Below is the Memorial Day speech delivered by John J. Molloy, Chairman of the National Vietnam & Gulf War Veterans Coalition, whom I am proud to call my friend, at the Ride For Freedom Rally in Rainelle, West Virginia, on May 23, 2015.
Molloy describes Ride For Freedom as a group of “biker veterans who are not as circumspect as my friends in Rolling Thunder.”
Brothers & Sisters,
Though it is customary over the Memorial Day weekend to render flowery speeches about our departed veterans who sacrificed their lives for our freedom, this will not be one of them.
This year marks the 240th anniversary of the commencement of the Battle of Lexington (though some may argue that the Revolution began at the Battle of Point Pleasant, here in West Virginia). This year is also the 70th anniversary of the defeat of the Nazis and Tojo in World War II. Each event a high point in our nation’s history. However, it also marks a sad anniversary, the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon to the North Vietnamese, when the lives and sacrifices of American and allied South Vietnamese soldiers were disgracefully discarded by cowardly politicians.
Since that fateful day in April 1975, it appears that our armed forces have rarely been permitted to fight to win. Then as now, ridiculous rules of engagement do not permit our fighters to engage the enemy, even when being shot at, without first getting authorization. Well, new flash! The purpose of our armed forces is supposed to be ‘kill people and break things’. Hearts and minds are won though victory and fear. We should be generous in victory, but not before.
The fact that our political leaders have abrogated all our past sacrifices is obvious.
The National Vietnam & Gulf War Veterans Coalition was established to resolve those issues important to those of us who served in, as well as those who support veterans of Vietnam, the First Gulf War and all of America’s subsequent wars. The issues include:
- Prisoners of war (POW) and missing in action (MIA)
- Agent Orange
- Gulf War illness
- Homeless veterans
- Veterans employment/unemployment
- Veterans health care/V.A. hospitals
However, efforts to resolve these issues are meaningless if Americans lose their freedom. Upon entering our nation’s armed forces, we swore to defend the United States of America from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Without freedom, we can resolve nothing.
Consequently, it is the primary objective of the Coalition — and the 70 veterans organizations and the over quarter of a million veterans it represents — to support those measures that will ensure the freedom, safety and security of the United States of America, which this administration is not ensuring.
Unlike most veterans organizations, the Coalition is not a veterans service organization. It is a political/educational organization that evaluates and endorses candidates for political office, by determining if they are capable and willing to not only support those issues of concern to veterans, but most importantly, abide by their oath of office should they be elected. Unfortunately, those who fail to abide by their oath outnumber those whom the Coalition has endorsed, and even some who the Coalition has endorsed have succumbed to the dictates of this administration and congressional leadership.
It is because of this administration’s sympathy toward those who would destroy us politically, economically and militarily, as well as the weakness and complicity of many senators and representatives, that America is now at great risk. America is besieged on all sides whether by racial-ethnic unrest, illegal immigration, Islamic terror, and even an Ebola outbreak. But this administration and the liars who support it expect us to believe that our greatest problem is climate change. They think us to be idiots and treat us accordingly. I think that I can safely assure you that this cannot continue without a reckoning. And I suspect that this administration wants it to occur so that it will be provoked into subduing us.
One only needs to look at some of our leaders to see where America is headed. Obama has failed to subdue ISIS, uses executive action to provide amnesty to illegal aliens, refers to those killed by Muslim terrorists at Benghazi as “bumps in the road,” and refers to the Fort Hood massacre as workplace terror.
Well, who are his advisors and senior cabinet members?
- Jeh Johnson, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), who praises the Muslim Brotherhood.
- Valerie Jarrett, White House senior advisor, an Iranian Muslim who treats our senior military leaders with disdain.
- John Brennan, CIA chief, who is a Muslim.
- Gen Clapper, Director of National Security, who is a moron.
- Mohamed Elibiary, senior member of the DHS Security Advisory Council, who is an advocate of Hamas.
- Eric Holder, U.S. attorney general (2009-2015), who wanted to take away our second amendment rights and supports the rioters who defy our police.
- Loretta Lynch, Holder’s successor who wants to nationalize our police forces.
- Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton’s advisor, whose father and brother are senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
- Al Sharpton, the race baiter and agitator who defends criminals against legitimate law enforcement.
So what can we do?
Here, I must take the liberty of referring to and paraphrasing a famous speech made in the Spring of 1775, the eve of the American War for Independence.
“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 next week or next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed and when members of the FEMA or DHS or the “federal protective agency” (formerly, the police) invade every house?
Shall we gather strength by irresolution or 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 have bound us hand and foot?
We are not weak if we make a proper use of those means by which God has placed in our power. Millions of people, armed in the holy cause of Liberty, in such a country as we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battle with us.
This battle is not for the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, and the brave. Though in 2016 an election by peaceful means is desirable, there is that possibility that it may not be achievable, in which case there will be no retreat but submission or slavery.
Our chains are forged and heard on the streets of Washington, D.C. If war is inevitable to preserve our freedom, then let it come!
Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? I wonder, at times, whether we are not already there.”
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Now friends, it may soon be up to us to prevent those freedoms which were defended by our forefathers whom we memorialize this weekend, from being lost.
These freedoms must be passed on to our descendants. However, they must not take these freedoms for granted. They must be willing to join our efforts.
Though many hope that the presidential election of 2016 will resolve America’s problems, of that I would not be too confident.
Last year, we gave a vote of no confidence to Obama when we obtained Republican majority in the Senate and retained the Republican majority in the House. Unfortunately, the leadership of those whom we elected are weak and, I daresay, treacherous. In addition, with the possibility of illegals casting ballots and the continuation of election fraud, we would be foolish to place confidence in an election that may truly be rigged or be a shallow or empty victory.
In either case whether we like it or not, hope rings hollow and achieves nothing. If ISIS or rioters were to attack our homeland, if our government attempts to disarm us, we cannot defeat them with hope. Unfortunately, based on what appears to be on the national horizon, the ultimate solution may be Bullets rather than Ballots.
As Patrick Henry said so admirably at the end of his speech that Spring day 240 years ago:
Give me Liberty or Give me Death!!!!
For Patrick Henry’s speech, “Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death!,” at the Second Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775, in Richmond, Virginia, go here.
In Liberty,
~Éowyn
