Rule 48: Rules for Revolutionaries

Men Fail, Real Men Learn From It!

Transform others’ work into your success. This week a recruit questioned one of the Revolutionary figures we honor in our work.  Rather than dwell on the certain flaws, our focus will always be to choose the virtue in history.

Great works meet with near universal approval.  It generally goes unquestioned that some works stand as examples of man’s potential.  Think of works as varied as “Starry Night,” “Beethoven’s 5^th,” “The Pieta,” or the “Cathedral at Notre Dame.” 

 We carefully examine the application of Van Gogh’s close and deliberate lines, Beethoven’s ominous knock of fate’s four notes at the door, Michelangelo’s chiseling of the lamentation in marble, or the centuries –long creation of the Gothic cathedral beneath Montparnasse.

We lift our eyes and bend our ears to discern the greatness of the work.  There is value in measuring the producers of these works in greater depth.  We can learn from examining their flaws, many, or few, but when we focus on the grandeur of the works they crafted we find inspiration. When we evaluate the works we can even find partial blueprints to build greatness in our own endeavors. 

We often value a person’s labor by comparing it to the impact it has on society.  The great works often provide a basis for much comity among societies.  The art of good governing and great engineering is no less challenging or worthy of our appreciation than a great piece of music or an oil painting.  It is in this light we seek to uplift the great artwork of this country.  The art takes the form of The Declaration Of Independence, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Light Bulb, or the incredible exploits of courage and exploration. 

Each artist passes to us from history complete with flaws.  They leave legacies as great artists and as imperfect men.  We can hold them accountable for their flaws, based mainly on our opinions. But, rule 48 says, when “…you reprove another be unblameable yourself.”   

At 16 George Washington wrote 110 rules of civility.  This civility towards others then becomes a virtue. Thomas Aquinas said in his ‘Summa Theologica’ that virtue is not a habit.  Tom concluded that we exercise virtue, indicating choice and free will.  We must choose to exercise our virtue and find things to emulate in our passed artists.

So instead of seeing Haym Salomon as a Crown Loyalist while interpreting for the Hessians, we study his clandestine work as a Sons Of Liberty Spy who was captured, tortured and carried under the pretense of his own death to his escape.  From Philadelphia, he raised money and loaned it, along with his personal wealth to Robert Morris and the US Government.  He helped fund the revolution and later when peals of the Liberty Bell echoed throughout Philadelphia men hailed him as a hero.

At 22, a week after General Cornwallis surrendered in Yorktown Noah Webster opened a school.  It closed three months later. Noah failed as a lawyer, a teacher, and a businessman first.  Than he completed his revolutionary works of education that culminated with his 1828 dictionary.  His work was profound due, in part, to his efforts to standardize grammar and spelling in the new world.  We can compare it, in some respects, to Charlemagne’s attempt to encourage literacy through standards. beforecharlemagnetherewerenospacesbetweenwords, and befour Webster meny of our werds had awful and varyus spellings, with which to contend.

Accounts of how great works came to be inspire us to persevere through challenges. Discerning minds attribute failure and success properly and learn from each.  Maybe we find it easier reduce some great men by only seeing their failures.  Sam Clemens used a somewhat cynical Puddn’head to say “Few things are as annoying to put up with as a good example.”  

We at The Underground Movement like to lift our eyes to great works and good examples Americans left to us.  We hope to find our own ways to use their blueprints to build our own legacies.  In this, we choose to be Revolutionary.

Senex

Rules of Civility

Recruit Spotlight: Defend Your Rights!

Arming With Words:

(Sumbissions to TUM sites are generally unfiltered user content and reflect the views of the users)

Seven years and a few hours ago we lost one of our soldiers to a RPG attack. She gave the ultimate sacrifice.

229 years prior to her sacrifice after nearly being defeated at the Battle of Brooklyn Heights Washington masterfully toyed with the British Commanding General William Howe. Knowing that if his forces were captured the cause would certainly end; Washington would perform a series of withdrawals when Howe attacked. Howe was afraid to commit to attacking Washington in fortified positions and would withdraw the British Army. At times he would attempt to out maneuver Washington only to be agitated by raids from the Continental Army.

After being pushed south of the Delaware morale was at an all time low. The Continental Army had been reduced to a fraction of what faced Howe in NYC. With enlistments ending a boost to morale came with the publication of Thomas Paine’s pamphlet “The American Crisis.” Paine stated the following; “These are the times that try men’s souls; the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” Seven days later Washington and a fraction of his forces successfully crossed the Delaware and captured 1,000 Hessians in Trenton, NJ. This was followed up by a decisive victory in Princeton on the 3rd of January.

