Happy July 4th!

So far, despite the efforts of some people who will go nameless in this post, we continue to be blessed to live in the United States of America.  Despite the constant nibbling away at the edges, we are still a land of free, brave, and prosperous people, and we can only hope that we stay that way.

The men who signed this great document did so knowing that, the moment their name appeared on that paper, they had the hangman’s rope around their neck.  It was win or die.

At many times over the next seven years, death seemed like a very real possibility to these patriots, and there were certainly man ordinary men — not statesmen, but farmers and shopkeepers, fathers, brothers, and sons — who freely gave their lives on the field of battle to the greater cause of individual liberty.

In the American of 2013, we too often look back and see America’s independence as a foregone conclusion.  There were no such comforting conclusions then.  Instead, there were many dark days when it looked as if freedom was illusory and impossible.  Those patriots never gave up their struggling for individual liberty and neither should we.

Happy July 4th!!

Declaration of Independence

And thanks to the men and women who have put themselves at the front line to preserve this liberty over the years.

Flag at Iwo Jima

Happy birthday, America!

statue_of_liberty_with_fireworks