I just finished watching Dinesh D’Souza’s America: Imagine a World Without Her.
I also, coincidentally, just heard a story about a small church. This church’s parent denomination has decided that the Bible is no longer the inerrant Word of the God they claim to follow, but rather, the denomination has decided that the Bible is a “living” document that must be “reinterpreted” for the age in which we live. Simply put, that means the Bible must take a back seat to political correctness. The denomination was effectively shamed and coerced into abandoning the principles on which it was founded. The world applauded the “progressive spirit” and “bravery” of the formerly Christian denomination, even as the denomination itself was ripped asunder and rendered impotent.
A small congregation, meanwhile, took a vote on whether or not to follow the national denomination’s direction, or to cleave to the principles their faith was founded on. The measure to stand on principles narrowly failed.
At first, the “conservative” members of the small local church – those who still believed in the principles on which their faith was founded – decided they would just have to leave. The church was split. But something unique happened; the “conservative” members of the congregation decided not to give up. After all, the church was their church, too. The church faced leadership elections and rather than quietly bow out, the conservatives decided to put up a slate of candidates. Against all odds, the conservative slate won a majority of positions in the church’s leadership.
The small church’s fate was not yet decided, but the direction the church was headed was most certainly affected; the national denomination continues its downward slide, and the outcome at the national level also remains somewhat in doubt. But the fact remains that a handful of people took a stand, and they made a difference.
It is not difficult to draw the parallels from this story. Our nation is clearly on a course away from its founding principles. There are some who would argue that the Constitution of the United States, written in another era, is no longer as relevant as it once was. We have become a nation numbed by rampant corruption and lies at the highest levels of government. We have been told that we should be ashamed of what the United States represents, including our arcane love of individual liberty, free market economics, and transparent, functional, fiscally conservative government. We’ve been coerced into moving from a Federal Republic to a Democratic Socialist state.
At the local level, there has been a tendency for conservatives – those who believe in American ideals as enumerated by the founding fathers and enshrined in our national documents – to walk away from the fight. But organizations like the Venango County Tea Party Patriots are giving real Americans the opportunity to fight back, and to be heard in the public discourse. If we are going to change the direction of the nation we must start with the local “congregation.” We must stand up and be counted on our school boards, our city councils, and in our County offices. If enough of us can find heart for the battle maybe, just maybe we can affect our state; and together, we can affect our nation.
This is what Venango County Tea Party Patriots stands for, and what we partner with other like minded organizations to achieve. We will not be shamed into silence; rather, we will seek at every opportunity, and by every avenue available, to let freedom ring!
“Oh say does that star spangled banner yet wave o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?” It is a question every generation must answer.
Join us in 2015 to make sure the answer to that question in our generation is a resounding, unequivocal “YES!”
Kent Cornmesser
Co-Facilitator
