Grow local leadership, not the federal bureaucracy
Defend our freedom to choose
against the progressive growth of government.
Legacy
This
website is about creating our future at the state and local level as
free individuals who believe in limited government. It is not
about revisiting our national past, or revisionist histories of past
choices. Leaders make choices with the limited information and
insights available at the time, rather than with the benefit of 20-20
hindsight or any assurance that the right decisions will be popular
ones, or that bad decisions can be easily reversed. A new future
is created every day. What we take for granted today is the direct
consequence of difficult choices made in the past.
Americans share an extraordinary legacy,
including the difficult defense of liberty in this country and around
the world. As we look forward, it can
be useful to consider our historical context and lessons learned without
sitting in judgment of those who we may believe, in hindsight, made some
mistakes in their own choices. This page and links will
share some thoughts about that history, and the relevance
to how we think about the present and future challenges which we face together.
Remember the Christmas of 1776, or 1777 at Valley
Forge, and give thanks to those who wouldn't give up their fight for
liberty, even when their defeat seemed inevitable. We need to get
organized and win this fight. Who will be our Von Steuben?
"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.
....
Look on
this picture and weep over it! and if there yet remains one thoughtless
wretch who believes it not, let him suffer it unlamented."
President Reagan's June 6, 1984 speech in Normandy, France at the Pointe
de Hoc memorial for the 40th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.
Transcript of prepared remarks.
Declaration of Independence -
The lofty rhetoric of the Declaration of Independence from 1776 is so
fundamental to American political values that it deserves careful
review. Excepts are repeated here, along with our thoughts about
the relevance to our current political circumstances.
George Washington's Farewell Address of
1796 - Note the warning in the middle of
the speech about the "danger of parties" as repeated in the excerpt
below, including the remarks about religion, morality, and "public
credit". Over 200 years later, these observations are still very
timely.
President Reagan's Humor
President Reagan's theme about government being the problem, not the
solution.
As in the Kennedy-Goldwater
campaign of 1964, post-Carter 1981, and still today.
[The video has been removed, and will be replaced when available]
Ronald Reagan's famous "A Time for Choosing" speech from 1964
Sarah
Palin acceptance speech at the 2008 Republican National Party convention in
St. Paul, MN - the original C-Span video of her speech has evidently been
removed by them now. It may still be available from other sources.
It is worth reviewing.
