The one about 4th of July

“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” –Thomas Paine

Happy Independence Day to all!! Let today be the day where we put everything that divides aside. Tune out the politicians, turn off the media, and put aside our differences and disagreements over things important and those not-so-much. 4th of July is not a day to air our grievances or elevate that which seeks to divide us. It’s a day to celebrate those who came before us so that we may revel in the brightness of liberty until the end of days. Those brave men, who risked absolutely everything they had to sign their names to a document that marked them as traitors, did so not just because they were mad over taxes and representation. They did so because to do otherwise would have been a continued anathema to the freedom they knew in their hearts did not come from a king, but from God… from their own humanity. With a firm reliance on divine Providence, they pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to the cause of self-reliance, limited government, and liberty. The Declaration certainly didn’t make America perfect. But it was one hell of a remarkable first shot across the bow. It codified the proper relationship between man and government, laying the foundation for unprecedented freedom, even if it took too long to realize it for every citizen. Those first principles made the rest possible. The odds the Founders overcame teach us as a nation that no set of problems is too much. No division is too strong. Much like today, the men who signed the Declaration had many stark differences, competing interests, and outright disagreements. But they were able to see past all that to stand firmly together in the knowledge that without liberty, none of those differences mattered. They realized that the Declaration was the first promise of a better future. They relied on the hope that those who came after would build on that freedom with each generation, entrenching the value of liberty so deeply into our national identity that it would eventually be realized in full measure. Our uniquely American story started 245 years ago, but it’s not finished being told. It’s up to us to continue to build upon the liberty the Founders codified and laid out so plainly to sign with such conviction. Today, we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence for providing those first principles that still matter today. Those are the ideas – liberty, unalienable rights, sacred honor- that still have the power to bring us all together today. God Bless America!!

“Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature.” –Benjamin Franklin