Give Me John Hancock

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Everyone knows that John Hancock penned his signature in large font to the bottom of the Declaration of Independence. What most people don’t know is that he was the only signer to sign it on the 4^th of July. Not until the 2^nd of August of that year did the remainder signatories add their vote of confidence, but even then some men who attended the ratification refused to put their names to the document.

Whatever they did after that point matters very little. They missed the opportunity to emboss on the annals of history their names in perpetuity. While some may have striven valiantly in the cause of liberty, we only remember that first man for his emboldened defiance of George III, and their efforts lie in predicate nominative, obfuscated by how they kept their first estate.

The true impact of John Hancock’s signature extends far beyond the eyes of a long dead British Monarch. John Hancock’s bold defiance of tyranny befits the symbolic nature of the Revolution and its role in a greater conflict that spans epochs of time. Sometimes I wonder if John regretted his flamboyantly boisterous display, but one thing leaves no doubt. For the rest of his life, John Hancock strove against those same powers that attempted to establish tyranny over the minds of man.

If John Hancock could somehow emerge in society today, endowed with comprehension and knowledge of all transpiration since his death, I believe he would be appalled. Furthermore, I believe that he would again pen without question his name to anything that defied the new tyranny creeping in among us. During his time, America remained largely ignorant of socialism, but I know he would recognize it today.

Give me a John Hancock. No, I don’t want your autograph or signature. I want a man who says, “Screw what other men think. I intend to do what is right.” Sometimes people ask me if I worry about the ramifications of my blatantly defiant stance against socialism and liberalism, my condemnation of it as a satanic instrument, and my criticism of those who fall for the emotional outcroppings and try to redeem themselves with our blood. Like John Hancock, I don’t really care. My detractors and denigrators can do nothing of permanent resonance to me. They can only cause suffering to the body. In the end my soul, like Hancock’s name, will live on.

I believe that there are great men and women in embryo all around this nation. By and large, they remain silent for fear of powerful men and women whose riches and connections threaten to destroy in grandiose fashion that way of life they intend to build for their families. The problem is that they sin by silence and allow those same forces to establish a new socialistic tyranny by degrees, line upon line, precept upon precept, until they are grasped with the awful chains of death and hell.

When the Jeffersons, Hamiltons, and Paines of our day arise, these nefarious forces keep us from recognizing them. They are shouted down and cut off in speeches, given poor marks for their writs, and hampered by haranguing hordes intent on nullifying that which is good and brave and true. Socialists flood our educational system and verily render it no longer able to teach men how to live and act and carry themselves off in life triumphantly. Rather they fill the skulls of our children with “facts and figures”, interpretive methodologies, and the philosophies of men, mingled with truth.

During the revolution, it took a Hancock to rise up and put a name to the idea. On him came by consequence the sum vitriol of Britain’s wrath, the personification of satan’s desire that all men might live in as much misery as possible. Misery poured out upon the colonies, and Hancock, himself perhaps the wealthiest man in America, found himself on the run from General Thomas Gage, lost several of his ships including the Liberty to the British, and suffered greatly trying to keep Washington’s army supplied and equipped during the revolution. Eventually in consequence of his privations, he succumbed to illness and died at the age of 56. He left no descendants. He had a lot to lose, but he also had much to gain.

For those of you who worry about what tyrants may say, remember Hancock. Stand for something, or you may find that you have indeed lost all by your hesitation. At first, it just took Hancock’s signature. At first it will probably just take yours, but unless you are willing to trade everything you have to secure liberty, then you do not deserve it. Give me John Hancock, and I will give you again the resolve necessary to pay any price to preserve those inalienable rights with which our Creator endows all men.