Before we give into social pressure and give up the rights that our ancestors bestowed onto us and were defended by many generations including our own we need to consider the words of Thomas Paine; “these are the times that try men’s souls. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered.”

My questions to all of you, will you stand up and demand that our rights that are given to us by G-d be protected? Don’t voice this only to your family and friends. Voice this to Congress and our President. Arm yourself with the words of founders. For Resistance to Tyranny is Obedience to G-d.

You do by your message of keeping the voice of the cause alive! Thank you!

Facebook Post

Menlo Maniac Lights Up Our Life:

Edison’s Triumphs Benefit all!

Man Up!

How Manners Make the Man

Alluring, attractive, and confident men strike a balance between gristly adventure and absolute poise.  Too much raw grit and sweat, with no polish, and a man fails to gain hold with others.  When he does impress it’s only the temporary sway of leadership evidenced in austere conditions. 

The battle-hardened soldier leaves his leadership on the battlefield when he fails to use the weapons of social craft with his untainted peers in society. On the other hand, too much refinement and gentility with no inner granite leaves a gaping hole of leadership in a man’s repertoire.  The soft spoken, overly obeisant contender, happy to acquiesce to others quickly dulls and inspires a lack of respect. 

The happy man accomplishes much by employing etiquette where appropriate and combat where necessary.  Kipling, said it better, “A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition.” To extrapolate the point to its extremes the late Ian Fleming, intelligence officer for the crown, generated an antiquated franchise that outlives its outdated anchors of poise and continues to impress upon us some notions of good social conduct. 

What makes Bond so timeless is this very duality of raw strength of confidence balanced by elegant poise.  Discretion, the greater portion of valor, defines when he chooses to strike with a blow or a handshake and casual rejoinder acknowledging an opponent’s appellation.  Civility and etiquette can be off-putting in a society where casual is the code for nearly every occasion.  To be a great man today simple application of timeless etiquette still provides the best weapons to wage civil discourse and earn respect.

I think we could find a specific point time, like a diurnal shift or thermocline in our society, when the etiquette of “We” became the ethos and clamor of “Me.”  While manners, formerly, constrained us from boasting gregariously, the current drift finds us splashing our trivial personal details in the most public of forums.  What we use to equate with shame and embarrassment now earns high celebrity marks for fame. 

We shouldn’t blame anyone for forgetting the, soon-to-be, relics of social grace.  After all, it is increasingly rare to see etiquette and good manners in operation except under the most extreme circumstances, or in a Bond film.  Instead of encouraging honor based on merit and achievement, we often see messages of equanimity where true competition would prove otherwise.

In this season of greetings and engagements, we admire those who provide a firm handshake, a look into the eyes, and a desire to listen.  We still appreciate a courteous ‘yes sir’ and ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’  When complimented by a straight-backed, confident peer it compels us to take notice.

Christmas time reminds those of us at The Underground Movement to be selfless and think of others.  It’s a chance to Man-Up and put to use those simple graces that we tend to forget.  

Tonight We Cross!

The frenzy surrounding Christmas challenges us to accomplish everything and present our gifts in neatly wrapped packages.  Christmas is a busy time for many hurrying about to make preparations . 

General Washington, similarly, hurried his commanders and troops for a bone chilling, night-time crossing fraught with treachery and death.  George’s brilliant plan contravened tradition and gave tactical advantage against a professionalized, mercenary force of German Hessians.  George’s premise proved out in one of America’s great victories. 

With the Delaware River swollen and littered with jagged tons of ice George initiated a guerrilla maneuver to cross the frigid currents and march his unkempt force into the enemy’s camp at Trenton.  The harried defeats in New York forced the colonist’s army into a winter camp at Valley Forge where demoralization and death hung in the air.  Thomas Paine’s words written days ago on the 19^th of December rallied a spark of spirit and George’s passionate pleas gave rise to an event that began to turn the tide of defeat into an eventual victory.

GW counted on the Hessian penchant for good booze and great celebration.  So it was that in the early hours after a harrowing night crossing that the ugly mob of Washington’s forces found their opponents punch drunk and filled with surprise at the ghastly sight. 

Washington’s spectacular victory rippled throughout the colonies and breathed fresh life into the rebellion.  The fight, far from over, was further from its end in 1783 than it was from its beginning skirmishes of April 1775 but the Revolutionary spirit grew increasingly indomitable thanks, in part to that crossing.

