On Independence Day let’s remember to honor our country—and to fight
for its future.
I love America for being
the place where an upstart group of colonists, imbued with the ideas of
liberty, launched an impossible battle against the Goliath British Empire, the
most powerful force in the world—and won.
I love America for
establishing a groundbreaking new country in which every individual has sovereignty over one's own life and possessions, and government’s only
purpose is to protect that sacred right.
I love America for
recognizing that not only is it illegal for a criminal to steal your property,
rob you of your liberty, or hijack your life, but the government cannot do
these things to you, either. I love America for being the first country in
history to establish through its founding charter that government cannot act
like a common criminal, but must be accountable to moral law, which means it
must respect the rights of the individual.
I love America for igniting
a firestorm of liberty that led to the abolition of slavery, the
suffrage of women, and the expansion of freedom around the globe. It was America's founding principles that fueled the movements to bring liberty to all people.
I love America for
unshackling the minds of its people so that they could think, dream, create,
and achieve, triggering an explosion of scientific and industrial advancement
and a standard of living unmatched—and unimaginable—in history.
I love America for being
the place where wealth was created and earned, rather than looted and
plundered, a place where it was understood that if persons were to be free,
then their economic activities had to be out of the grip of government.
I love America for being the
place where it was possible for genius to flourish, where the greatest innovators
formed ground-breaking new industries that moved mankind forward.
I love America for spawning
the American Dream, the worldwide symbol of the boundless opportunity
and achievement that results from the freedom to carve one’s own destiny.
I love America for offering
freedom and opportunity to so many of our ancestors who arrived as immigrants,
who came here to work—not to collect handouts or to break the law—and who knew
that in America nothing was owed to them and everything had to be earned, and
who rose to the challenge, creating a spectacularly better life for themselves
and for us, their descendants.
I love America for its
vision of a truly civilized society, one of independent, resourceful,
industrious, wealth-creating, and life-loving people, who live in peace and
good will toward their fellow man because no one can stake a claim to anyone
else’s life, wealth, or property.
I love America for being
the country where people could work hard, rise, and be proud of their success,
because production, profit, wealth, and achievement are life-giving values to
attain and enjoy, not to envy and loot.
The America I love is fast
becoming a distant memory. Every day we wake up to frightening new assaults on
our statues, our heritage, our sports events, our culture, our children’s
education, and more. America is under assault by growing nihilistic bands that want to force
totalitarian speech and behavior codes on the rest of us, replacing our liberty
with their whims. They want zones of “autonomy” to make demands—but where’s
their autonomy to support themselves? They’re destroying our America,
with their form of government ready to step in when the time comes.
No matter how much angry mobs try to erase our country's moral stature, I will never forget that I am an
American. I will never forget that our ancestors forged a continent not with big government, intrusive restrictions, public aid, and bailouts but with the shining vision of a better life and the
self-reliance to attain it.
When we enjoy our barbecues
and fireworks on the Fourth of July, let’s remember the real meaning of this
holiday. The day America was born is the day the individual broke free of the
shackles of government to forge his own life. The result was unprecedented and
spectacular. The cause was liberty; the effect was the flourishing of human
life.
Speaking of statues, there’s
one that the expropriators and budding tyrants would love to topple: the Statue of Liberty. We the people must never let them molest
her.
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| The Pioneer vs. the Welfare State: Essays on Liberty in Peril |
Get your FREE EBOOK, The Pioneer vs. the Welfare State: Essays on Liberty in Peril. FREE ON AMAZON KINDLE JULY 2 THROUGH JULY 6, 2020.
Gen LaGreca is also the author of four
novels that celebrate individualism and liberty. Her latest one, Just the Truth,
explores: What is happening to our free press? Are we in danger of losing
it? Available from Amazon and other retailers.
Copyright© 2020 by Gen LaGreca. Permission
to reproduce this essay is given with attribution to the author.
