I was intending to give a huge shout out to FreedomWorks, and especially to the inimitable Tabitha Hale (who was actually quite impressively successful at herding [like cats] 175 of some of the best bloggers in the country through a series of events collectively called “BlogCon”).

Ok, well I guess I just did…but more on the blogcon events and the march itself on another day…

Having said that, I must be honest – I was a little hesitant to put this piece out there today because of 9/11 and wishing I could see the whole of the day reserved for focusing on its memory and reflecting on what happened to the American collective on September 11, 2001. So, too, do I hope that we always honor the memory of those lives that were lost that day and in the days hence as we were put upon by Muslim terrorists to confront their hate and their radical ideology.

I chose not to wait, however, for the oddest of reasons. I’m sitting in a hotel bar typing just south of Washington DC on the eve of the first anniversary of the 9/12 Taxpayer March on Washington , sponsored in part by FreedomWorks (with whom I am spending the weekend learning how to blog better and share valuable time and beverage and sustenance with today’s blogging rockstars). As I was mentally preparing to join in the march on the Capitol, I looked outside to find a small group of people screaming at the top of their lungs at the Hotel entrance.

With the calls of “BOY – COTT” and “DON’T check IN…CHECK OUT” ricocheting off the front walls of the Hotel, I was reminded that they are FREE to do this protest against some perceived unfairness…every bit as much as I will be free to do so tomorrow…and how comforted we should all be that 9/11 did not cost us any of our freedoms.

While 9/11 might have cost us some of our National innocence, it also served the greater purpose of reminding America once again how precious a thing freedom is, and that there can be no greater cause worth dying for than to preserve it in honor of the names of those who have come before us every bit as much as in ensuring that it is preserved for future generations yet to come.

Freedom works because enough of us remain diligent that it remains so, despite the challenges to its fundamental principles.