My 4th great grandmother, Dicey Langston, a Revolutionary War Heroine was born today — May 14, 1766 (255 years ago). She and I were born 200 years apart to the month. I have always felt a connection to her since I was a teenager introduced to stories of her heroism – saving an entire village and spying for the Patriot cause.
Several years ago, I wrote “The Patriot Wore Petticoats” about her life. It’s actually required reading at Langston Charter Middle School in SC (named in her honor).
Interestingly, a friend asked me to speak today about Dicey to her 2nd grade class. I hadn’t remembered it was Dicey’s birthday until after the class when I saw a “This day in history” tribute to Dicey’s birth.
What are the odds I’d be asked to speak today on her birthday? Obviously, I needed to remember this heroine who risked her life to preserve life and liberty.
This video is from a speech I gave in 2008 at Langston Charter Middle School.
Dicey has so much to teach us about the Power of One Person to impact the world. The coincidence of the day makes me wonder if Dicey’s message isn’t just for me, but perhaps you too. I hope you enjoy this tribute to this 14-year-old girl who impacted the lives of so many and has so much to teach us about preserving liberty.
“The New Normal” is what they call it. A world where all must wear masks, you can’t gather in large crowds, you can’t go to the temple, concerts, ball games or shake hands. You must “social distance” at six feet. It’s a world where we must accept that cities are dangerous places, ransacked nightly, looted and burned in the name of “peaceful protest.”
The “New Normal” is a land where socialists and anarchists have a right to gather en mass, but law-abiding citizens can’t have more than 99 people at church at a time. Seated every other pew wearing masks, the bold hum songs of praise to our God. There is no lingering to talk to friends after church. We must move along lest a virus spread like wildfire among us.
I hate this new world. I refuse to believe in or accept that this is “the new normal.” I’m not ready to witness the destruction of our freedoms, our republic.
A Voice for Those Who Have No Voice
Because I know I am to be a voice for those who have no voice, I write about freedom and post it on my blog, to social media, to my podcast. I speak for the children murdered in the womb. I speak for the unborn destined to arrive in this sick, contentious world. I speak for the children who inevitably will be scarred by rampant fear-mongering.
I speak for those who are too frightened of the inevitable backlash that comes from admitting what one is thinking or feeling about this twisted world. I speak for the silent millions who are inwardly screaming, “The Emperor has no clothes!” I speak for those whose feelings are so deep and conflicted that they can’t even form the words to describe how disturbed they feel.
I speak for the hundreds of thousands of human trafficked women and children who receive no justice in this world while their perpetrators go free and sit in plush homes and government buildings.
As the world tears down our history, our monuments, and the memory of those who came before, I speak for the dead whose lives tell stories of hope, courage, faith, character, and the ability to change and grow. I speak for the Founding Fathers who sacrificed everything to give the priceless gift of freedom to an ungrateful, petulant populace.
I speak for those who are summarily judged and ridiculed for a misplaced word, for one mistake, for things they said or did 15 years ago that do not represent who they are today or that weren’t even “crimes” 15 years ago.
I speak up for God, for Jesus Christ, for scripture, for prophets, for truth – all of which are mocked, scorned, forgotten and defamed.
The Solution to It All
My voice may not make a dent. It may not be a solution in this world, but I know Who is the solution. I know that He who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life is the answer. And I will lift Him up like Moses lifted up that serpent on a pole thousands of years ago. All who believed enough to look upon that emblem of the Christ were healed and lived.
Simple. So simple that thousands chose to die rather than cast their gaze in its direction. The truth is simple. It’s plain and precious. The world, with its cacophony of voices, is only wind and waves. Focus on the nonsense of the world, and you will sink. Keep your eyes on the Master and walk on water.
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The other day, I heard a statistic that two-thirds of Americans do not believe there is absolute moral truth. Many today believe that because we are a highly technological society that “old outdated principles” should be disregarded. Many believe that the laws observed and articulated by our Founding Fathers need to be dismissed in favor of more progressive ideologies. Never mind that our system of government has sustained a free society for 230+ years.
There are those who feel moral laws that underpin our free society are equally antiquated and to be disregarded. For these mooring-less Americans there are no moral absolutes. There are no laws that protect and preserve freedom.
Why Universal Laws Matter
Let me explain why laws of the Universe do exist and why they do matter.
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) discovered 3 Laws of Planetary motion which we still use today. We wouldn’t have been able to go to the moon or Mars or anywhere else in space without a knowledge of Kepler’s 3 Laws of Planetary Motion.
Sir Isaac Newton (1642 – 1726) discovered 3 Laws of Motion. Without an understanding of Newton’s laws, we wouldn’t be flying airplanes around the world. Countless technologies have been built around the laws Kepler, Newton and others discovered.
