"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 by 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."
"Thomas Paine wrote these words in December 1776. The American Revolutionary War had been going badly since the Declaration of Independence was signed earlier that year. The British had kicked George Washington's army out of New York, and they hanged his favorite spy, Nathan Hale (a Yalie, by the way), so Washington had Paine's words read aloud to the troops to boost their morale."
"It wasn't the end of the war, or even the beginning of the end, but to use Winston Churchill's words, it was the end of the beginning. Now we're under siege again not by some foreign country but by our own government. The unconstitutional invasion of Venezuela (only Congress has the authority to declare war, not the president) is the latest example."
Thomas Paine's 1776 passage on perseverance and the glory of triumph through hard conflict is quoted and linked to George Washington's morale-boosting use of the lines before the Delaware crossing and the Battle of Trenton. The Revolutionary War context included losses in New York and the hanging of Nathan Hale. A present-day siege by the United States government is alleged, and the planned action in Venezuela is called unconstitutional because only Congress can declare war. Steven Miller is named as leading the operation. President Trump's affinity for authoritarian leaders is criticized, and Maduro and Trump are described as power-seeking figures. A college course in Soviet history is referenced.
Read at www.eastbaytimes.com
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