Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for attending the celebration. I wish to offer my thanks to Arin Sime and the Jefferson Area Libertarians for organizing the event. I also wish to thank Virgy Quist and The Liberty Coalition for cosponsoring the event, as well as the other participating organizations.

We gather here today to celebrate the passage of a remarkable document. The Bill of Rights, ratified on Dec. 15, 1791, emphasized particular aspects of a more general notion: that governments are instituted among people to protect our rights, and that the powers of government are to be few and enumerated.

Unfortunately, from the moment the Bill of Rights was ratified it has been under attack. In some cases, the attacks on our liberty have been overt and blatant. However, much more frequently the attacks are barely visible and subtle, and are launched not by people of ill will but rather by people who are well-intentioned.

In our world, especially following the horror of Sept. 11, 2001, we see efforts to limit our freedoms in the name of national security and the war against terrorism. I do not doubt that many of the advocates of measures such as the PATRIOT Act are well-meaning people who see such limitations upon our freedoms as both necessary and temporary. However, there have been similar calls in the past for limitations upon our freedoms in the name of security. If history teaches us anything, it is
that such limitations on our freedoms are not "temporary," and that the limitations were not really necessary.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is precisely at times such as these that we must be most vigilant to protect our liberty, when those who would limit our liberty claim that the situation is grave and we must make haste to adopt restrictions upon that liberty. I urge you to be vigilant, because once liberty is lost it is very difficult to restore

Thank you in advance for your vigilance. God bless you.

James W. Lark (electronic mail, December 7, 2003)