Originally posted 02/02 to the *20* Meetup groups in the DFW Metroplex:
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The FW HQ opening was a big success today. We talked to or left lit with
around 250-300 targetted voters in the 3 precincts around the HQ. We'll be
doing a lot of followups next week, and we expect to take on a lot more
volunteers.
One thing many of you that come by the HQ or see the business cards/etc.
will notice is that we've chosen the "Come and Take It" flag as one of our
symbols. For any of you that don't know the history of that flag, or
wonder why we picked it, I figure it's worth a bit of an explanation of
what it means at least for me. It's not just a Texas version of "Live Free
or Die" or because we like the 2nd amendment. It's not because we want to
pick a fight with someone.
For those that don't know, or those that have forgotten, the story of that
flag goes back to the Texas revolution, when part of Santa Anna's army was
dispatched to take back a small cannon that had been given to the citizens
of Gonzales. The citizens, who believed themselves to be fighting to
defend their Constitution from a dictatorial government, refused, and
used fabric from a wedding dress to fashion a flag with a picture of the
cannon, a lone star, and the phrase "Come and Take It". Tensions escalated
until the cannon fired the first shot of the Texas revolution, killing a
Mexican soldier.
This is the part that's important to me: they didn't fight back with
anything resembling a sure victory. They only had 18 men to stand against
the Mexican army initially, so they buried the cannon to hide it and
stalled while they called for reinforcements. They didn't have regular
ammunition for the cannon, so they loaded it with scrap metal and chains.
And not long after the battle where they fired the cannon, they lost the
use of it anyway when the cart it was on broke and they had to burn and
bury it. Some months later, several of those same Texans answered the call
to join those already at the Alamo. They were the only group of
reinforcements to arrive, and we all know what happened there next. They
held off an incredibly superior force for around two weeks. And then they
died.
Were they wrong?
We think of them as heros, but the whole thing kind of reads like a morbid
comedy of errors. So were they wrong? Were they foolish or stupid to
stand against so many with so few? Were they "kooks" to choose certain
death over a life of surrender? Did Liberty sound any more "electable"
standing against Santa Anna with one cannon full of scrap metal than some
think it does now?
Of course they weren't wrong, but you might think so to listen to the media
today and the people we talk to who "like Ron Paul, but won't vote for him
because he can't win". Sure, if you asked them directly these people would
probably tell you they consider the Texas revolutionaries heros,
particularly those that held the line when they had no hope of success or
survival. Yet they show by their actions that they are not of the same
cloth, and what matters to them is being part of what looks like a sure
thing, evil if that thing is evil.
Now this message is not to any among us who might be tired or wondering how
the campaign is doing or anything. There have been some other messages
about that, and of course if you want the best information on how the
campaign is doing you can go look at the returns from Maine this weekend.
This message is for those that probably aren't even on these lists, or are
only on them out of curiousity. The ones that complain Liberty and the
Constitution are not "electable", whether the data even says that's true or
not.
To me, the use of that flag and phrase is not so much a challenge as it is
a reminder. It's a reminder that the right thing isn't always the sure
thing or the safe thing. Sometimes it's just the right thing. We wouldn't
be who we are or where we are if those men hadn't made their stand and died
for it and for us.
Of course, we all also know the Alamo wasn't even the end of the story, and
those of us in this campaign know that Ron Paul is plenty electable. But
we also know we'd be here regardless. We aren't here working for him
because it's the safe thing or the sure thing. We're here because it's the
right thing. In Texas at least, that puts us in pretty good company.
