INDEPENDENCE DAY 2015
(GREETINGS)
TODAY WE ARE CELEBRATING THE MOST
IMPORTANT BEGINNING IN AMERICAN HISTORY. A
BEGINNING THAT CONSISTED OF FREEDOMS,
LIBERTY AND RIGHTEOUSNESS INSPIRED BY THE
REVOLUTIONARY IDEA TO STAND UP AGAINST
TYRANNY … AN IDEA THAT WOULD FOREVER
CHANGE THE LIVES OF EVERYONE IN THIS GREAT
NATION. TODAY WE CELEBRATE THE BIRTH OF
AMERICA.
BEFORE THE UNITED STATES CAME INTO
EXISTENCE THERE WERE 13 COLONIES BOUND
UNDER THE RULE OF A KING — A WAY OF LIVING
THAT WAS RADICALLY DIFFERENT THAN THE WAY
WE LIVE TODAY, THE WAY THAT WE KNOW AND
CHERISH.
THIS WAS A WORLD WHERE MEN WERE NOT
EQUAL — CITIZENS WERE SUBJECTED TO THE KING’S
BRASH DECISIONS — A RULER WITH THE POWER TO
PROVIDE PRIVILEGES AND REVOKE THEM JUST AS
EASILY. IN THIS WORLD EXISTED TRIAL WITHOUT
JURY, GOVERNMENT WITHOUT CONSENT,
CONFISCATION WITHOUT COMPENSATION, AND
REPRESSIVE TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION.
GOVERNING RULE AT THE TIME WAS MUCH
DIFFERENT THAN IT IS TODAY, BUT THE BRAVE MEN
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AND WOMEN WHO CREATED THIS COUNTRY FORMED
NEWFOUND IDEOLOGIES OF FREEDOM WE CARRY
WITH US STILL TODAY. AND SO WITH CARGOS OF
TEA, AND THE SCRATCH OF A PEN, A REVOLUTION
BEGAN.
THOMAS JEFFERSON WROTE: “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.”
DEATH BY HANGING WAS THE PENALTY FOR
THOSE WHO BROUGHT FORTH THE RADICAL IDEAS
OF FREEDOM. YET, TIME AND TIME AGAIN, MEN
STOOD UP TO TYRANNY DESPITE THE LOOMING
CONSEQUENCE. IN FACT, TWO MEN WERE ALREADY
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ON THE KING’S LIST TO BE HANGED — THEIR NAMES
WERE JOHN HANCOCK AND SAMUEL ADAMS FROM
THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS.
THE BRITISH SENT COMBAT TROOPS TO SILENCE
THE EXTREME THINKING OF THE COLONIES AND END
THE LOOMING THREAT OF WAR, BUT WERE
SURPRISED TO FIND THAT THEY WERE ONLY ABLE
TO CAPTURE AND OCCUPY A FEW COASTAL CITIES.
THE COLONIES MOBILIZED THEIR MILITIA COMPOSED
OF TOWNSMEN AND FARMERS, AND FIGHTING TOOK
TO THE COUNTRYSIDE.
THE BRITISH QUICKLY BECAME UNSETTLED BY
THE STRENGTH OF THE CIVILIAN MILITIA AND BEGAN
DESTROYING HOMES, BURNING BUSINESSES, AND
THREATENING AND KILLING ENTIRE FAMILIES.
THOUGH FEW PEOPLE HAD CONFIDENCE THAT THE
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REVOLUTIONARIES WERE CAPABLE OF
OVERPOWERING THE BRITISH EMPIRE, AMERICA’S
FIRST SOLDIERS REPRESENTING THE 13 UNITED
COLONIES HAD MUCH TO KEEP FIGHTING FOR.
JEFFERSON CONTINUED: “AND FOR THE
SUPPORT OF THIS DECLARATION, WITH A FIRM
RELIANCE ON THE PROTECTION OF DIVINE
PROVIDENCE, WE MUTUALLY PLEDGE TO EACH
OTHER OUR LIVES, OUR FORTUNES AND OUR
SACRED HONOR.”
WITH THIS, THE FIRST GENERATION OF THE
AMERICAN PATRIOT WAS BORN — ONE WHO HAD A
GENUINE LOVE FOR THE COUNTRY AND A
WILLINGNESS TO SACRIFICE EVERYTHING FOR IT,
WITHOUT REGRET.
