Let freedom ring!
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November 12, 2012 |
*Portions of this verbal presentation contains
material and subject matter comes with thanks to
the Patriotic students of Oklahoma State
University
Speech presented by Navy Master Chief (Retired)
Ken Toline
Veterans Day
November 11, 2012
We the People.
We the people of the United States of America,
in order to form a more perfect union, establish
justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide
for the common defense, promote the general
welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty, to
ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and
establish this Constitution for the United
States of America.
For those of you who know, and for those who do
not know, the words I just recited are the words
to the preamble of one the greatest documents we
the free American people have. The Constitution
of the United States of America.
All military members past and present were
required to swear an oath of allegiance to this
country. That oath was a promise give in good
faith when we entered the armed forces.
It went like this. “I 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 same, and I will obey the orders
of the president and the orders of the officers
appointed over me, according to regulations, and
the uniform code of military Justice. So help me
God."
No one better understands the relationship
between individual achievement, dignity, and
strength better than our armed forces. Through
every war our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and
Marines have held this nation's destiny in their
hands. We did not let America down. We did not
fail. We, past and present veterans, and
active-duty cherish freedom enough that we are
willing to die for it. And many did pay the
ultimate sacrifice to ensure this great nation
would never perish from this earth.
Now, it is our duty to those who served and are
still serving, and to ourselves, to treasure
freedom enough to live up to it. Let me add that
we will preserve it, only as long as devotion to
freedom is expressed in the hearts of our
actions.
Our greatest treasure is freedom. The absence of
restraints on our ability to think and act. The
corollary of freedom is individual
responsibility. We believe in the power of the
individual.
When President Lincoln dedicated the Gettysburg
National Cemetery, he declared, “It is for us
the living to be dedicated here to the
unfinished work which they who fought here have
thus so nobly advanced. That unfinished cause
for which our soldiers willingly go to battle,
and for which so many have given their lives, is
a free United States of America.”
It has been nearly 150 years, and the work that
Pres. Lincoln spoke of is not finished. In fact,
that work shall never be finished. We must not
be complacent but continue to fight and protect
our freedom, our liberty.
As I'm sure many of you know, there have been
attempts to subvert our Constitution, and
undermine our liberty. Isn’t it amazing that men
fight for freedom, then they begin to accumulate
laws to take it away from themselves. It is easy
to take freedom for granted, when you never had
it taken away from you. We must not let this
happen to us a free people of America.
It has been said many times by many of our
voices that we are not being heard by our
elected representatives. There are deaf ears at
our government level.
President Woodrow Wilson stated, “a leader's ear
must ring with the voice of the people.”
If so,Then, our time has come. Let our voices be
heard. One country, One voice: The American
voice.
We have had our Constitution violated, our laws
have been confounded. Private industry has been
seized. Our jobs have been taken away. Our
economy has almost been destroyed. Even free
speech has been compromised and at times
curtailed totally. Our national security has
been weakened, as well as our sovereignty has
been endangered. Our Second Amendment Right to
bear arms has been threatened.
“The strongest reason for the people to retain
the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last
resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in
government.”
Those words were spoken by Thomas Jefferson. Our
military has been demeaned, demoralized, and
placed at a previously unheard level of total
disrespect.They are being used as expendable
tools for the gain of a few and for the
manipulation of foreign policy. The freedoms and
liberties that they shed their blood for is
being denied to them, and to the citizens of
this country that they proudly serve.
Those who deny freedom to others do not deserve
it for themselves.
By the compromise of our nation's legal and
economic institution, our legacy to our children
is that they will never achieve the same quality
of life that we enjoy today.
This is not acceptable. Not in the United States
of America. We did not become a strong nation
through hope, but rather through self-reliance.
Our great nation is a republic, and we will not
accept tyranny foreign or domestic.
Let us here today, vow not to allow the
dismantling of this the greatest nation on
earth.
Today we honor veterans, who stood tall for the
flag of the United States and vowed to defend
and protect the Constitution of the United
States of America. Those who served and are
still serving, and the citizens of this great
country, who hold the American way of life dear,
are considered true patriots. Jefferson said
“the patriots blood is the seed of freedoms
tree.”
President Dwight Eisenhower stated “freedom has
its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit
of men, so it must be daily earned and
refreshed, else like a flower cut from its life
giving roots, it will wither and die.”
We the people, who cherish our freedom, our
liberty must not, cannot let it die.
President GW Bush so aptly stated “History moves
towards freedom, because the desire for freedom
is strongly written in every human heart.”
WE The People, have it written in our hearts!
We, the people, will defend our liberty, our
freedom, and we will protect our beloved country
and American exceptionalism will prevail.
As one of our forefathers, Patrick Henry stated,
"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 for me, give me liberty or
give me death.”
I stand before you today, a veteran of the armed
forces, and pledge to you the American people
that I, shall continue to protect and defend the
flag of the United States of America, the
Constitution of the United States, and the
American way of life we so dearly cherish as
long as there is breath in my body. Further, I
will die standing rather than bow to another
man.
We the people must take a stand, and demand that
our country, our America, our cherished way of
life be given back to us. Just as the bells rang
out on this the 11th month, the 11th day and the
11th hour in honor of all veterans, past and
present. Let them always ring loudly and
resonate for the cause of a free people…..
For God and country, We the People cry out; "Let
freedom ring!"
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