"Tomorrow, our national party will be in full swing. East, west, north or south - that is where the celebrations will be. Those who do not care to indulge in our national celebration, because living here is no longer what they want - I have some excellent news for them. In this bastion of freedom and liberty, the door out is always open for those who want to leave."
Wow! At long last, tomorrow, it will finally be here. But from a historical point of view, this time 250 years ago, our Declaration of Independence (DOI) was all over but the signing. The votes were taken, and mutual oaths were pledged. In the next couple of days, on the fourth of July 1976, all of these agreements were to me memorialized into a formal document called the Declaration of Independence. For many who signed it, it could have been their death wish. For if the colonies quest for independence fell flat, many would have either hung as traitors - or been shot.
But we did win the war - our Revolutionary War. Instead of the signatories on the DOI being traitors, our first national heroes were made. But now that we won the war, and had this new country, how do we make it work? How do we keep from falling short and failing as a young nation? For the next eleven years, the young upstarts in this new country worked hard, negotiated with each other, and finally agreed with each other on a set of principles. Our Constitution was ratified in September of 1787. An agreement fitting of a more perfect union.
During the past 250 years, this country has not had an easy ride. Thinking back, we have had many "but what if" type moments. I already mentioned what would have happened if we had not prevailed against the British in our Revolutionary War. What if we had lost the War of 1812? What if we had lost World War I? Or if we had lost World War II? How about our bloodiest war, our Civil War? What if we never really recovered from that war, and the entire nation devolved into something tribal?
Our entire history is replete with ordinary men and women who did some extraordinary things at just the right time. Some died while serving this great nation, and others lived to go on to accomplish even greater things for the greater good. Is it over now? Can we sit back and relax? Like is the worst part over? Absolutely not! Our vigilance must be absolute, as threats to our freedom and liberty will never be over.
We are always only one generation away from losing our Republic. And based on some of the new upstarts coming up today who eschew our way of life and want to change it to socialism - our battle for freedom and our way of life is not yet over. As Bono once said, if we lose America, there is no place left to go. In other words, this is it folks. Not just love it or leave it - but protect it or lose it.
Tomorrow, our national party will be in full swing. East, west, north or south - that is where the celebrations will be. Those who do not care to indulge in our national celebration, because living here is no longer what they want - I have some excellent news for them. In this bastion of freedom and liberty, the door out is always open for those who want to leave.
In other words, for reasons which I will never understand, some may hate it here. Good news for them - there is an old saying - "Don't let the door hit you where nature has split you". But don't worry - your place here will be taken by future lovers of liberty. And that is what makes this great nation - great.
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