Are we not the masters of our leadership – civil servants elected by us to serve our needs?

Let us submit that light and transient is anything that we might find more comical than threatening; and anything that we find more threatening than comical is, self-evidently, sufficient grounds….. Considering the rise of the Tea Parties, the hostile tone of the Healthcare Townhalls, the 9-12 March on Washington, the arrogant, elitist attitude of our Congresspersons and the administration, and the collapse of the confidence of the American people in those same representatives and administration, it would appear that the American people have indeed lost their collective sense of humor.

It is time to concede that the overdue need for drastic change has finally arrived. The question is no longer if change is needed or in what form, but by what means do we the people affect that very necessary change. Our own history provides a guide for that path. Like the Founders, we must first extend our “Olive Branch Petition” in the form of the mid-term elections of 2010. Several organizations and movements have arisen seeking to “clean house” in the House of Representatives and the Senate by removing as many incumbents and blocking the election of members of the two major parties. The Democrats and Republicans share equally in the responsibility for the morass and the malaise that afflict the governing of this nation. Third parties and independents offer the fresh, untainted perspective required to refocus the nation on its CONSTITUTIONAL roots. All procedural rules, institutions, laws and traditions that have created and contributed to the environment of corruption, patronage, special interests, and political machinery must be discredited, disassembled and disallowed in order to lay a new foundation for effective government and legislative discourse.

A brief, shining moment in time, not to come again for perhaps another century, is presenting itself and it is a window through which we can reach for the form of government that our wise and cautious Founders intended for us to inherit. To claim that long illusive prize we must continue to grassroots organize; devote ourselves to finding, supporting and electing representatives that are truly desiring of public service and not just public position and power; agitating for reform on all levels of government and for the devolution of power to the lowest possible level of that government; relentlessly pressure the elected to enact the change that we desire and to reform our government to comply with our Constitutions, both state and federal; work tirelessly to educate our fellow Citizens and encourage them to join us in taking up this cause of increasing Liberty and to change course away from the “nanny state.”

Make no mistake; this “revolution” will be long, tiring, frustrating, and rife with setbacks and disappointments. It will require enormous sacrifices of time, money, friendships, lifestyle and of changing our personal and national priorities. It is a fight against massive odds and entrenched bureaucracies supported by special interests and the good-ole-boy network. On our side is momentum, morality, and history – we stand on the shoulders of the Founding Fathers. Their guidance has never failed us, nor will it now.

The Tea Parties and Healthcare Townhalls have shown that the American Electorate defies the conventional wisdom that we have grown ignorant of our philosophical and political roots, and that we have lost our civic pride and our sense of higher national purpose. We are, to the contrary, “well informed” and we are motivated by more than just the contents of our wallets. We are neither quiet nor lethargic and we have amply demonstrated our “preservation of our spirit of resistance.” The people are aptly equipped to “rebel and raise disturbance until our civil rights are fully restored” without the resort to arms. Our Olive Branch Petition must be first given the opportunity to correct those evils that we are disposed to suffer by the means described herein.

What is proposed is not an armed insurrection but a political insurgency – a CONSTITUTIONAL INSURGENCY, nothing less than the full restoration of the Republic by the force of the people using our Constitution. May the people “right themselves”….as Constitutional Insurgents….once again, for Liberty!