Farewell to my friends

I have spent a lot of time trying to think of what I would say to each of you in this, my last, Monday Morning Memorandum. God, and some gonzo lawyer, has put an end to this phase of my political career, and I personally don’t have the hardware or the training to send this out each week to the 30 or so thousand of you who receive this memo.

So, I have to end this commentary, for the moment. If I can, I will resume it, but for the moment, this is the last of my comments to you.

Fourteen years is a long time, and I have spent that time in Sacramento doing what I can to change the direction of California. For the moment, it appears that I have been unsuccessful, but I know that my duty has been done. I stood for what I believed was right. I expressed that belief at every occasion, and I fought the battles necessary. For that, I have earned great friends and a good life.

To my constituents in Western Riverside and Northern San Diego Counties, thank you. It has been a great honor in my life to be able to represent you. You invested a level of faith in my abilities. I only hope that I have justified the faith you had in me. To the others who have fought the good fight, I only hope that from time to time something I have said and done helps you continue the fight. Our country and our state are worth fighting for. The freedom our founding fathers secured with their blood, and each succeeding generation has preserved with theirs, is unique in this world, and it is our duty to pass it along to our children. No sacrifice is too great to ensure that we preserve that legacy. It would be a sad comment if our posterity were to look back at our time and said, “They ruined it for us.” It is our responsibility to ensure their futures.

There will always be those who say that compromise and peace are better than freedom. We will be exhorted to lay down our arms to “work together” with those who would expand their power at the expense of our freedom. That is the siren’s song. We cannot destroy our children’s future freedom on the shoals of a compromise to achieve a peace that increases the power of government. Diligence in the preservation of freedom requires a willingness to ignore the insults of those who counsel surrender to power. Our short-term distress and unease will yield to the long-term internal peace in the knowledge that we have done our duty for our children and grandchildren, that we have preserved this great republic for their enjoyment as our forbears preserved it for us.

The battle is never over. Even now, after this last election, some are telling us to give up, to “just get along” with those who have made it clear that their acquisition of power is more important than freedom for our children. My counsel is this: Never give up. This is just one short-term setback in the return of a national and state government that recognizes its limits and its power. The next election is just two years away, but freedom sacrificed for short-term peace may never be regained.

I don’t know what will happen to me. I do know that the cause for which I have fought these last 14 years is an important cause. It is the cause for which hundreds of thousands have fought and died throughout the entire history of our Republic. It is the cause of limited government, individual freedom and family. It is the cause of freedom.

In my time in the Legislature, I have had the opportunity to cut your taxes, and the opportunity to participate in a small way in the historic recall of a Governor. I have had the opportunity to fight against every increase in the size of state government, and to fight for families and the children not yet born. I may not have succeeded in all my endeavors, but I have never turned from a fight. I never will, and I hope you don’t either. Thank you.