In Honor Of Those Who Have Sacrificed

Memorial Day Address at Maumelle Veterans Memorial
by Rep. Ed Garner: Freedom is a covenantal estate, ordained by God, wherein a person must dwell if they are to fully express their gifts and talents. We who choose to dwell in the light of Freedom are held accountable for what we produce with the gifts given us by God our maker and what we will return to him in praise. The blessings poured upon us for choosing the covenant of Freedom are manifold and the envy of tyranny and oppression.

The mortgage on this estate is a great price, often paid in Sacrificial blood. God freed his people from slavery to a new nation by exodus through doors marked by the blood of a sacrificed lamb. He frees us from spiritual death by the sacrifice of his own son's life and blood on the Cross. He has revealed by these examples both the great price and blessings of liberty.

Our founding fathers were clear in the Declaration of Independence that we are a nation of free and equal people who firmly rely on the protection God will provide and grateful for his endowment of inalienable rights including Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

This Declaration of Freedom afforded no guarantee or status save that of a War of Revolution. The blood of patriots would continue to be sacrificed for over five years and from that victory an additional six years would pass before our government was formed by The Constitution. We are made free by our maker who has woven the need for freedom into the very fabric of our being as much as the need to breathe air and take food and water. Freedom is not granted by our government which we have in turn created to serve us and rule by our continual consent.

Today we meet as free people who choose to pause from the conduct of our lives to memorialize those who have sacrificed their freedom to pay that great price. Among us are the families of those have served and serve today as we are a nation at war. Gathering with us are those who currently serve and veterans of service. As well, on the stones of this memorial, are some of the names of those who have been willing to sacrifice some measure, or all, of their freedom for ours.
Know that you are a great people, a great nation. Your attendance today is not by command but by choice. We choose to come here to honor the sacrifice of our servicemen and women and offer grateful thanks. We are reminded that, in addition to their service, the burden of Freedom is borne by We the People for whom this sacrifice is made. We affirm and accept our duty, as each generation must, to challenge each and every threat to our endowment.

Today we free citizens resolve to hold the torch of freedom ever higher, so that the shadows cast by terror, tyranny and oppression do not grow to threaten us from abroad or from within.

In honor of those who have sacrificed, we affirm today

that we are endowed and empowered by Almighty God and not by the by government of our own construction

that the rule of want shall not replace the rule of law

that our government shall not further conscript or devalue the fruits of those who earn or have earned, to purchase the allegiance of those who want

that we will never compromise the sovereignty of this nation of free people to the opinion of tyrants or yield to their aggression

that as a fire cannot burn without air, the flame of freedom cannot burn in this nation without the presence of God

Americans of each generation have proven that Freedom is more precious than gold, more desired than comfort, or convenience and to secure it for our friends and families, worth our lives. This is the witness of those we gather to memorialize.

As you join with those gathered here and all over this great land, know that because you choose righteous pursuits, because you choose offer thanks for these sacrifices and choose accept the duty of free citizens, blessed by God as he wills, you are, and will be, a great nation.

As Americans raise the torch of Freedom ever higher, know what is revealed to those who would challenge or question our future…..more Americans. And that we stand to inspire mankind in every land to take up the standard of Freedom for all the world.
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Ed Garner is a business owner and State Representative (District 41), Arkansas General Assembly. Although he directly represents Pulaski County, he also represents all Arkansans with public stands for limited, transparent and responsible government.

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