A Year Ago

It is time to stand. It is time to take some of the weight.

A year ago, I was running a small home improvement business. We were relatively busy, but I was concerned about the coming winter as it is our slow season. Most of our work was exterior projects. We were just starting to see the light at the end of the Covid tunnel. We had work scheduled through the winter and we were starting to think that maybe we made it. Maybe the worst was over, and we were going to pull through.

A year ago, I would come home from work miserable from a job I used to love. Sick of the hoops and hassles the government placed in our road. Sick of the roadblocks to get materials, and the fluctuating costs that made it nearly impossible to bid a job and make a profit upon its completion. Inflation and skyrocketing costs sucked up a lot of what was supposed to be profit. Sick of the fact that I had been working for so long just to put food on the table and pay most of the monthly bills. Yup, we were playing that old game we used to play years ago. Which bills do we pay, which do we ignore? I though we wouldn’t have to do that again and I worked my fingers to the bone to avoid it. My pursuit of happiness was stolen from me and became simply work to survive. I used to enjoy my work, but now it felt more like I was just a prisoner making big rocks into little rocks for a check that only covers 80% of bills. My joy was stolen from me, my pursuit of happiness was trampled on by a bloated federal government. It’s new rules and regulations played havoc with the supply chain, as well as the pricing attached to it. Managing to effect almost every aspect of my business. Eating away at it slowly.

A year ago... I felt trapped.

I felt angry. I felt like the opportunity to provide for my family was taken from me. While those of you with jobs that turned into a work from home opportunity, I congratulate them. I can see why it was so easy for those Americans out there to forget that while you were sitting in front of your computer, (in a tie and no pants most likely), small businesses like ours were out here suffering. Watching everything we had worked for being slowly stripped away. How many small business owners were left totally broken after that. It was hell, watching my savings be sucked away, watching the work slowdown, the materials get harder to find, the ones you can find are 70% more expensive than they used to be. Feeling helpless to stop it so the only option is to work harder and longer.

It was painful to see it stripped away, and have no doubt, that is what happened. I was handcuffed and made to watch, though I struggled, in the end it could have been enough, had it not been for a corrupt school board, it may have been. This is not an excuse, or a placement of blame, just facts. They pushed us over the cliff, and they did it because we dared to stand up to them. To call them on their lies and try to hold them accountable when they are wrong. After all, my work ethic didn’t change, my integrity was intact, yet the calls stopped on a dime. Going from 2-7 a week to 2 a month.

It was also the fear injected into the public that prevented many people from having work done. It was the lockdowns and unnecessary regulations that destroyed the supply line and skyrocketed prices. While they were sitting in their pajamas, we were dying out here. I don’t blame them, I just need them to be aware. We needed you to stand with us, we still do.

The destruction of small business has played a lot into the plan to sink the American economy. To make more and more people dependent on the government for their basic needs. Take a close look at China, North Korea, Venezuela, or any other number of countries to see where that road goes.

A year ago, I was a patriot, but I was lost. I was lost in my own life. I was so caught up in trying to keep my family’s head above water I didn’t realize I was drowning myself. I was responding the way tyrants want me to, by focusing inward on my family rather than outward to the world The emotional damage watching things you have put your heart and soul into stripped away and assaulted is real. It steals your manhood. That manly pride that comes from providing for your family. It is a big part of the reward you get from all the hard work and sacrifice. I feel that pain today, every day. I do continue to believe that God has a plan for me, and this is just part of it. I will continue to trust in Him, and he will continue to calm my heart and reassure me that there is a purpose to all of this.

A year ago, I knew something needed to be done. Our country was being destroyed from the inside by tyrants and the media’s selective coverage and posturing, people weren’t seeing it. So many others out there are doing the right thing by putting their family first, but they don’t realize, I didn’t realize. You can’t help your family if you lose your liberty. If we lose that, you won’t be able to help your family; you will just be trying to minimize the suffering. To really provide for our family’s futures we must attack the source of the problem, the virus itself. It is not the Constitution, or even America that is broken, not by a longshot. However, we are sick, and the only one who has the cure is We the People. The virus is the tyrants in our government, and they must be dealt with, one way or another or America may be lost forever.