The Quest for Flight and Spirit of Man

Retired Rail-Man Gives Lift to Aviation

Daedalus and his son Icarus made fatal attempts to fly in Homeric tales and ever since, man has never stopped dreaming.  From Leonardo, Galileo and Newton, to Lilienthal and countless others we have tried, as John Magee and then Reagan put it to; slip the surly bonds of earth.

Octave Chanute spent a career as a railroad engineer but pursued his interest of aviation at age 58.  Octave exhaustively collected, analyzed, and detailed every flight experiment known.  He focused his attention on flight control and stability. 1891 the Railroad and Engineering Journal in New York began publishing his writings in a series of 27 articles.  On a humble American beach, learning from Chanute’s work, the Wright brothers’ finished the 10,000 year quest to fly. 

The spirit of man runs deep.

Ronald Reagan borrows from this iconic American Poem to memorialize the loss of American Pioneers of flight who carried that quest into space.

John Magee

American Pilot and Poet, Died in a Spitfire VZ-H, tail number AD 291

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,

 And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

 Sunwards I’ve climbed and joined the tumbling mirth

 Of sun-split clouds – and done a thousand things

 You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung 

 High in the sunlit silence. Hovering there,

 I’ve chased the shouting wind along and flung

 My eager craft through footless halls of air,

 Up, up the long delirious burning blue

 I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,

 Where never lark, or even eagle, flew;

 And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod

 The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

 Put out my hand, and touched the face of god.

Guerrillas in Our Midst

THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but “to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER,” and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.

continue….

An Army of One

Now is the winter of our discontent.  This at least was the opening portrayal of the ‘son of York’ in Shakespeare’s King Richard III.   I think the king likely attributed his discontent to his imploding kingdom which he built on Machiavellian style power politics.  He left an abundance of blood and treachery in his wake.  His method relied on chicanery and brutal manipulation.

How do great individuals lead every day in small ways and change the world through inspiration.

George Washington also had a winter of discontent but his real life decisions and leadership helped create the greatest experiment of government in recorded history. In true guerrilla fashion GW squared up with the opposition and slugged out a tenuous victory.  He probably saw heightened discontent as he hunkered down at Valley Forge.  The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot did indeed shrink in that crisis.  They did shrink from the service of their country; but there were among those summer patriots individuals who stood by the country during that discontented winter.  George inspired some soldiers to fight in spite of their meager and inconsistent pay.  He marched them in horrible conditions against great odds.  They are the individuals who earned the love and thanks of men and women. Tyranny, like hell, was not easily conquered!

But when hell was conquered, it was conquered by individuals. Initially individuals stood up without the support of networks, corporations, or armies.  Thomas Paine ignited a fire of patriotism with a pamphlet!  Henry Knox shut the bookstore doors and toiled miraculously to deliver artillery to General Washington at Boston.  Nathan Hale met death at the end of rope as a fledgling intelligence service floundered to gain a foothold against the British.

The winters of discontent are more frequent in the history of governed men than the summers spent frolicking in liberty.  Stalwart, rugged individuals in every age break the chains of tyranny by repeatedly challenging the presumed masters. 

It does not take many.  We know of one William Tyndale; one Joan of Arc, one Martin Luther, one Daniel Boone, and one George Washington among many others.  When combined with small handfuls of like-minded individuals these singletons shocked the world into consciousness! 

These individuals and small groups operated as members of irregular, indigenous, intellectual networks and small bands.  They were always in occupied territory.  They always labored against insurmountable odds.  They intellectually harassed and undermined the greater, more prolific opposition.  They achieved world-shattering success by raiding enemy strongholds.  These were not typically military raids with rifles but raids of intellectual combat.  As individuals, they changed what most accepted by shining the relentless light of liberty on an otherwise impenetrable darkness of deceit. These were ‘thought guerrillas’ that changed the world.

Who are the thought guerrillas in our midst?  Simple individuals recognized that history demanded action.  Each chose to speak out in forms that were commensurate with their capabilities. Thomas wrote a couple of pamphlets, William translated a book, Joan led armies, George led armies, Martin wrote a thesis, and Daniel explored the rugged wilds. All were guerillas in their time.

History is created every day by an inquisitive student, by a parent who leads a child, or a soldier who serves his nation. They are the guerrillas in our midst. 

Be Revolutionary.

