The story begins on the night of April 18, 1775, when hundreds of British troops began marching the roughly 70 miles from Boston, Massachusetts to Concord, New Hampshire. Their goal was to seize the weapons and ammunition that had been stockpiled by American colonists in Concord. As dawn broke, the British soldiers reached the small village of Lexington, where they were met by approximately 70 minutemen—local militia members—assembled on the village green. Both sides were on edge with neither side knowing what to do next. Suddenly, a single shot rang out and a melee between the soldiers quickly ensudeensued. Who fired the shot or even which side they were on has been lost to history, but this was the small unlikely beginning to the Revolutionary War and the birth of a new nation. This was the “shot heard around the world”. For those who fought that day, the stakes were clear: freedom or subjugation. I wonder sometimes if we see our situation in that same light. The path before us is the same today as it was in 1775. Oh, the battlefield is different, but the destination is the same. The path before us leads to either freedom or subjugation. Freedom, if we are willing to stand up and defend what has been given to us by God ⧉ and guaranteed by the United States Constitution ⧉ or subjugation if we are unwilling to stand.

A few weeks ago, my son and I were in New Hampshire. As we bounced down an old dirt road in our friend’s pickup truck, we came to a sudden stop. To our right, a short distance off the road, in the tall grass between some trees, a few ancient-looking gravestones were visible. The gravestones were old, weathered, and crumbling, clearly having suffered through many harsh New England winters. For a minute or so, we tried to guess the significance of this old, small, unkempt graveyard, but without success. This was a Revolutionary War graveyard where local legend has it that the man who fired the “shot heard around the world” was buried. No one knew his name or even which gravestone might be his, but in this unlikely roadside graveyard, like so many other graveyards across our nation, lay one who was willing to sacrifice for the cause of freedom. Let it not be said of us, of our generation, that we were unwiling to fight for the cause of freedom.

Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand that made all things of nothing, and gives being to all things that are; and, as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many…
― William Bradford, Bradford: Of Plymouth Plantation

Please join with us as we, like many others, begin an election campaign with the simple goals of standing for truth and doing everything possible to return South Carolina and our beloved United States to the things that have made this the greatest nation on earth. Every great endeavor begins with a single small step. Let’s take that first step together.