Tyranny

I was watching an old movie last night - The Last of the Mohicans. Actually, I wasn't really watching it. It was on in the background as I read the paper. But suddenly one line of dailogue caught my attention.

The colonial militia was fighting along with the the British Army during the French and Indian War. In return for their reinforcement of Fort William Henry, the British commander agreed to allow the colonists to leave if their homes were attacked.

As fate would have it, the colonials' homes were attacked. The British commander then refused to allow them to leave. As the colonists were discussing what to do next, one of them said this:

I believe if they set aside their law, as and when they wish, their law no longer has rightful authority over us.

All they have over us, then, is tyranny.

Keep in mind that this is a movie made in 1992 about a book written in 1757. Yet those words ring truer than ever today...