The 4th of July is a day for family, for celebration. Most Americans will go to parades, partake in a cookout and watch a fireworks show. Will most Americans remember, though, why we celebrate? Will they remember how our forefathers died to give us freedoms that no other country enjoys? Will they remember how many other brave soldiers have fought and died since then to maintain that freedom? Will they be willing to take a stand themselves to keep our Declaration and our Constitution intact and protect America the Beautiful? Besides the physical wars, there are also economic and moral wars being fought to protect this great country. Over the years, our independence has dwindled before our eyes. Today, on this 4th of July, as Americans enjoy the unalienable rights bestowed upon them by our forefathers, they should take a minute to bow their heads in thanks and take a vow to protect those freedoms by protecting the sanctity of the Declaration and the Constitution.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
President Calvin Coolidge, my ancestor and the only President born on the 4th of July, said it best.
“It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning cannot be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction cannot lay claim to progress.”
RSS Feed
