I gave this speech to a gathering of over 300 citizens at Memorial Park in Orange this past Saturday. People of all ages, veterans, teachers, workers, retirees, disabled and the able, gather each Saturday from 11 a.m. to noon to stand out against tyranny and for the American people.

In just two weeks, we will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of beginning of the American Revolution. The Battles of Lexington and Concord were followed by a long series of defeats for Washington’s army. In the darkest hours of the American Revolution, with American solders freezing and starving at Valley Forge, Thomas Paine wrote these stirring words: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value.”

Here we stand, today, in the darkest of hours. We have little hope, we have little means at our disposal, and all seems lost. Yet, just as in Paine’s time, we must not give up. As long as we can all stand here together, we can lead this great nation to, as Lincoln called for, “a new birth of freedom.” It is now up to us, today’s ordinary citizens, to band together, to stand side by side with a commitment to nonviolent action. We insist that America respect our commitment to our veterans, our commitment to Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid. We stand with our farmers, our schoolchildren, our immigrant workers, our seniors and our sick and disabled. Just as in times past, “We the People” must stand together to make a prosperous future possible.

Michael Magee

Orange