July 4th - Celebrating the Declaration of Independence, Individual Freedom and Limited Government…

It seems like we live in a different country than we did only a few short years ago. The spirit of America is being re-defined by a central government that is in total opposition to the founding principles of our country and history. Our founders put in place the documents necessary to keep us from the current “transformation” but we have failed to learn them, understand them, and enforce them.

The Declaration of Independence which we celebrate this weekend established the determination of the new alliance of American colonies to be independent from central authority, and instead replaced it with individual rights to self determination. Where are those principles today?

I still believe there are more people that believe in free markets, individual liberty, self reliance, and the idea of a limited central government, but we no longer measure the activity of our federal government in those terms. We have been fractured into self interested groups who have become dependent on the largesse of a central government’s ability to take money from one individual or corporation and hand it over to another with nothing more than a stroke of the pen and a political contribution in an envelope. We have been corrupted to accept the immoral taking of our neighbor’s wealth.

We have started to accept the “right” to healthcare, the “right” to a particular wage, the “right” to an education, the “right” to a prosperous retirement, the “right” to food and shelter without even a whispering of constitutional or moral authority. The declaration and constitution are prudent in the rights that are outlined because our founders understood rights must stand independent of intrusion on other people’s rights. Our founders understood history well enough to know that the only true rights we have are Life, Liberty, and the PURSUIT of happiness. They knew no man or government could guarantee the outcome of happiness for anybody. They understood every human being would define the outcome differently but insuring the opportunity to pursue happiness would unleash the economic power that has resulted in the most prosperous nation on earth.

As we continue to accept the abject poverty of government intrusion on individual desire and potential, we should consider why we have so many people dependent on the government for their current miserable existence. As we have drifted further from our founding principles the principles that have replaced them have been determined not by individuals but a central bureaucracy determined to create equal misery throughout the land.

By implementing programs that guarantee government payments but reduce individual incentive we have shackled generations of Americans that were once ancestors of slaves into a new slavery of government dependence. The once open promise of this great American Dream has been stolen by an out of control central government. To return to true happiness every individual must determine if they or the government are going to be the source of their happiness. The people that choose the government will limit their potential to what a politician and bureaucrat can steal from others. If they choose to place the pursuit of happiness in their own hands the potential for happiness is unlimited.

We must reject the current move to “transform” America, and return to our founding principles so we can again celebrate true independence. Too many people today are dependent on government for their existence. We must all celebrate July 4th for what it truly represented to our founders; freedom from government, freedom to pursue individual happiness, and limited government intrusion into our lives.

God Bless America and thank you for giving us the men that were smart enough to know and document the rights you bestowed on us… Now it is our responsibility to understand them, reaffirm them, and protect them…