Happy Independence Day, America - Don't Forget "We, the People"

Today, we Americans celebrate our independence. But, I suspect there is subdued joy in our towns and cities and countryside as we raise Old Glory to commemorate a unique event in all of human history. ~~~~~ On July 4, 1776, Thomas Jefferson gave us a great and holy charge : "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. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed, - That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." ~~~~~ From those immortal words was born America, founded on the earth-shaking idea that "We, the People" are our own government. But, I dare any American to say on July 4, 2016, that he or she feels possessed of personal liberty or individual freedom. Through our excessive trust in our recent leaders, through our admirable desire to be fair and openminded, and, yes, through our laziness in not participating in our political system, we have lost both our liberty and our freedom. We have allowed a government that despises our Constitution to regulate and tax us into political and economic slavery. We have allowed those who would scrap our Constitution for leftist-socialist tenets to prevail over us. They call themselves Progressives because that makes it sound as if they are doing good things for America. They are not. We have allowed our Republic to be hijacked by those who rule because they are in part elected by non-citizens they illegally register to vote and by citizens who have sold their constitutional right to liberty for thirty pieces of entitlement silver. ~~~~~ From Jefferson's "unalienable Rights" to Washington's "Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being," to Lincoln's "whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure" to JFK's "watchmen on the walls of world freedom" to Reagan's "shining city on the hill" -- we have always been warned that our Republic is unique and "mankind's last, best hope," but that it is fragile and requires constant care and recommitment. Somehow we as citizens have forgotten both care and commitment. ~~~~~ So, dear readers, have a happy, patriotic and safe Independence Day. Happy -- if you can forget the Obama White House that hides its acts from you and Congress while lying about its intentions and blaming every conservative and Republican for its own failures. Patriotic -- if you can forget that President Obama and Hillary Clinton firmly believe that it is America's role to sidle up to the islamic jihadist ayatollahs who rule over Iran by force while spreading terror widely in the Middle East and that it is right for America to stand beside the butchery of the marxist Castro regime in Cuba. Safe -- if you can forget that Obama is trying to eliminate your right to bear arms, that he has fired over 200 generals and line officers who disagree with his complacence in the face of ISIS, and if you believe that the 11 million illegals in the US pose absolutely no physical, economic or political threat to you, your families, your communities or your Republic. So, for today -- Happy Fourth of July. For tomorrow -- get up and fight for America before she is destroyed. We must not be the generation of Americans who lost America forever. She is not only a nation, she is, above all, an idea -- the idea that men and women of character, who are educated and responsible citizens, can and should be the inheritors and guardians of "We, the People."