“Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.”-Plato
Desire is a topic we have not yet written about but also one of utmost importance. Desire is the fuel with which people are driven. Desire is the reason we write to you every week. I have a strong desire to create change. I want to create a country in which liberty is at hand and a tyrant is looked down upon and never let into power. I have a desire that as our writings are read every week, that those reading them will have a desire in them to create a change, and that the fire I feel will spread to others. Most importantly, I have a true, deep, and sincere desire for liberty. I have yet to experience real liberty, but my desire to do so is real. Without these desires that I have, or that many people who came before me have had, there would be no change.

Emotion has the same effect, emotion can lead people to do incredible things. As I was thinking about how emotion effects us, I realized it’s what leads to desire. When you’re listening to or reading something, and it makes you feel inspired, and hopeful, it will cause you to do things you may have not done before.

Knowledge is what makes all of these things so important. Knowledge is what controls what you can do with desire and emotion. About a year ago, I began to read, for the first time, the words of our founding fathers. I gained knowledge about liberty, and from that knowledge, I felt emotions I had never felt before, which led to the strong desire I described earlier, which ultimately lead to America Restored. Without this knowledge, and without someone being willing to teach me these things, this would have never happened. I would never have felt the emotions that led to my desire for change. Knowledge is where we need to start.

One amazing teacher inspired me, and I hope I can teach others and inspire them, who will do the same. This is how a change will be made.  This is how we can all finally experience complete liberty.

Please continue to learn, and teach,

Publius

This Friday was the start of a change. To the extent, we know not yet. But as we reflected back on transitions in history, speeches were a very prominent factor. We have chosen our favorite quotes from inaugural speeches of the past and decided to speak on how they predicted the future. Because we know that history is they key to understanding what is to come.

Theodore Roosevelt said, “Much has been given us, and much will rightfully be expected from us. We have duties to others and duties to ourselves; and we can shirk neither.” Since our founding, people have claimed America is different. It is true, we have been given so much from brilliant founders and amazing people thrown into our country, but we’re not exclusive from the rest of the world. In order to stay great, we are expected to maintain a greatness about ourselves. If we want to be different, to be monumental, we have a duty to employ those traits in our personal life. In order to stay virtuous as a country, we must stay virtuous as a people. You’re not excuses from doing what’s right because America is “unlike anything else”. We have a duty to ourselves and a duty to the people around us to hold the country and our daily life to the same standards. Only after we make America good, can it once again be great. 

Ronald Reagan said, “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” Today, the government takes too much power. They have completely crossed the boundaries we have set for them in the constitution because we tore down the wall that was to keep them from doing so. Many people complain about the President in particular, they shake their fists but they don’t do anything about it. It seems like the only solution people have is more government. There is very rarely a situation in which more government will improve the situation, but it will make it worse. Will giving more power to a tyrant who already has a lust for that power make him back down? Never. A tyrant will continue to do all he can until someone stops him. More government is not our solution, it is our problem. 

Here’s to something new in our country. We never know what may come, but we can hope it’s in the right direction. As the country and government takes a change, let this be a time to make a change in yourself. The country can never prosper if the people do not as well. 

To a future of liberty,

Publius

We don’t start out life with the perfect idea of who we’re supposed to be, despite how much we wish that were true. Of course there are signs – natural strengths and the sort. But our destiny is not obvious. Sometimes the desire to leave an impression weighs so much on our shoulders that we grow reckless in our actions. We believe that we’re meant to sacrifice ourselves for the “greater good” any time the opportunity is there because that’s the most noble and the most dense contribution to make. This is not always true. Dying, throwing yourself into harms way, is not the most hard. Sometimes living, fighting through every challenge, dedicating yourself to see an end, is much more painstaking. To see something through means so much more than just having a brief moment of bravery. The founding fathers could have been reckless. They could have stopped at nothing to have a bloody battle and that be the end. They all could have thrown themselves into the middle of a battlefield trying to prove that they were true patriots. Some did, and maybe that was what was supposed to happen, but others knew they would be needed not just to fight but to write and speak and develop. Before we decide what to do with our lives, we must look at who we are and where we belong. It will take time – hours of analyzing behaviors and words, strengths and weaknesses – but it will be worth it in the end. Because maybe we are meant to be the martyr who shows their dedication through battle and strife. Or maybe we are the chosen who must carry on, preserve ourselves through the fight so we may live to see another day that we help create. It is not always clear who we are meant to be, but eventually we will know what is the right decision. We will see it in the praises from those journeying with us. It will feel solid, not fleeting. It won’t be a fast choice, a last minute path. It will be obvious because it has always been there. You will look back and know that this is where life has been leading for years past. So when you say that you will die for your cause, truly think about what those words mean. Because we are willing to live for our cause, to continue through life writing and speaking with liberty in our voice. We are not soldiers, we are writers and that is what we’ll do. We will live through tyranny so we may introduce freedom once again. And we believe that is one of the strongest decisions we have made.

Will you join us on the battlefield of life?
Publius

So much has happened this past year that we will never forget. This was the year we found our voice and we discovered what we needed to do. It was the year that changed us, and we couldn’t be more thankful for all that 2016 provided. Near the beginning of the year, we began truly learning and understanding the principles which we write about weekly. A little later we began some debates in our history class which ignited a spark in us. These debates made us realize that there was something that needed to be done and we could be the ones to do it. At the end of May we came up with our America Restored website and began working hard. Finally, in June 2016, we published our first writing and everything took off from there. We worked every week to read more and more from those who came before us and used what we learned from them to publish entry after entry. As we did this, we received amazing feedback. After returning to school, we continued to learn and continued to write. In October, we were so lucky to be able to put up our official, professional website and that same month we were blessed to be on a radio interview. We are so grateful for all the support, knowledge, and experience we’ve gained from 2016, but we are so excited to see what comes in 2017. We hope to find more ways for the necessary to be heard. We are looking forward to seeing what is in store for us and to see what we can learn. As it is now a fresh start, we are making it a goal in our lives to never allow others to stand in our way but to continue moving forward and progressing and we hope you will do the same. Each year that passes gets us closer to the inevitable turning point we are preparing for and we are anxiously awaiting the outcome of all our efforts. The years that fall behind us can teach us, and warn us, we can learn from the experiences and mistakes of others but, if we won’t take action in the present and in the future, then the past doesn’t matter.
“New Year’s Day. A fresh start. A new chapter in life waiting to be written. New questions to be asked, embraced, and loved. Answers to be discovered and then lived in this transformative year of delight and self-discovery.”- Sarah Ban Breathnach