Jerry's 9/11 "We The People" Speech

There have been many requests from those of you wanting to read the speech Jerry gave at the Mount Baker Theatre on 9/11/2009. Here is the speech as it was given that night.      ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

    Allow me a moment to just stand and look at you. You know, you’re a good looking bunch of people.

And just who are we here tonight? We’re the common man, the common woman, the common child.   

It was Abraham Lincoln who said, “God must surely love the common man. Why?” He said, “Because look how many of us he has made".And look at us! Look at us!

Now, some would try to tell us, and some have tried very hard to convince us, that the common man is, somehow, inferior or secondhand, or inadequate, but that's not what the word "common” means at all.     

Webster's dictionary tells us that when it comes to mankind, “common” is “the general public, the standard, the masses, belonging to everybody".  

And just what was our founding fathers definition of the common man?  We the people -- we the people. And that is who is here tonight – “We the People”.

 But our great problem today in America, our great dilemma, is that some in America today believe that they are, somehow, better than us, that they, somehow, know better than us, that they are smarter than us, bigger than us, more able than us, and they want us to stay in some place, some silent place, while they have their way with us and our America.     

But I'm here tonight to say, “no more, no more standing by to let someone else set the tone, no more standing by to let someone else set our standard, no more standing by as they take us away from what so many before us have given        

their fortunes,                   

their reputations,                            

their very lives –

And I say “no more.” 

And just what is it that we want?  What do “We the People" want?  It's actually quite simple.  We want to get back to an America of common people, using common sense, to work together for a common goal,to stand on a common ground, and work to get our country back where it belongs – out of the hands of the few and into the hands of the common people – We the People.

Now, some will try, some are trying to characterize us as some sort of fanatical mob looking to make trouble.  But here's the truth -- the trouble is already here in America – we’re already in trouble.  And what is our part in this trouble?  We have sat idly by and let it happen. 

Regretfully, we have allowed our nation to be turned away from the simple, powerful ideals America was built upon, the ideals of truth and justice and law and fairness and self responsibility and independence and freedom and moral values; we have turned away from these ideals.    And most important, we have allowed our nation to push away our single greatest ally -- as a nation we have pushed away Almighty God. And I want Him back!    

I was talking with one man the other day and he said to me, “God was not part of the original founding of our United States", he said, “God isn't mentioned once in our U.S. Constitution".  I said, “That is so true, but did you know that our founding fathers prayed before each session of that Constitutional Congress, asking God, no begging God to help them - and He did!” 

And the reason we are in such bad trouble as a nation today is that God has been pushed out, and without God we will fail. I thank Him that He has not deserted us the way we have deserted him.  And I want Him back -- I want our nation to follow just what our currency says –                          “In God We Trust”    

Now, back to this claim that we are fanatics about our cause.  I say, “We’d better be".You Know, when we call someone a sports fan it’s supposed to be like a good thing –“He’s a great fan” 

But did you know that this word “fan" comes from the word “fanatic"? That’s right – a fan is a fanatic. So, let's see, we can be a fan of sports,                     

we can be a fan of movies,                     

we can be a fan of music,                     

we can even be a fanatic.         

But we can’t be a fan, a fanatic, for the cause to save our own nation?        

That's what's gotten us into this whole mess. 

We quit being a fan of our America. 

“We the People" took our hands off the wheel, we've let someone else drive the train, we've let someone else steer the ship, and our nation is heading for the cliff, we’re steering right for the falls, and it's almost over.    

But just how did we get here? How did we get into this horrible mess?  It's an ugly word – “apathy".  Now, I know that we all know this word “apathy", but do you know what it really means?  Follow this -- the root word in “apathy" is “path".  And when you have a path, you have a direction, you are going somewhere.  But put the letter “a" in front of any root word and it now means “lack of, null, void, no".  So, apathy doesn't mean you're going down a wrong or different path – apathy means you have no path at all.  You are so disinterested, so into yourself - that you don't care to even have a path.  It's a horrible, disgusting word.   