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25,000 LOST THEIR LIVES IN THE FIGHT FOR
FREEDOM. MORE THAN 8,000 WERE INJURED. THE
LOSSES, THOUGH TRAGIC, WERE NOT LOST IN VAIN,
BUT FOR THE FUTURE OF OUR COUNTRY’S PEOPLE.
IT IS SAID THAT WHERE ONE STORY ENDS ANOTHER
BEGINS — THESE MEN WERE THE FIRST TO
UNSELFISHLY SACRIFICE THEMSELVES FOR THE
CREATION OF SOMETHING BETTER, A STATE OF
MIND, A WAY OF LIFE — THE AMERICAN WAY.
ON THE MORNING OF THIS DAY BACK IN 1776,
JOHN HANCOCK ETCHED THE FIRST LARGE
SIGNATURE ONTO THE DECLARATION OF
INDEPENDENCE, SAYING WITH A HINT OF SARCASM,
“THE BRITISH MINISTRY COULD READ THAT NAME
WITHOUT SPECTACLES.” THE UNITED COLONIES
PROCLAIMED THEIR INDEPENDENCE FROM BRITAIN,
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HEREAFTER TO BE CALLED THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA.
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE WAS
ENDORSED 56 TIMES BY MEN WHO REPRESENTED
EACH OF THE 13 UNITED STATES. COUNTLESS MORE
FOUGHT AND CONTINUE TO FIGHT TO PROTECT THAT
DOCUMENT AND THE VISION OF AMERICA.
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA LEARNED
QUICKLY THAT FREEDOM DOES NOT COME FREE —
AND SO CAME THE BLESSING OF A MILITARY
CONTROLLED BY CIVILIANS THAT WOULD ENSURE
THAT OUR GOD GIVEN RIGHTS ARE NEVER TAKEN
FROM US.
SO TODAY, WE ARE NOT ONLY CELEBRATING
THE BEGINNING OF AMERICA AND OUR
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INDEPENDENCE, WE ALSO CELEBRATE THE
COURAGE, BRAVERY AND BOLDNESS THAT TODAY’S
MEN AND WOMEN OF THE ARMED FORCES DISPLAY
TO PROTECT THE CORE VALUES OF AMERICA IN
ORDER TO KEEP US FREE FROM TYRANNY.
SINCE 1776 MANY HAVE CHALLENGED AMERICA
AND OUR WAY OF LIFE — EVEN TODAY, EXACTLY 239
YEARS LATER OUR VISION OF FREEDOM MEETS
OPPOSITION. WITH FREEDOM COMES THE
RESPONSIBILITY TO DEFEND IT. IT’S SAFE TO SAY
THAT DEFENDING ONE’S COUNTRY IS THE HIGHEST
FORM OF PUBLIC SERVICE. OUR SERVICE MEMBERS
HAVE PROVED TIME AND TIME AGAIN THAT THEY
STAND READY TO DEFEND WHAT IS OURS.
AS BENJAMIN FRANKLIN SAID AT THE SIGNING
OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE: “WE
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MUST ALL HANG TOGETHER, OR ASSUREDLY WE
SHALL ALL HANG SEPARATELY.”
AND AS WE CELEBRATE OUR INDEPENDENCE,
WE THANK ALL PATRIOTS OF THE PAST WHO HAVE
DEFENDED IT AND GIVEN US HOPE: NOT ONLY FOR
OUR OWN FUTURES, BUT FOR ALL FUTURE
GENERATIONS. I ASK THAT AS YOU CELEBRATE WITH
YOUR FAMILIES, FRIENDS AND COMMUNITIES TODAY,
YOU REMEMBER TO HONOR ALL AMERICAN
PATRIOTS, FROM THE COUNTRYSIDE OF THE NEW
ENGLAND STATES TO THE BEACHES OF NORMANDY,
FROM THE JUNGLES OF VIETNAM, TO THE STREETS
OF KANDAHAR. THEY ARE THE ONES WHO HAVE
PRESERVED OUR WAY OF LIFE, AND WHO HAVE
GIVEN US REASON TO DEFEND FREEDOM FOR ALL
FUTURE GENERATIONS.
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THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR MEN AND WOMEN
OF THE ARMED FORCES, AND TO THOSE WHO ARE
CURRENTLY SERVING OVERSEAS — WHOSE FIGHT
HAS AND WILL CONTINUE TO LEAD OTHERS TO A
BETTER WAY OF LIFE. YOU HAVE TRULY GIVEN US
ALL REASON TO CELEBRATE OUR PAST, OUR
PRESENT, OUR FUTURE — OUR INDEPENDENCE.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA, GOD BLESS.
-VFW-
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