On this Memorial Day I ask Esoteric * Visitors to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we may be free. Our freedom was not given to us; rather, it was earned by all those who served our country and fought for freedom.

The war for our freedom and security is ongoing. It is as important today to support our troops as any time in the history of our nation. We must not allow our soldiers in the Middle East to doubt our support for what they are doing. We must never again let our boys come home to an ungrateful nation.

They die so that we may be free; every voice of dissent was paid for with the blood of our soldiers. The least we can do is support them and show our gratitude... so to all those who have served to preserve our freedom, I sincerely thank you for your service and your sacrifice.



I have received a few more emails from Vietnam Veteran Russ Vaughn. I have decided to share the following message with Esoteric * Visitors as it seems appropriate on this Memorial Day...

With Baby Boomer/Gen-X Liberals in charge in 1776:
The Continental Army disbands because of the hardships at Valley Forge. We lose the Revolutionary War. America becomes a British Commonwealth. There will never be a Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution or Bill of Rights.

With Baby Boomer/Gen-X Liberals in charge in 1836:
Sam Houston retreats from the Alamo and disbands his forces. Texas loses the War for Independence and remains an agrarian, frontier province of Mexico instead of our second largest state and one of the worldÂ?s largest economies.

With Baby Boomer/Gen-X Liberals in charge in 1863:
Abraham Lincoln, badly beaten by Lee at Chancellorsville, sues for peace. The U.S. loses the Civil War. In the modern Confederate States of America, slavery still exists.

With Baby Boomer/Gen-X Liberals in charge in 1917:
After suffering tens of thousands of poison gas casualties, the United States brings our doughboys home. We lose World War I. Imperial Germany rules Europe.

With Baby Boomer/Gen-X Liberals in charge in 1942:
Following the surrender of Corregidor, America withdraws from the Pacific Theater. We lose World War II in the Pacific and spend years negotiating with Japan for the return of tens of thousands of POW's. The entire Pacific Rim is now a vast Japanese empire.

With Baby Boomer/Gen-X Liberals in charge in 1944:
America, devastated by the losses of D-Day, pulls our troops from the bloody beaches and returns them to our shores. We lose World War II in Europe. The Nazis have complete control. Jews are extinct on that continent.

With Baby Boomer/Gen-X Liberals in charge in 1951:
American forces overrun by the Chinese Peoples Army are evacuated from the Korean peninsula in a panic. We lose the Korean War. South Korea becomes an impoverished, communist province of North Korea instead of one of the worldÂ?s most viable democratic economies.

With Baby Boomer/Gen-X Liberals in charge in 1972:
While winning the military war, the United States loses the worldwide propaganda war and unilaterally withdraws from Vietnam, resulting in millions of deaths in Southeast Asia at the hands of totalitarian communist regimes. We lose the Vietnam War.
(Actually, this is exactly what did happen because Baby Boomer Liberals led by John Kerry and Jane Fonda were in charge of the propaganda war. If Gen-X liberals had been old enough to have a say, we would likely have paid war reparations to North Vietnam.)

With Baby Boomer/Gen-X Liberals in charge in 2005:
U.S. pulls out of Iraq and relies on the U.N. for protection. We lose World War III.

In every case where America has stayed the course, our nation and our democratic principles have prevailed and flourished. In the one situation, Vietnam, where liberals had their way, America lost. Democracy perished in Southeast Asia, along with millions of its adherents.

History rewards those who stay the fight and rightly condemns those appeasers who too soon would give it up. John Kerry has already led America to defeat once; let's not let him do it again.

Russ Vaughn

Russ, I could not agree more. I think we owe it to all those who made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve our freedom to ensure that their sacrifice not be in vain. We must not waiver. We must not waffle. We must win the war on terror and never give up the fight for freedom.