Senex

Cutting the Tree

American Pathfinder Extraordinaire

A Journey Strewn with Briars

Surrounded by “civilization,” it is a challenge for us to imagine America as a vast wilderness, peopled by scattered Indian tribes whose total population may have equaled the current population of Massachusetts. (estimates range from 2-8 million). We have difficulty picturing the virgin forests of the Eastern United States that covered most of the land from the Atlantic to the Mississippi.  In a day when nearly every square inch has been explored, or at least traversed, we cannot easily grasp the concept of that wilderness. One person who viewed much of it first-hand was Daniel Boone.

            Born in 1734, Boone was, without parallel, the adventurer who led the way in the early western expansion. In the course of his life, he lived in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri. He was captured by Indians several times, robbed once, seized by the British, shot in the ankle, and often forced to hide in the wilds to escape death. He fought in the French and Indian War and the Revolution. He volunteered to fight in the War of 1812, but was turned down because of his age—78.

            Daniel Boone was the American pioneer/philosopher who looked beyond the wilderness to a land of peace and plenty. Although he had little formal education, nothing captures the spirit of his life better than his own words.

Thus situated, many hundred miles from our families in the howling wilderness, I believe few would have equally enjoyed the happiness we experienced. I often observed to my brother, You see now how little nature requires to be satisfied. Felicity, the companion of content, is rather found in our own breasts than in the enjoyment of external things; and I firmly believe it requires but a little philosophy to make a man happy in whatever state he is. This consists in a full resignation to the will of Providence; and a resigned soul finds pleasure in a path strewned with briars and thorns.

                Daniel Boone was the epitome of the rugged individual, a true American spirit.

Be Revolutionary, every day.

The Adventures of Daniel Boone, Chapter 1

Publius

Guerrillas in Our Midst

An Army of One

Now is the winter of our discontent.  This at least was the opening portrayal of the ‘son of York’ in Shakespeare’s King Richard III.   I think the king likely attributed his discontent to his imploding kingdom which he built on Machiavellian style power politics.  He left an abundance of blood and treachery in his wake.  His method relied on chicanery and brutal manipulation.

How do great individuals lead every day in small ways and change the world through inspiration.

George Washington also had a winter of discontent but his real life decisions and leadership helped create the greatest experiment of government in recorded history. In true guerrilla fashion GW squared up with the opposition and slugged out a tenuous victory.  He probably saw heightened discontent as he hunkered down at Valley Forge.  The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot did indeed shrink in that crisis.  They did shrink from the service of their country; but there were among those summer patriots individuals who stood by the country during that discontented winter.  George inspired some soldiers to fight in spite of their meager and inconsistent pay.  He marched them in horrible conditions against great odds.  They are the individuals who earned the love and thanks of men and women. Tyranny, like hell, was not easily conquered!

But when hell was conquered, it was conquered by individuals. Initially individuals stood up without the support of networks, corporations, or armies.  Thomas Paine ignited a fire of patriotism with a pamphlet!  Henry Knox shut the bookstore doors and toiled miraculously to deliver artillery to General Washington at Boston.  Nathan Hale met death at the end of rope as a fledgling intelligence service floundered to gain a foothold against the British.

The winters of discontent are more frequent in the history of governed men than the summers spent frolicking in liberty.  Stalwart, rugged individuals in every age break the chains of tyranny by repeatedly challenging the presumed masters. 

It does not take many.  We know of one William Tyndale; one Joan of Arc, one Martin Luther, one Daniel Boone, and one George Washington among many others.  When combined with small handfuls of like-minded individuals these singletons shocked the world into consciousness! 

These individuals and small groups operated as members of irregular, indigenous, intellectual networks and small bands.  They were always in occupied territory.  They always labored against insurmountable odds.  They intellectually harassed and undermined the greater, more prolific opposition.  They achieved world-shattering success by raiding enemy strongholds.  These were not typically military raids with rifles but raids of intellectual combat.  As individuals, they changed what most accepted by shining the relentless light of liberty on an otherwise impenetrable darkness of deceit. These were ‘thought guerrillas’ that changed the world.

Who are the thought guerrillas in our midst?  Simple individuals recognized that history demanded action.  Each chose to speak out in forms that were commensurate with their capabilities. Thomas wrote a couple of pamphlets, William translated a book, Joan led armies, George led armies, Martin wrote a thesis, and Daniel explored the rugged wilds. All were guerillas in their time.

History is created every day by an inquisitive student, by a parent who leads a child, or a soldier who serves his nation. They are the guerrillas in our midst. 

Be Revolutionary.

Senex