History shows that the nature of man never changes, only their knowledge & technology. People for the most part Never fight the good fight. They are "Sunshine Patriots." Every Revolution and Freedom won is usually done so by a minority, until victory is imminent. Then everyone wants on the bandwagon, claiming they've "been there from the start."
Participation usually averages a third of the people or less. A third for the cause, a third against and a third in apathy. America's Revolution started with 20% for the cause! Then, you only have a fraction of those "For" who will actually do anything. Oh, they'll fight the fight to the last drop of Your blood, you bet ya! But that's as far as it will go.
That's why I don't worry about how many American's are awake for the fight or if it is even a loosing cause (Another excuse for not participating). I've met too many that talk brave among other like minded people, but are too afraid to speak up outside that group, lest their cover be blown. You know.... "Better Red than Dead" mentality. Sorry, but to borrow from another phrase... It's better to have fought and lost than to never to have fought at all. It all comes back to Patrick Henry's speech before the House in Virginia and Samuel Adams declaration for those not interested in fighting for Freedom to "Leave us."
It starts with the fight to begin freedom, then to secure it from loss and/or mold it into a better form. I feel I'm at the stage of Freedom where my fight is a rear guard action to delay its demise as long as possible. We are not immune to the decay that befalls all Empires and Nations. It eventually comes, what ever the speed. Acknowledging this doesn't mean I should make it easy for my adversaries by going quietly from my soapbox, or foxhole, as the case may be. They'll have to pry the Bill of Rights from my cold dead hands.Do I sometimes want to throw my hands up and say, "Let me have ignorance, so that I may have peace of mind!"? Yes! Then after a while self-preservation sneaks back into my awareness and the fire flickers again. Not the self-preservation of Life, but of Liberty. For me and those after me. I don't think I could survive in the bondage the left wishes to bless me with. All for my own good, of course. It would eat me alive to accept it. I would be shamed before my son to allow it. And it would be a dishonor to those before me who fought 350+ years in this country against it. The following quote illustrates the situation:
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage."
--Lord Alexander Tytler on the fall of the Athenian republic
Thanks given to The Federalist® for Lord Tytler's quote.