Tim Walberg: “I thank my friend from Virginia and, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak on an issue of ultimate…”

“I thank my friend from Virginia and, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak on an issue of ultimate importance tonight, the First Amendment liberties. {time} 1945 We go back to those brave men whose shoulders we stand upon, and here in the Chamber today, people like Jonathan Witherspoon, who said: A republic once equally poised, must either preserve its virtue or lose its liberty. Congressman Forbes, we are standing for that virtue today. We are standing for that virtue in a country that, sadly, has walked away from accepting it out of hand. And assuming that there will be differences-- there will be theological differences, there will be religious differences--America was known from its inception as a place where we could be free to have those foundational principles. Benjamin Franklin himself said: This will be the best security for maintaining our liberties. A Nation of well-informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the religion of ignorance that tyranny begins. And so I went to some statements that were made in the constitutions of our States--specifically, those States that were our 13 colonies--to look at what our Framers and Founders, those back in the States that said we want a Federal Government, but we want a Federal Government that comes under the control of the States. What did they say about religion and those First Amendment liberties? I picked out three.…”