My Pledge....

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin

The 55 delegates who attended the Constitutional Convention were a distinguished body of men who represented a cross section of 18th-century American leadership. Almost all of them were well-educated men of means who were dominant in their communities and states, and many were also prominent in national affairs. Virtually every one had taken part in the Revolution; at least 29 had served in the Continental forces, most of them in positions of command.

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Two of them became presidents of the United States, and among the others were future vice presidents, senators, and governors. But not all were so fortunate.

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. 
Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. 

Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army, another had two sons captured. 

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, and Gwinnett. They died poor.

Thomas Heyward Jr., Edward Rutledge, and Arthur Middleton, three members of the South Carolina delegation, all suffered the destruction or vandalizing of their homes at the hands of enemy troops. All three were captured when Charleston fell in 1780, and spent a year in a British prison.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt. He had raised $2 million for the patriots' cause on HIS OWN personal credit. The government never reimbursed him, and repaying the loans wiped out his entire estate.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart. Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.

“These were not wild eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."”

“If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek NOT your counsel, NOR your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains set lightly upon you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.” – Samuel Adams

I have served my country, faithfully, for over 20 years, DEFENDING America’s Freedoms, KNOWING that should my life be required of me to secure these freedoms for my children and my children’s children, I would gladly have laid it down for such a cause. And still would today! 

President John F. Kennedy said “Ask NOT what your country can do for you, but what YOU CAN DO for YOUR COUNTRY.” Apathy and lethargy have DEFINITELY taken hold of TOO MANY American’s, ESPECIALLY Christians. (I am equally guilty.) It is time to take a stand and take control again of “big” government (elected officials), reminding them who is truly in charge as “We, the People”. Too many seek handouts and “entitlements”, not wanting to or caring to EARN their own way. Blaming circumstances, instead of character. Blaming society, instead of self. 

Socialism has creeped in, slowly evolving our government, our work place, our media, our schools, our homes, and our families. Ideals slowly delivered over time since the 1950’s (Ezra Taft Benson speaking of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, 1966 -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2D4JX-E8XQ) have desensitized us to these evils we are now facing. A few noticed, but in silence they stood. This has been done so much so that a recent poll says that about one-third of American’s FAVOR socialism (http://www.theblaze.com/stories/53-of-democrats-have-a-positive-view-of-socialism-gallup-poll-claims/); FAR too many have been deceived for FAR too long and they call themselves “educated”.

"... God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty.... And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." - Thomas Jefferson 

Go ahead, call me a “Racist, Terrorist, Tea-Bagger, Threat-to-National-Security, Birther, Traitor, Conspiracy Theorist, Anti-American, Religious Fanatic, War Monger, Homophobe, Greedy Capitalist SEPARATIST”! It won’t be the first time, and it sure as heck won’t be the last either. However, that is a mouthful. So, here is a word that you can call me that SUMS IT ALL UP………. PATRIOT!!! 

Therefore, as SO VERY MANY of my brothers- and sisters-in-Arms before me have gone, I will continue to fight for the freedoms of America, AS OUTLINED in our Declaration of Independence AND our Constitution until my last dying breath. So help me God!

The current military oath of enlistment which I took for the first time in September 1988 and have taken four more times since:

"I, Veritas, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against ALL ENEMIES, FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God." 

Let’s not forget the United States Pledge of Allegiance, that so many youth today do not even know the words:
“I Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for ALL.”

No one could articulate any better the way I feel about defending America’s Heritage than Patrick Henry…..“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” - Patrick Henry to the Virginia House of Burgesses, 1775

What are you willing to give up that you may keep your Freedom? What are you willing to sacrifice? What are you willing to do for YOUR COUNTRY?