Did you feel the ground shake yesterday?  Something of great significance… no, historical significance… happened in our State Capital.  Patriots from all walks, all backgrounds, came together for the largest Ohio Tea Party leadership meeting yet held.  The event sponsored by the Ohio Liberty Council was not an “OLC” meeting but welcomed all leaders (members and non-members) within the Tea Party movement though out our state. 
 
 As anyone knows when you set out to do vitally important things in life, you are going to run into a little chop.  Our Founders did (well, OK, a lot of chop).  The Tea Party movement has too.  When you put in the same room, 100 plus Patriot leaders who love their Country with all their hearts… that’s a lot of passion in one place.  The potential for conflict not only existed but, was expected.  Thankfully, as if an answer to prayer, the storm clouds that were brewing, gathered quickly.  At the beginning of the meeting the anticipated conflict arose and was wisely dealt with. The initial ten-minute storm served to clear the atmosphere, the clouds dispelled and the sun came out.  Then something amazing began to take place…. We communicated.  We talked to each other.  We listened to each other. We revisited the past year’s successes and failures.  We spoke and heard truth.  Misunderstandings and misinformation was addressed.  Mistakes were acknowledged, as well as victories shared.  Respect and thankfulness for one another was expressed.  And… that’s when it happened.  Did you feel it?  Did you have a sense that your children’s and grandchildren’s futures were being snatched from the devourer’s teeth?  Did you feel the earth beneath your feet shake a bit as collectively Progressives, Marxists and Communists suddenly felt a cold shiver?  If they didn’t feel a shiver, they should have.  Because what happened yesterday in Columbus is more powerful than any political strategy we could come up with, any cutting edge technology we could utilize, any funds we could raise, any research data, any polling results or any political machinery we could create.  Yesterday, together, we put our hands on a mighty weapon.  It is the weapon that will win the battle for our nation.  It was right here all along, lying underneath the debris of division.  The weapon?  Unity.  It is an ancient weapon, but it never becomes outdated.  It never rusts.  It never decays.  It has remained a formidable weapon from one age to the next.   It is always there, at the ready for good men to use.  It is powerful in our hands when carried along side “truth”, “courage” and “perseverance”.  It is the weapon our Founding Fathers knew they had to utilize and or they would surely face defeat.  Benjamin Franklin said at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately”.  Our hearts and minds united together for the just cause of reforming our nation is powerful beyond description. 
 
 Americans who believe in TEA Party principles far outnumber those who don’t.  When we figuratively link arms and present ourselves as a united front, how can our enemies advance?  If I am standing alone, raising a solitary voice, I am an easy target.  But if I am joined with hundreds, thousands or even millions of brothers and sisters in this battle… the dynamic of the fight changes immediately.  Who can shout us down?  How can the Progressive machine win against such an enormous number of freedom loving Americans all focusing on founding principles and working together to reform and restore our nation to greatness?    As Dr. Matthew Spalding of the Heritage Foundation stated at last July’s annual Tea Party convention, “American’s instincts are good”.   We never truly believed the progressive message.  Freedom, woven into the fabric of our very beings, shielded the majority of us from completely embracing the Progressive lie.  So if the majority of Americans believe what Tea Party activists believe, there is only one thing that can defeat us.  Our unwillingness to stand united. 
 
 Yesterday, leaders from the shores of Lake Erie to the banks of the Ohio River advanced greatly in the process of setting aside our differences, standing together and joining our hearts and minds.  The Tea Party movement in Ohio has moved further down an essential road that should we continue to tread, will not only bring much needed reform to Ohio but, will indeed set the pace and be the example for other states and their respective Liberty movements.  The blessed results of yesterday’s meeting must be expanded upon.  We must continue to look each other in the eye and hold each other accountable.  We must strengthen each other with our words and deeds, share our talents and move forward as one body, each member doing its part, all serving in their vital roll.  It begins with the Leaders, now it must flow outward to the Tea Party membership within our groups.  We must pray for a fire to be lit within all our hearts.  We must not wait.  The hour is late.  Delay will ultimately sacrifice our blessed nation on the altar of complacency.  And we… our children and their children will suffer greatly for the loss of freedom.  If we neglect our duty, future generations will judge us.  They will tragically look back on this time and say this was when freedom was lost to all men.
 
 “United we stand, divided we fall” is a statement we have heard many times for multiple reasons.  However, its truth is not diminished.  We must stand together, trusting in Divine Providence, turning our hearts to Almighty God.  Then surely “No weapon formed against us shall prosper”!  Yesterday served to solidify the Patriot movement.  The spirit of 1776 lives on.  Freedom and liberty, as truth always does, will prevail if we continue to carry its flame.
 
 Will you be my brother or sister in this fight?  Will you walk with me? Will you stand with me?  Will you link arms with us?  Will you add your voice?  The movement is not fading away, as the enemies of freedom would have you believe. Yesterday’s gathering was the largest statewide leaders meeting I have yet attended.  We are growing.  We are gaining in strength.  We are learning.  And… “We have not yet, begun to fight”!  Join us.