Christmas & New Year's Message For Ukraine

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On Christmas night 1776 George Washington crossed the Delaware with a column of Continentals just prior to their surprise attack on the morning of December 26 against the Hessian mercenaries occupying Trenton.  The Battle of Trenton was brief mostly because the unsuspecting Hessians were surprised that the icy Delaware could actually be crossed (see painting above) – two thirds of the Hessians were captured with very few American losses.  This first major victory of the Revolutionary War increased moral & as a result many soldiers scheduled to be released from active duty on December 31 reenlisted in the Continental Army.

 

Of course America was in the early stages of our history.  We had gone through the bondage to spiritual faith & spiritual faith to great courage stages.  We had moved to the courage, fighting for our liberty stage.

 

Today the people of Ukraine are just about @ the same point in their fight for liberty that America was on Christmas 1776. 

 

Starting with mostly students on November 21 Ukrainian pro-liberty advocates have protested the government's sudden lurch away from joining the EU in favor of returning to the tyranny & repressiveness of Russian influence & corrupt control.  Hundreds of thousands of freedom seeking Ukrainians have descended on Kiev's Independence Square known locally as the Maidan (the Square).  Behind barricades they have set up a self governing city within Kiev.  This is a recurrence of similar demonstrations in 2004, known as the Orange Revolution, that successfully overturned fraudulent election results.  Those demonstrations were led by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko who has spent the last two years in jail on trumped up political charges by the current regime.  For many this is a second tour of duty after having participated in the Orange Revolution.  This time there is no single leader of the movement – should sound very familiar to Tea Partiers.  These people are fighting, with no sign of quit, for democracy, individual rights, & the rule of law.  In brief – they are fighting for the freedoms Americans have known for over 200 years & that they want to see in Ukraine for themselves.

 

My interest in Ukraine started about two years ago when Google began providing statistics regarding RTE's readership.  First, I was astonished @ the total readership.  Second, I was equally surprised to see that Ukraine had the second biggest readership after the U.S. – on one recent day more people in Ukraine had read RTE than any other country in the world.  I know that many pro-liberty protesters in Ukraine use Facebook posts & blogs to communicate with each other.  I am just so humbled & honored to think that RTE has played even an infinitesimal part in this revolution for freedom.

 

So it is to Ukraine, & specifically the libertarian people behind the barricades in the Maidan, that I dedicate this Christmas & New Year's message – namely, it is the future that they bring when tomorrow comes.