So, we are a selfish people. No one is willing to sacrifice themselves for a greater good. It didn’t used to be that way. It isn’t for me. I would sacrifice my life today so that my children could experience America as it is designed to be. I would sacrifice my life for my country, for my family, and certainly for my God. Don’t forget God has skin in this game as well. I have no doubt America was a divinely planted nation. He was in the room with the founding fathers and His influence helped form the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. America has been blessed beyond compare and existing with a hedge of protection placed there by God Himself.

We left Him, He didn’t leave us. and when we did, that hedge of protection was removed. Now we are a land when good is seen as evil and evil is seen as good. To be clear, I don’t want America to revert back to a Puritan form of religion, just that general morality, humility, and love for your fellow American that used to be in the air. It seems to have been replaced with a sort of resentment of our fellow Americans. The stench of hate, and self-importance now fill the air and the ugliness of vanity is everywhere.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

I love America, and because I love her, I will sacrifice for her. I will risk my life, my fortune, and my sacred honor for her. Who will stand with me? People didn’t used to fear losing something, they would stand up anyway. People used to have a sense of duty to America. A healthy sense of pride for America. A certain sense of gratitude for America. Is that gone forever? I refuse to believe that.

A year ago, I felt like I was just working to live. Like I was just breathing to death. Lost, angry, and feeling helpless and alone, powerless. And I was powerless. Because I chose to be powerless, not because I was powerless. It was easy to fall into that trap of thinking you are alone. What can you do alone? Well, not a lot, but you are not alone. There are millions of us. Never fall into the trap of thinking you are powerless; you are not powerless. As a matter of fact, you are part of the most powerful force on Earth, We the People. You have a part to play, all the parts are not the same, remember everyone can’t be the preacher, but there is no church without a congregation. We all have a different role to play, but have no doubt there is room for you in this movement and you are needed.

If you choose to be powerless, it isn’t because you are weak, it is because you are tolerant. You tolerate it for any number of reasons, scared to lose something. It doesn’t matter what you are scared to lose, they have you scared to lose. They have you hemmed up. They have you hogtied, unable, unwilling to exercise your 1st amendment rights. They have us scared, but we need not be. It won’t be easy, but we must be reminded, We the People have the power here. They are a paper tiger, and we control the fire.

A year ago, I never considered that I would stand up, not because I didn’t want to, but because I didn’t know how to. Since I did, it has been hard and continues to be. I have lost a lot and my future went from the plan we had, to a plan we now have to create. Thrown into a sort of organized chaos, I feel alive. I feel like for the first time in my life I am following God’s plan and not fighting it. There are many rewards to taking a stand as well. The love that has been poured into me by We the People who follow what we are doing has helped to sustain me thus far. The nice messages, and even the financial support that seems to come just at the right moments, (God always seems to make sure we have what we need), the amazing hugs and handshakes. The people that stand behind me help to prop me up, I could not do what I do without them emotionally or financially. I also have an amazing wife that has stood by me through all of this, fighting and standing right by my side as we fought the school board and now fight the system itself. I couldn’t do anything I do without her; I would be a mess. She holds me together.

I suppose the purpose of this rambling is to say, you can do it too. We can all do it, and it is time to do it. Stand with me, stand with MagAmericans, stand with 1776RM, stand with other Americans for the freedoms that were not given by government but are now being taken away. The fight is happening whether you admit it or not, the only question is will you leave your future to the outcome of this high stakes game, or will you jump in, get involved, and try to help win the battle and eventually the war for liberty? Come on America, it is time to exercise our power and take America back from the tyrants who control it now. I want to hear you’re “A Year Ago” story…