These words begin the stirring message written by Thomas Paine on December 23, 1776.  It inspired Washington’s bedraggled and demoralized army that had been defeated in New York and driven across New Jersey.   

        This Christmas season, Paine’s passage applies to many of us as we face a cruel winter of hard economic times. 

        But as a supporter of the Law Center, you know: sacrifice for country in times of trouble are not new to Americans.                

        Our first American patriots made many sacrifices.  George Washington, describing the condition of his army encamped at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777, wrote that you could tell the route of their marches by their bloody footprints in the snow

        Some were boys as young as 12 ─ others in their 50s and 60s. They were barefoot, half naked, with no food, suffering from all kinds of illnesses ─ 2,500 of the 11,000 encamped at Valley Forge died during that harsh winter. 

        But animated with the spirit of liberty, those who lived, stayed to fight.

        From the winter at Valley Forge in 1777 to the snow-laden mountains of Afghanistan in 2008, Americans have sacrificed for their country.

        But here at home, now prowl adversaries who in many respects are more dangerous to America than any military opponent we have faced.  These adversaries seek to destroy our religion and morality, which George Washington proclaimed were the very foundations of our political prosperity.  

        Militant atheists in alliance with those at the ACLU are well on the way to achieving their ultimate goal �?to de-Christianize America.  And at the same time, radical Islamic groups are working to destroy America by terrorist acts of violence and internal subversion.

        Their agendas are supported by the cultural elite, Hollywood, the television industry, the mainstream news media, academia, public schools, the legal community, and a significant portion of the judiciary.

        You, here at home, have been doing your part so that the sacrifices of American patriots from the birth of our Nation to the present time will not be in vain.  That’s why, despite these hard economic times, I’m asking that, you make a special year-end donation  so that we are able to continue to fight the .internal enemy arrayed against America.