“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.” The Crisis, Thomas Paine, 1776
We now find ourselves in another crisis. Our forefathers fought and died on this continent and in far flung lands to secure the freedom that Thomas Paine wrote of. My grandfather joined the U.S. Navy at 16 years of age, my father served in the U.S. Air Force and my uncle was a Marine in Vietnam. Men like them fought their battles with bullets and bombs. Now it is our turn, though our weapons are ideas, words and deeds. We fight on the battlefield of ideas. We fight for the hearts and minds of our fellow Americans.
I believe we are now engaged in the crucial battle of our times… and should we fail, the fate of this great nation will be in doubt. We may well be looking at the end of “The American Experiment.” Our children’s children will grow up in a country that we would not recognize. When I am old and gray I do not want my great-granddaughter to look at me and ask “WHY?…why didn’t you do something to stop this?”
Nov. 2, 2010, is fast approaching. These elections are not about left or right or Rs and Ds…they are about right and wrong. There are those now in power who wish to transform America into something that just doesn’t sit right. Our president surrounds himself with radical Marxists whose lifetime goals are the destruction of this country. We have massive bailouts, crippling debt, record foreclosures, a federal government suing state governments, a Justice Department that ignores voter intimidation, explosive illegal immigration, skyrocketing unemployment, expanding government intrusion into our private affairs ignoring the constitution and not the least spending, spending, spending. Our economic system is a train wreck just looking for a place to happen. It can not continue.
It can be slowed…it can be reversed. But not without pain and sacrifice. Our Founding Fathers pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to create this country – can we not do the same to save this country? Freedom once lost is not easily regained…if ever.
Remember in November – vote.
Tim Personius
Buckley
