OUR VIEW: Remember True Significance Of July 4

It's time to celebrate another Fourth of July. This year will be different, of course, for so many reasons.

As we approach the 244th anniversary of the founding of our nation, we want to pay tribute to the history and exceptionalism that  make our country the most successful experiment in human history.

If you say: "None of these principles apply today because they were the ideas and ideals of dead white men," we politely reply: "You're part of the problem, and you're hindering the constant struggle to evolve and perfect this unique experiment. Move out of the way and let the more mature minds lead." 

One of our favorite reminders of America's greatness came from President Ronald Reagan during his farewell speech in 1989. He said: "Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: 'We the people.' 'We the people' tell the government what to do, it doesn't tell us. 'We the people' are the driver -- the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which 'We the people' tell the government what it is allowed to do."

Today, in 2020, we are witnessing more of our elected officials needlessly asserting their power in some cases, while at the same time turning their backs on the safety of their constituents. It's clear they have either forgotten or ignored Reagan's wise words.

Since the 1960s, we have been warned of an eradication of the memory that could result in an erosion of the American spirit. Unfortunately, those warnings have turned prophetic in some cases. You've recently seen it in our streets with riots, anti-American sentiment, and the destruction of American history.

Too many Americans have never learned the story the American Revolution or been adequately taught about the revolutionary thought and sacrifices of our founders. Instead, two or three generations of Americans have been brainwashed by modern education, entertainment and news media, judging those the Founders -- those who fought and pledged their lives and fortunes for a better tomorrow -- with their "modern values." It's easy to do so when life has become so relatively easy, even for those on public assistance. 

This Fourth of July, we remind readers what Reagan said in that farewell speech 31 years ago: "All great change in America begins at the dinner table. So tomorrow night in the kitchen, I hope the talking begins. And children, if your parents haven't been teaching you what it means to be an American, let 'em know and nail 'em on it. That would be a very American thing to do."

Let's renew our own American spirits by re-examining the words of our Declaration of Independence. Let's take a few minutes to remember the true significance of July Fourth. 

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America

"When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes ... But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies ...

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved ... 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.