I love July 4th. I like the heat of a summer’s day, the splash of swimming pool parties, hot dogs on the grill, and fireworks in the sky. I love patriotic music from John Philips Souza to Johnny Horton. I think of July 4th as the Thanksgiving that extends from our family gathering to our community, our state, and our nation.
July 4th is a day to remember how our founding fathers gave everything for the promise of our nation. It was treason to sign the Declaration of Independence and they did it anyway.
I think about the beliefs that compelled them to dissolve the political binds they had with England. That governments are instituted to secure our inalienable rights, and that governments derive their power from the consent of the governed. That whenever government becomes antagonistic to liberty, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.
Light the fire of independence and share it with a friend | Photo by Tairon Fernandez on Pexels.com
Three such incredibly powerful assertions: 1) We have God-given rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, 2) we consent to a government that will protect those rights, and 3) if the government fails to protect those rights, we will alter or abolish it.
The document goes on to say that man is more likely to abide suffering than to disrupt the known order. How well we know this. Our current condition is one of suffering under the known order: the two parties that have hijacked our government and suppressed us all with their tyranny. Like King George of Great Britain, our current government has imposed taxes on us without our consent, excited domestic insurrections among us, and endeavored to cut off trade with the rest of the world through prohibitive tariffs.
Our current government, in the hands of the Republicans and Democrats, has refused for a long time to allow others to be elected, and has erected a multitude of new offices, growing government exponentially year after year.
At what point will we, like our forefathers, declare that enough is enough?
The Declaration of Independence led to a revolution that was costly, violent, and deadly. We are lucky that the means of peaceful change are available to us. We do not need to declare a separation, we can correct our own governance. Reform our own government. But we must wrest it from the hands of those who would wield it to enrich themselves while bankrupting our nation.
I am often reminded of the courage and bravery of our founding fathers. How they, too, beseeched their fellow countrymen to recognize the tyranny they were living under. Until they were forced to declare, with righteous indignation, their independence.
I listen to the soundtrack of patriotism regularly. I hear Hamilton declaring we must Rise up! and Lee Greenwood singing he’s Proud to be an American. I think about free people and what we must do to protect that freedom. How we must decide enough is enough.
We must declare independence in 2026.
The most patriotic thing we can do is to vote against the tyrants. Elect someone who will represent South Carolina: People, not party.
This week we will gather for cookouts and pool parties and fireworks. I love the pageantry of July 4th: A parade of flag-waving citizens, the cadence of a marching band, the celebratory atmosphere of patriotism. I hope we’ll each feel that swell of pride in our nation, and gratitude, above all gratitude, for all that we have here in the United States of America.
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