Sam´s Back

And the cradle of liberty is ready to rock

by Alan Bisbort

Source: Hartford Advocate, November 25, 2004.

It was early 1773, and things were looking bleak for Boston's Sons of Liberty. The seeds of democratic self-rule planted as early as the 1740s at town meetings in Faneuil Hall -- where 4,000 Bostonians regularly crammed inside to hear the fiery Samuel Adams decry the rule of tyrants -- had lost its momentum. The anger and bitterness caused by the Boston Massacre in March 1770, the 9/11 of its day, had dissipated into backbiting and despair. The Whigs, the political party opposed to the rule of King George, had ceded some of its thunder to the loathsome Tory toadies.

A common Tory prayer at the time was, "I wish to the Lord the whole town of Boston might sink this moment" and their fervent wish was "to see Sam Adams swing at Tyburn" (gallows in England reserved for treasonists). Still, partly because of Adams' popularity, they kept their distance from Faneuil Hall and tried, according to historian John C. Miller, "to coop up sedition in Boston and to keep town and country apart.".

It seemed to be working in early 1773. Formerly rebellious merchants broke ranks and began importing and selling British goods. John Adams left Boston and went back to Braintree to play at being a country squire. John Hancock -- the seizure of whose merchant ship by the British in 1768 nearly started the American Revolution early -- began to curry favor with the British governor. The rebellion against tyranny seemed at an end.

Someone, however, forgot to tell Sam Adams. Adams, the nearest thing the colonies had to a professional revolutionary, continued to hammer the themes he'd laid out so eloquently and repeatedly at great physical peril in Faneuil Hall, our nation's "Cradle of Liberty." Down with tyrants! Down with taxation without representation! Up with democracy, self-rule, freedom of assembly, speech and the press! And, of course, up with those pewter mugs foaming with home-brewed hops!

Against this backdrop and these daunting odds, Adams prevailed. He knew that, as it always has throughout history, the arrogance and corruption of unbridled power would sow the seeds of its own destruction. And, sure enough, the British soon overspent their "political capital."

All it took was one bloodless misstep. In May 1773, the Brits taxed the tea. On its face, this seems innocuous, but it allowed the East India Company -- Enron and Halliburton of its day -- to dominate local markets while the British government gouged local merchants.

On Nov. 29, a notice posted in Boston read, in part, "The Hour of Destruction or manly Opposition to the Machinations of Tyranny stares you in the Face..."

On Dec. 16, at a signal from the ubiquitous Sam Adams, a group of 30 colonists disguised as Mohawks boarded three East India Tea Company ships and dumped the contents of 342 chests of tea (worth 10,000 British pounds) into the harbor, while 2,000 kindred spirits watched joyfully from shore. The entire assemblage then marched through the streets of Boston accompanied by pipes and drums. Historian Theodore Draper noted, at that moment, "Boston was lost to the British empire ..."

In less than six months, the forces of democracy and freedom went from its lowest ebb to its highest peak.

Now, King George W. Bush maintains that he has "political capital" to spend. He also claims that he has a "mandate," though he "won" with all of 51 percent of the vote and with the results from four states under serious doubt as the evidence of vote-tampering mounts. He also possesses a job approval rating of 48 percent.

The question is not if, but when, King George will make his fatal misstep. When will he make that one move that will bring his house of oil crumbling around his feet?

Will it be something as simple as gas prices hitting $2.50 or $3 a gallon nationwide, and the reminder that those who profit most are All The President's Men?

Will it be the nightmarishly complicated task of "privatizing" Social Security and the ensuing chaos?

Will it be the continuing plunge of the U.S. dollar on global currency markets, the mounting budget and trade deficits that will paralyze future generations of Americans?

Will it be the elimination of the deduction on federal income tax returns and scrapping the business tax deduction for employer-provided health insurance, in order to pay for more tax breaks for the rich? That something as cruel and twisted as this is being offered as a serious proposal by the Tories, er, Republicans, makes it clear that the cradle of liberty will be rocking back our way sooner rather than later.

Don't know about you, but I'm already working on my Mohawk costume.

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reprinted from The Hartford Advocate