What If We Got “Frenched”? … June 23, 2014

Jonathots Daily Blog

(2272)

On the evening of March 5th, 1770, a group of colonists who deemed themselves patriots were attacked by the British regulars who were sent to curtail their efforts, were fired upon, killing five of their number.

It was dubbed the Boston Massacre.

It was the latest in a series of indignities that the American colonists felt they were enduring under the cruel leadership and tyranny of King George III. Yet it was a full six years before the echoes of those bullets would manifest a rallying cry for a Declaration of Independence.

But what if King Louis XVI of France had decided to intervene on behalf of the ragtag, mistreated and alienated citizens? After all, he had a dog in the hunt:

• France laid claim to the Louisiana Territory, which extended from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.
• The French had an ongoing hatred for the English.

What if the government of France felt it was their duty to invade the United States, overthrow the English government, and establish a new, independent union with the thirteen colonies?

There would be an immediate problem. The locals would have no initiative to foster such a notion. Even if the British could have been chased out of the Eastern Seaboard, the conflicts that existed between the plantation owners of Virginia and the Puritans of Massachusetts would have been sharp and harsh, with little room for negotiation.

The French would have struck a blow for what they considered to be necessary intervention on behalf of a “third world people,” but there would be no agreement whatsoever among the rescued citizenry about what to do next.

And how would the French remain involved? Were the colonists supposed to exchange one oppressor for a lesser oppressor? Or would the French simply leave the new Americans to their own devices, opening the door to strife and civil war?

Perhaps fortunate for us, on the morning of March 6th, following the Boston Massacre, King Louis XVI was not only unaware of the tragedy, but was involved in his own plans to wed Marie Antoinette on May 16th.

Or perhaps the King was smarter.

Freedom is not something you can win for other people. It is not something you can even suggest as a necessary alternative to their quandary.

Freedom requires four distinct steps, whether it’s liberating a nation or getting clean from an addiction.

1. “I have a problem.”

Until I realize that I have painted myself in a corner, no one’s opinion can set my solution in motion.

2. “I need to do something.”

Acknowledging a problem is powerful, but realizing that something needs to change is allowing yourself permission to initiate your own salvation.

3. “The cure is worth it.”

It took the entire six years between the Boston Massacre and the Declaration of Independence for the American colonists to realize that the struggle and pain of separation from England would be well worth the victory.

4. “I will not give up.”

For after all, nothing could be worse than a half-achieved freedom. When would you ever get the gumption to start again?

Although France later offered assistance to the colonies with their struggle against England, at no time did they take over the campaign themselves, in the name of liberty. Because of that discretion, we have a free country today instead of a commonwealth that owes some sort of allegiance to both England and France–(Canada).

I do not know what’s going to happen in Iraq. But I do know that until the Iraqi people come to themselves, realize they have a problem requiring they do something, that the cure will be worth it and they choose to never give up … all intervention from the outside is merely interference.  

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