The reason it worked (NA)

[poadeleted1]

"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our fortunes and our sacred Honor."

You have to be willing to put it all on the table and know that what you do is the right thing. You have to know that others support you and will do the same, at the risk of everything.

Sadly, as was stated in another thread, we have become a nation of gum flappers who cut and paste and click a mouse but are otherwise too busy to be bothered to support our causes - left, right or middle. Or we send a check and think we did our part. Most of us are guilty because we think we are "doing something". But those folks who we elected - or did not elect because we did not have the time to vote - know that too. So they crank off a form letter in response to your email that says "thanks for your concern, we will look into that", and your sense of duty is assuaged.

I see lots of pieholes and lots of rhetoric bandied about - I am no less guilty than most of you - but if it is your concern, you owe it to yourself and to those who die and have died for your freedom to do more than blather about the injustice. Put it on the line. Put it all on the line and if your cause is righteous and you make your case the support will be there.

Its up to you to make a difference. Whining and moaning about the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune makes you a whiner and a moaner. Nothing more.

Remember the reason it worked. "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our fortunes and our sacred Honor." Draw that line in the sand or in the wet cement, and hold the line. Do something more than make yourself feel good. Most of us are Americans, and we have the right unless we fail to exercise it. If you let someone take it from you, you are nothing in the experiment we call democracy.

"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our fortunes and our sacred Honor." Is there even one of us who understands what that means? I wonder.....

KP, whose wife is a direct descendent of one of the signers!!!

 

[gkainz]

Thanks for the reminder, KP. Absolutely right on the money.

 

[pete177]

People, by nature, are politically apathetic. The founders recognized that fact. From what I understand the majority of Americans didnt support the revolution at the time, at least not actively and a large percentage were loyal to England. If the majority of Americans were politically active you wouldnt be flying GA today. We are a very small minority and our priviledge of flying would have long been snuffed out by an active majority due to the fact that we polute like mad and place an unnecessary burden on an already overtaxed airspace system. Our airplanes fall on peoples houses, their cars, on roadways causing traffic jams and sometimes cause injuries to innocent bystanders. Our airports take up valuable land in some areas and we make alot of noise. If we weren't protected by special interest pac and a population that doesnt care enough to do anything about it we'd be sunk.

"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our fortunes and our sacred Honor."

You have to be willing to put it all on the table and know that what you do is the right thing. You have to know that others support you and will do the same, at the risk of everything.

Sadly, as was stated in another thread, we have become a nation of gum flappers who cut and paste and click a mouse but are otherwise too busy to be bothered to support our causes - left, right or middle. Or we send a check and think we did our part. Most of us are guilty because we think we are "doing something". But those folks who we elected - or did not elect because we did not have the time to vote - know that too. So they crank off a form letter in response to your email that says "thanks for your concern, we will look into that", and your sense of duty is assuaged.

I see lots of pieholes and lots of rhetoric bandied about - I am no less guilty than most of you - but if it is your concern, you owe it to yourself and to those who die and have died for your freedom to do more than blather about the injustice. Put it on the line. Put it all on the line and if your cause is righteous and you make your case the support will be there.

Its up to you to make a difference. Whining and moaning about the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune makes you a whiner and a moaner. Nothing more.

Remember the reason it worked. "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our fortunes and our sacred Honor." Draw that line in the sand or in the wet cement, and hold the line. Do something more than make yourself feel good. Most of us are Americans, and we have the right unless we fail to exercise it. If you let someone take it from you, you are nothing in the experiment we call democracy.

"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our fortunes and our sacred Honor." Is there even one of us who understands what that means? I wonder.....

KP, whose wife is a direct descendent of one of the signers!!!

 

[poadeleted1]

People, by nature, are politically apathetic. The founders recognized that fact. From what I understand the majority of Americans didnt support the revolution at the time, at least not actively and a large percentage were loyal to England. If the majority of Americans were politically active you wouldnt be flying GA today. We are a very small minority and our priviledge of flying would have long been snuffed out by an active majority due to the fact that we polute like mad and place an unnecessary burden on an already overtaxed airspace system. Our airplanes fall on peoples houses, their cars, on roadways causing traffic jams and sometimes cause injuries to innocent bystanders. Our airports take up valuable land in some areas and we make alot of noise. If we weren't protected by special interest pac and a population that doesnt care enough to do anything about it we'd be sunk.

Pete, I have thought about exactly that many times in the past, and I realize that our paltry 400,000 votes are but a drop in the bucket. WE have a problem that WE need to overcome, not THEY have a problem with us and THEY need to get over it. And the PAC is part of the problem, not the solution, because it is the easy way for people to say "we are doing something - we give to the PAC", and they feel like they have done their part. It takes more to win a battle than money and logistics. It takes boots on the ground.

It is a difficult thing, to be US versus THEM in any issue; more so when WE are small and THEY are not. But WE can triumph, just as the original patrtiots did by seizing the initiative, making certain of the outcome in each confrontation by selecting where and when we make our stands. A primary case in point - how can we show that we are responsible and intelligent, willing to take a CALCULATED risk (which is what flight is - but then, so is anything else we do in life) when we can neither follow rules about TFRs and ADIZs nor can we even follow the rules about FWI (Flying while intoxicated)? It is true that the folks who do those things are in the small minority, but they only hurt the rest of us and erode our position. The sad fact that these same folks would do the same thing at the helm of a boat or behind the wheel of a car is irrelevent; they are tagged as irresponsible pilots and we, the rest of the pilots of the world, are tarred with the same brush.

If every automobile incident received the press that an aircraft incident received - if every boat or personal watercraft incident received the press that an aircraft incident received, with the attendant comments about how the entire community was put in danger - maybe it would make a difference. But somehow, I doubt that it will happen.

Its another thing that won't get done if we just sit around drinking coffee. But some good looking guy and good looking woman who can speak coherently needs to be our spokesperson. Preferably someone who is not some fringe player, but someone people admire and respect. Obviously, that means many things to many people. Maybe AOPA could come up with a "These are the Faces of General Aviation" campaign to show that although it is expensive to fly and to be a pilot, their neighbors, coworkers and friends are pilots, and that those folks sacrifice other things in order to fly. Show that we are responsible normal people who are not living some deviant lifestyle (for the most part) and bent on the destruction of the world.

Remember that people died dreaming of flight and figuring out how to fly. Remember that people have died in the past and die today to give you your freedoms. It would be a travesty and it dishonors the memory of those people to do nothing. Think of the words of Martin Niemoller and apply them accordingly to the situation...'First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I said nothing. Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat, so I did nothing. Then came the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist. And then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did little. Then when they came for me, there was no one left to stand up for me.'

Draw the line and hold the line. If not you, then who? If not us, then who? None of us has the strength of all of us. We have to put differences aside and unify for the cause. With some trepedation, I would say that aviation needs to be our cause, our focus, our religion to those outside the fold. It cannot be a rabid devotion, but rather a calm and steady one so as to not scare off the meek and timid either inside or outside. It can be done. We just need to maintain focus and maintain the strain. We can do it if we are willing to let the cause of GA be bigger than all of us and we pull together for the common good.