And what makes it so disgusting is that it lays the blame of our problems of our America where?  Not in the hands of our politicians and leaders, where we want to lay the blame, it lays the blame on us, “We the people".   

That pill is very hard to swallow - when we want the blame to fall on someone else – but instead it falls on us.     

Makes me think of another word, another ugly word, with that same root word “path" – it’s the word “pathetic” -- and when we are ruled by apathy we are pathetic.    

So, let someone say when it comes to my nation, America, when it comes to our future, when it comes to our nation, when it comes to our children, when it comes to our grandchildren – Let them say that I am a fanatic – I’d better be.Say it, “I'm a fan of America. I'm a fan of my America”.  I will not apologize for being a fan of America.Wow, I'm glad I got that off my chest.    

So, we are here tonight, ready to act, ready to move, ready to take back this great nation – but talk is cheap – so what do we do? 

In 1917, Martin Treptow lived in Cherokee, Iowa. He was a barber, a common man. In that year 1917, our United States was drawn into a horrible war, World War I and Martin Treptow enlisted.  He was a young man with his whole life in front of him, but he signed up to fight.   

In December of that year, 1917, Private Treptow and his regiment landed in France.  He was a member of the famous “Rainbow Division”. His job was to carry important messages between battalions on the frontline -- it was very dangerous -- but Martin took on the job.

The men in Martin's regiment noticed something about Martin – he carried a small notebook, a diary in his inside pocket.  He never talked about his writings but he was always noting in his diary.   

Martin Treptow was a good soldier, he did his job well, and on July 29, 1918, while carrying a crucial message between battalions under heavy artillery fire, Martin Treptow, a common man, an Iowa Barber, Private Martin Treptow was killed in battle.  And when Martin's dead body was found on the battlefield, as they searched through his pockets to find that message he was delivering -- instead they found his diary, and in that diary there was a message -- a message to be delivered to all of us here tonight. 

At the top of the front page of his diary, it was titled “My Pledge", and under it, these simple, common, powerful words:

“America must win this war.  Therefore I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully, and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone.”  

Martin Treptow was willing to carry, he did carry, the whole weight of that war on his shoulders.

Why? Because he was a fan of America.

So just what must we do?  That’s it -- we must do.  You see, you are what you do, not what you think – not what you say.  What you think, what you say, means nothing toward a solution – the solution is what you do!

How do we get America back on the right path?We stand up and we act.

Now, notice I didn't say we react - We act.   

You must stand up, but before you do, you must find out what you believe to be worth standing up for.    

And don't just follow the crowd.  Sit down with yourself, sit down with your family, your children, your friends, make a list of those values and ideals worth fighting for.  Write them, specifically, settle what you know to be good and right -- and do it!    

Next, realize that there are those in this world who want to see America fail as a nation.  We must understand we have enemies anxious to take us down. They are angry and hateful and determined to destroy us.     

Today as we remember and honor those who tragically died on 9/11, let us also remember what really happened that day – some have tried to make us forget    it was our airplanes that were turned into deadly missiles;     

it was our buildings that were blown up and knocked down;     

it was thousands of our innocent men, women, and children who died.    

It was President John Kennedy who said, “Let every nation know whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty." 

So, tonight here’s the question:If tonight you were to die on the battlefield and someone reached for your diary, opened up that front page marked “My Pledge”, what would it say? What would it say? Would it be blank, with no path, no direction? What would it say? 

Mine would say this:   

“God help me to be a fan –      

a fan of truth –      

a fan of God –      

a fan of America".    

In closing, allow me this one personal note -- I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kindness to me these last 24 years in Whatcom County. 

Tomorrow I'm leaving to go back to my home town, Fort Worth, Texas.   

Am I through here? Absolutely Not!I will be working with my national syndications company in Texas and, God willing, I plan on continuing my own small part of the battle for our great nation right here in Whatcom Country and in Washington. 

But know this - I will miss your words,                              I will miss your encouragement to me,                                 I will miss your spirit to fight.                                             I love you all. 

May God bless America – may God bless our troops -- may God bless you!