The people of Honduras have struggled too long to have their hard-won democracy stolen from them by a Chavez-style dictator. The Honduran Congress, the Honduran Supreme Court, and the Honduran military have acted in accordance to the Honduran constitution and the rule of law.

For weeks leading to his arrest, Zelaya flouted the constitutional authority of the Honduran Congress and Supreme Court, and claimed for himself extra-constitutional control of his nation’s military and political institutions. Every institution from the Electoral Tribunal to the Supreme Court ruled that his actions were unjustified and illegal. Zelaya’s open defiance of democratic norms has set Honduras on a path toward violence, instability, and tyranny.

I am hopeful that as President Obama grows in office, he will eventually turn away from despots like Ahmadinejad, Chavez, Castro, and Zelaya, and give the United States’ full-throated support to the people of any country who are fighting for the same values we cherish and defend in America. The people fighting for freedom around the world, in Iran and Honduras, should never have to wonder which side America will choose between freedom and tyranny.

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Last week, I led a group of Republican senators that wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging her to immediately relist North Korea as a State Sponsor of Terrorism and we also introduced an amendment to force the Obama Administration into action.
 
Yesterday on ABC’s This Week, I was pleased to hear Secretary Clinton’s response that they are now considering relisting North Korea. This is a very important step that I hope President Obama will agree to.
 
However, just days before Secretary Clinton’s statement, her spokesman bluntly claimed the State Department doesn’t believe there are any recent acts by North Korea that can be defined as supporting terrorism:
 

REPORTER: A group of Republican senators has written a letter to the Secretary urging her to relist North Korea on the terror list. They specify certain unnamed ongoing terrorist activities. Do you share that assessment, and where do you want to go with that?

STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN PHILIP CROWLEY: …As for North Korea, I think we’re aware of that letter. But as far as I know, firing off missiles and over-heated rhetoric is unwise and unhelpful, but does not meet the legal definition of terrorism.

REPORTER: They seem to say – but they don’t refer to those tests as a terrorist activity – to say that other ones are ongoing, that those are — Is there anything else that you’re aware of?

MR. CROWLEY: To list a country on the terrorism list, there’s a legal requirement there. And what we’ve seen so far, I don’t think meets that legal test.
 

Based on this statement, I eagerly await the State Department to certify:
 

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“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” – Ronald Reagan

America recently celebrated 232 years of independence. Back in 1776, a new nation was set apart to be founded on principles of limited federal government, equal rights, religious freedom, liberty and economic opportunity – all of which have become ingrained in the American experience.

It is these principles that lay at the heart of the conservative movement. They support our policies and underline our ideas. The war of ideas gets more aggressive by the day and it’s imperative that conservatives not cede the field to the left. Liberal activists work overtime to push an agenda that limits our freedoms and expands the hand of government in our lives, forcing their way into our schools, our jobs, our churches and even our homes. More than ever conservatives need to stay alert and involved in what’s going on at the local, state and federal levels of government.

Last year’s immigration debate is a shining example of the difference your involvement can make. Calls, comments and blog posts from the grassroots level triggered a national dialogue impossible for Congress, as well as the mainstream media, to ignore.

Thanks to modern technology, online communities such as RedState provide convenient forums for debate and information sharing. RedState has been critical in the fight to secure our borders, win the War on Terror, end wasteful spending and uphold our values.

If we don’t continue to challenge those in power pushing the liberal agenda, we could spend decades attempting to fix all the damages from what we let slip through. It’s vitally important that grassroots communities of the conservative movement stay invested and involved in what’s going on in Washington. If we’re going to preserve America’s freedoms for the generations to come, the change will come from the outside – not from inside the walls of Congress. It’s your voices and your ideas here at RedState that empower those of us in Washington demanding change.

Despite all the negativity whirling through the media, there is much for conservatives to be optimistic about as we rise to meet the challenges of the 21st century. The “morning in America” that conservatives look back on with fondness doesn’t have to be a memory of the past. It can be a hope for the future as ordinary people working together to effectively promote conservative principles accomplish extraordinary things.

Thank you, RedState, for promoting freedom and traditional principles through a dynamic new forum. I look forward to participating in the ongoing discussion. And Happy 4th Birthday — no doubt there will be many more to come.