Can you imagine saying,
“Those guys are antiquated and from the oppressive, misogynistic era of the 1500’s and 1600’s. We don’t need their observations. We need something new and progressive! Our technology is far beyond theirs. They never even foresaw space or airline travel! We need something new and modern for our modern times and modern problems!”
Go board a plane flown by a pilot who doesn’t understand or work in harmony with those laws. You’ll be eating your words as you plummet to the ground.
Universal Laws Exist Outside Human Influence
Kepler and Newton did not invent these laws. The laws already existed. Kepler and Newton simply discovered them and stated them clearly so that scientists could go forward and create new innovations and technologies.
Principles or laws do not change over time. They remain constant regardless of what mankind chooses to think, believe, say or do. A societal temper tantrum doesn’t change them. A majority vote won’t change them.
Like Newton and Kepler, the Founders spent years studying thousands of years of history, economies and the rise and fall of civilizations to distill laws or principles that govern freedom. The laws they discovered might be called The Laws of Freedom.
As far back as Adam & Eve, Noah and Moses, God gave mankind certain laws that govern happiness. You might call them the Laws of Happiness. Over thousands of years people and civilizations who obeyed these moral codes lived happier, more well-adjusted, productive, and safer lives. Those who disregarded basic moral laws did so at their own peril.
Universal Laws Don’t Sway with Our Beliefs
Whether we choose to believe, accept, or see that there is absolute moral truth and absolute principles that govern freedom, is irrelevant. These laws or principles do not change across time. They aren’t up for a popularity contest. We don’t get to vote on whether they’re right or wrong and expect them to budge — not any more than we could vote on Kepler and Newton’s laws and make the smallest change in them. The fact is these laws simply ARE IMMUTABLE and there are CONSEQUENCES for operating in ways that work in opposition to them.
When you operate in alignment with these laws, they lead you to freedom and life. Work contrary to them and you end up in captivity and death.
Only a fool ignores them. Like a child donning a Superman cape and jumping out a second story window, we will fall if we foolishly ignore or fight against the Laws of Happiness or the Laws of Freedom. Just like gravity for the child, these universal laws that govern happiness and freedom are timeless and the violation of them has severe consequences.
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We have been given a unique window of opportunity to teach Americans correct principles – the principles that govern a free nation. In the past, conservatives went to sleep when their man was in the oval office. With President Trump, they aren’t going back to sleep. They’re either keeping a close eye on what he’s doing or they’re defending themselves against the onslaught of hostility being fired at them from the other side of the aisle.
Because people are still alert and concerned about what is happening in America, we have the opportunity to help people really get what’s going on — to truly understand the principles that made our nation free. In this episode Marnie talks about how we can be using the next 5 years to turn the tide away from socialism and back toward the republic we were created to be.
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In this episode of Front Porch Sense, Marnie addresses Nike discontinuing the Betsy Ross Flag Nike shoe because Kaepernick was offended by it. Why do modern people disrespect the Founding Fathers and the sacrifices they made? Why are people so hopped up to judge people throughout history and each other? Marnie talks about the ingratitude, judgmental and hypocritical nature of modern America and why we need to step out of that and into gratitude to preserve freedom.
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The Betsy Ross flag is supposedly a symbol of oppression now. I’m assuming this is because the Constitution was ratified with slavery still going on. The US Constitution motivated the states to eventually abolish slavery — that’s what the 3/5 of a person count for slaves was about. The states received representation based on population and by not letting slave states count their slaves as a full person, it motivated them to set the slaves free. The states wanted those representatives. Their say in government depended on it.
No, this was not ideal. The ideal would have been to end slavery from the get go, but the people of that time were not ready. If the US Constitution had not been ratified at that point, the fledgling nation would not have survived. Un-united, the states would have been subject to future attacks by England and other foreign powers.
It’s easy for us to look back and judge the past when we were not there. Yet I’d say our Founders could look forward on our day with equal disgust. They could easily judge us for other reasons… like a complete and utter disregard for the sacrifices made, a flippant attitude toward our divinely inspired Constitution, the atrocity of murdering millions of unborn children, and ingratitude for the blood spilled that we might enjoy freedom.
We often forget that the nation (set in motion in 1776) with its imperfections is the same country that fought the Civil War to set everyone free. Yes, white men actually fought and died and spilled their blood in gory battles that black men, women and children would no longer be enslaved. Think about that!
My ancestors fought for the Union (and they were Southerners) and hundreds of thousands gave their lives because the American ideal articulated in 1776 set in motion a wave of freedom that demanded the obvious… that ALL eventually be set free. Progress rarely happens in one fell swoop. It takes time to effect change.
The fact that we’ve reframed history to spit on the sacrifices made by our Founders and smear their character is indicative of an ungrateful, prideful populace. Let us be a little more understanding and grateful for what we have. Ingratitude leads to pride and pride goes before a fall.
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