{"id":59083,"date":"2013-06-25T00:15:45","date_gmt":"2013-06-25T06:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/are-we-teaching-our-kids-to-be-patriots\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T16:13:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T16:13:57","slug":"are-we-teaching-our-kids-to-be-patriots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/are-we-teaching-our-kids-to-be-patriots\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Are we teaching our kids to be patriots?\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image naviga-align-left alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=54ac52b3-4b65-4ab3-a802-32bcde8b4bdb&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"1128\" height=\"1247\" alt=\"Constitutional speaker KrissAnne Hall delivers her message to an audience of 60 people at the Cortez Elks Club.\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Constitutional speaker KrissAnne Hall delivers her message to an audience of 60 people at the Cortez Elks Club.<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Cortez Journal\/Jim Mimiaga<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>The U.S. Constitution needs more patriots defending its principals in order to safeguard America\u2019s freedom, national speaker KrissAnne Hall told a packed room of the Four Corners 9-12ers at the Cortez Elks Lodge.<\/p>\n<p>And for Hall, a constitutional activist and attorney, understanding the genealogy of the country\u2019s most defining document reveals the tyranny, strife and revolution that led to its ultimate creation.<\/p>\n<p>The problem isn\u2019t exclusively conservatives or liberals, Democrats or Republicans, Hall says; rather, \u201cthe man in the mirror\u201d is to blame for the gradual erosion of rights and liberties of citizens.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a common fate of the lazy to have their liberty stolen,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>During a lively 90-minute speech, Hall unfolded a staggering backstory leading up to the American Constitution, reaching back to the historic revolutions and kings of England.<\/p>\n<p>The Norman invasion of William the Conqueror in 1066 was a significant date. It was an era of common-law judges, but William eliminatesd common law and enforced taxes without representation.<\/p>\n<p>It is the beginning of \u201cthe fox watching the henhouse,\u201d Hall said.<\/p>\n<p>The Magna Carta in 1215 was another milestone, and one for the masses. It was the first document forced onto a King of England in an attempt to limit his powers and protect the rights of everyday people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA revolution was born. You never know what seed planted will result in uprising,\u201d Hall said. \u201cWe inherited our constitutional values.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Testing the audience\u2019s grasp of world history \u2014 an earlier quiz on the First Amendment was much easier \u2014 Hall reminded the crowd of the Grand Remonstrance of 1641, a time of diminished property rights and disarming of the people.<\/p>\n<p>Hall pointed to a Liberty County, Fla., sheriff, arrested and removed from his post this month for alleged misconduct in an attempt to defend a resident\u2019s right to bear arms under the Second Amendment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe stand behind the sheriff,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>The English Bill of Rights of 1689 is another foundation of the U.S. Constitution, according to Hall. It limits the power of government and lays down rules for free speech and regular elections.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeparation of powers, we did not invent that; executive orders violate the Constitution,\u201d Hall pointed out. \u201cWe need to listen to the wisdom of the framers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A fountain of one-line zingers, Hall closed with a few warnings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy doing nothing, we become cheerleaders to tyrants. Are we teaching our kids to be patriots or slaves? If we do not know what rights are how will you know when they are gone?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:jmimiaga@cortezjournal.com\">jmimiaga@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>9-12 speaker: The fate of the lazy is \u2018to have their liberty stolen\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1615],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-59083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-constitution"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59083"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63151,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59083\/revisions\/63151"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59083"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=59083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}