The year was 732 and Europe was deep in the dark ages. A great army of 50,000+ Islamic Moors invaded from Spain into the land of the Franks which is now France. The Moors viewed Europe as easy pickings whose inhabitants were seen as ignorant barbarians.
The leader of the Franks, at that time, was a man I can trace my ancestry to - Charles "The Hammer" Martel. European armies at that time were made up of farmers who would join in battle when needed but as soon as the battle was over would return to the harvest and their family. (Note: this farmer/soldier model did not change until well after the American Civil War.)Martel knew he could not defeat the great invading army without a trained professional army. Martel sought funding for an from the the richest institution in Europe at that time - the church in Rome. At first the church turned funding down but after a couple of monasteries had been ransacked they acquiesced. The funds were spent to train an army whose sole purpose was to fight. The great armies finally met at the battle of Tours where the Franks were triumphant and it is remembered as one of the most important battles to shape world history. The moors retreated to Spain. The grandson of Martel was Charlemagne.
What does this have to do with current events? For one, we are being overrun by a force that truly believes it is more intelligent than we are and believes it has superior numbers and technology. Most of us feel we are good citizens. We vote, we go to jury duty, we go to church , we pay our bills and raise our families. But the trouble is that is no longer good enough. If we are not willing to donate our time and money to causes and candidates we believe in, we will lose time and time again to forces that seek to overwhelm us.
Yesterday the Hammer fell and we won a battle. The war will not be won without all of our continued involvement.
A Voice Crying In The Widerness
PS : There is a small gathering on the Capitol steps tommorow
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