Give Me Liberty

Some people out there are shocked that the polls are so close this evening. It is 9:44, and Fox News is predicting that McAuliffe will pull out the win. Although this is a huge blow to Virginia and a great loss that sets the stage for national repercussions, there is one bright spot in the darkness.

Virginia fought for freedom.

The numbers we saw tonight showed that your average, everyday, hardworking Americans would not just sit back and accept the Democrat plans for the Commonwealth. They voted. They fought. And they showed that Virginia might be taken, but it will not be defeated.

We'll hang on over the next few years. Is this truly the death knell for Conservatives in Virginia, as so many liberals will claim? I say, "No." This may just be the alarm heard in the Piedmont, through the Shenandoah Valley, across the Blue Ridge, and straight to the Heart of Appalachia. The results of tonight will not truly be known for another three years--and that is more than a lifetime in politics.



We can count ourselves among those fortunate enough to have Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson as our first governors. And we can still hear the echo of Henry's immortal words, spoken in Richmond so many years ago:

"They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance, by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations; and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest."