It was June 28, 1776 at Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island, outside Charleston South Carolina . Behind a fortress wall of resilient palm tree logs American revolutionary rebels endured the relentless pounding of 271 cannon and countless muskets from 9 British ships in the harbor. Suddenly, a shell shot away the American flagstaff and the flag fell over the wall of the fort. William Jasper, a young recruit, shouted to his officer “Colonel, don’t let us fight without our flag!” After a response from the Colonel basically saying “there’s nothing we can do about it”, Jasper jumped over the wall and into the face of dense deadly fire in clear view of the British, ran the length of the wall and cut the flag from its fallen pole. He climbed back up the wall, grabbed a sponge staff used to clean out the cannons, tied the flag to it and held it up in place until others helped secure it. The troops rallied at his feat of bravery. By the end of the action, all the British ships in the harbor were badly damaged by the Americans own cannon fire and none got past the fort to threaten Charleston . For his heroics Carolina Governor John Rutledge presented Jasper his own dress sword in thanks. Jasper died attempting almost the same feat three years later in the defense of Savanna, but his name lives on in the name of counties, towns, and statues. Its’ a story I’ve remembered from reading history in my youth, but for no particular reason, I re-read Jasper’s story several times today. I thought about it a lot. Jasper that day fought for the flag and what it represented. It represented freedom and liberty. Today, I fear the flag of freedom and liberty has fallen again, this time the flag of the Constitution – which didn’t even exist for Jasper. This time, just like in Jasper’s day, the flag of the Constitution has been felled by our fellow countrymen. It has been felled by those once again supporting the unlimited government of the king. With unlimited government there can be no true freedom, no true liberty. There can be only the rights given to you not by God as the Declaration of Independence declared, but the rights given by government – rights that can be taken away. Jasper gave his life fighting against this very form of government. I hope we have the bravery to run over the walls of the fort, into deadly fire and rescue the flag of the Constitution. In doing so, I say this (with apologies to Andrew Wilkow): we are right, they are wrong. I’ll repeat the phrase often. I see no other way to put it. Our foes in today’s battles demand they be allowed to “spread the wealth” as they see fit. To do this they MUST assume almost unlimited powers. I believe there is no question the Constitution was all about limited federal powers. The founders were very clear on this. Our opponents can achieve their goals only by violating the Constitution. Yet today, and for a good share of the last century, when asked if a bill is Constitutional our foes simply respond with Pelosi’s “are you kidding me?” No we’re not kidding. They may have gotten away with their actions, but we are right and they are wrong as long as the flag of the Constitution flies. Let’s fight with our flag and raise it high. Raise the Constitution high so everyone can see it. And each time its shot down, lets jump over the wall, clean the dirt and grime off it, and raise it up again, no matter the risk. Norm Byers, March 8, 2010