On the Lawn

This afternoon, as the Tea Party Express pulled into Washington D.C., crowds gathered on the Capitol lawn. Some news stations reported tens of thousands in attendance; others reported one million. I'm not sure how many people actually showed up, but it was a lot. I know... because we were there, and it was awesome!

History in the making-- that's what we told our boys. Because when the Constitution is threatened and when our rights are ignored... "we the people" must take a stand for what's right.

So this morning, that's what we did (and thanks to some good friends-- whom we just happened to bump in to them as we approached the lawn-- we even had a few signs to wave as we ambled along).

And I'm so glad we did~

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,

or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;

or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;

or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,

and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

-- 1st Amendment to the Constitution

All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.

--Winston Churchill

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.

-- Ronald Reagan

There are two freedoms - the false, where a man is free to do what he likes; the true, where he is free to do what he ought.

-- Charles Kingsley

I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.

-- James Madison, speech, Virginia Convention, 1788

If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

-- George Washington

The contest for ages has been to rescue liberty from the grasp of executive power.

-- Daniel Webster

It does not take a majority to prevail... but rather and irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.

-- Samuel Adams

Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it.

-- John Quincy Adams

A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned-- this is the sum of good government.

-- Thomas Jefferson