Independence Day Message, 2022

The United States of America became a country in 1776 and the Declaration of Independence was its establishing document. Historians can quibble whether the nation's birthday is on July 2nd, or July 4th, or even August 2nd when most of many of the delegates signed it. The USA was not founded in 1619, and its establishing document was not the Mayflower Compact or the Jamestown Charter. It has one Declaration of Independence, and therefore only one Independence Day, celebrated on each 4th of July. Now that that's out of the way... How, with all the current division and by what right do we celebrate America's birthday? Yes, the country is divided-- as much as it's ever been since the end of the Civil War. We must note that those who drive the division are not aligned with the Founders vision for our country. Their political philosophies of socialism, fascism and the authoritarian style that come with them are foreign to these shores. They are not truly for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They may claim they are for these things but in reality, are for: death, subservience, and the pursuit of pleasure and power. Freedom of speech, assembly, and religion all have come under assault from the Left in recent years. America was founded as, and remains nominally, a free market-capitalist country. The Left has pressed and sadly, achieved a level of statism approaching economic fascism, causing supply shortages, rampant inflation, and an energy crisis. Yet despite this, America remains the greatest country the world has ever seen. Our Constitution has so far proven as a bulwark from the worst of the Left's progressive polices, even on occasion, rolling back their excesses. The Founders, in their genius, made it hard for tyranny to take root in our nation due to the U.S. Constitution. This document should be considered a landmark human achievement. Many opponents to the concepts that America was formed upon use several recent Supreme Court rulings that checked the power they seek as examples of how our democracy is being destroyed. They are mistaken. Only a fool would for instance, claim that a ruling (Dobbs v Jackson) that removes a critical issue, abortion, from the sphere of unelected officials and remands it back to the states, where citizens are once again free to vote on it, would call such a ruling a “failure” of democracy. Another ruling which curtails the power of unelected officials in the EPA and other government agencies and forces these issues to be dealt with by the legislative branch or the states is a victory, not a defeat for democracy. Other recent rulings reaffirming 1st and 2nd Amendment rights serve to strengthen the wall between us and subjugation known as the Constitution. We may not like the state of our government, our leaders, or the direction that the country is currently moving in but still, It's OK to love America.