Today Texas celebrates 181 years of having our liberty secured. On April 21, 1836, the outnumbered, outgunned Texans decisively defeated the army of Santa Anna on the fields of San Jacinto.
The battle lasted less than 20 minutes, more than 600 Mexican soldiers perishing while fewer than a dozen Texans were counted among the dead.
Texans won San Jacinto, and secured independence for the Lone Star State, because they were fighting for their liberty.
Neither achieving independence nor securing liberty has been a singular event. Over the decade as a sovereign Republic, and the following 171 years as the brightly shining Lone Star State, Texans have had to continue the fight to maintain and expand our liberties.
That’s how it is supposed to be. Liberty, Ronald Reagan once noted, is never more than a generation from being extinguished. “It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people.”
Texas will be strong only so long as Texans are committed to remaining in the fight for freedom.
This is why we exist. We work each day to keep the citizens of Texas equipped for the fight.
We can only do that with the generous support of thousands of Texans.
Sam Houston, who commanded the Texas forces at San Jacinto, once said, “Texas has yet to learn submission to any oppression, come from what source it may.”
Whether it’s a physical, external threat to our sovereignty, or the threat posed by big-government ideologies, Texans always have a simple binary choice: oppression or liberty. There can be no compromise.
Like those heroes at San Jacinto, we choose liberty.
