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Wrapped in our nation's colors, this holiday commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
But 2023 is challenging the principles of freedom and responsibility like few other years.
What does freedom mean to you?
A nice brisk walk in the morning?
A cup of coffee with friends to talk about politics at the local coffee shop?
Traveling across country for that trip you've always wanted to take?
Commenting on someone's social media page in support of a cause?
Working hard to buy or build your dream home and raise a family the best you know how?
Freedom is defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary as the quality or state of being free, such as: the absence of necessity, coercion or constraint in choice or action. Liberation from slavery or from the power of another.
Imagine waking up in Kyiv this morning. Air raid sirens blaring as missiles fly overhead.
Or in Kherson, Ukraine, as gun fire rages.
Our nation's Declaration of Independence says this: 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.
We believe that means ALL men and women are created equal everywhere, not just in our great country.
Because if freedom is threatened anywhere, it is threatened here.
Our forefathers learned that.
Many died in defense of freedom everywhere.
The United States is a beacon of freedom around the world.
Because we have always defended freedom … around the world.
We leave you with perhaps the most famous quote about freedom from Nelson Mandela, a man who spent 27 years in prison basically because he was black: "For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."