Yesterday, we celebrated the Declaration of Independence, our nation’s birth certificate, the “Charter” defining who Americans are and our purpose. This American Charter also points to the source of Divine Providence upon which we call to provide and protect us. We remember the lives of each of the fifty-six men who sacrificed their lives, homes and prosperity for the sake of a nation yet to be born.
In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson said:
A nation which does not remember what it was yesterday, does not know what it is today, nor what it is trying to do. We are trying to do a futile thing if we do not know where we came from or what we have been about…
Those of you reading this, no doubt have great care and concern for our nation. You are the citizens that Benjamin Franklin Bache (Grandson of Benjamin Franklin) wrote about in The Philadelphia General Advertiser, in December 1792 when he said that,
“Liberty will never be safe or durable in a republic till every citizen thinks it as much his duty to take care of the state, as to take care of his family, and until an indifference to any public question shall be considered as a public offense.”
We are thankful for you who love our country enough to stand up for our history and the Divine providence that brought us here. We are thankful for those few who serve in our legislature, working each day to strengthen our state and nation and have provided us with honorable and distinguished service. They have pledged their lives, their fortunes and sacred honor to each other and to us to secure liberty.
America’s Constitutional Republic with its 235 year old limited form of government “with liberty and justice for all” is unique in world history. And that uniqueness depends on the honest, scrupulous and faithful execution, of that sacred oath by every military service member and each public servant, in maintaining their “sacred oath” in the discharge of his/her sworn duties, bearing true faith and allegiance to that oath is a matter of life and death.
The nation’s battle for liberty is ongoing, everywhere in our public life “politically correct” officials try keep any recognition of America as “One Nation Under God” at home or in church—but not in our courthouses, state houses, school houses, offices, our state and Washington government agencies, or even our military where virtue, honor, patriotism and prayer are presently under attack. President Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the words of freedom we remember and honor today, which sums up the price of liberty. The American spirit Jefferson writes of is the same heart that beats in every patriot, no matter where God has placed them in the battle for Liberty:
“And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath?”
Our Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights have both “foreign and domestic enemies”. Sometimes the most vicious enemies of liberty are well-dressed Americans who take “liberties with our liberty.” There are those who suppress and rewrite our founding history and tell lies about our founders and who won’t let the little children sing songs about “prayer,” “God,” and the Declaration of Independence.” There are those who prohibit school children from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance or displaying the Ten Commandments and the Declaration of Independence. There are those who strike down the Declaration we celebrate today from schoolhouse walls because it mentions the debt we owe to our “Creator” for our fundamental rights, which come from no politician, bureaucrat or government. We the People are the government and they can’t take that away. Unless we, that means you and me, let them.
I want to close with a poem by a friend of mine, Marine veteran 2nd Lt. William A. Watson, USMC, that sums up what the United States of America means to me:
I am the spirit, generations gone, of Concord Bridge and Lexington, Their progeny; through all the years, when brave men answered duty’s call and, in fierce and dreadful moments, saw horrid things both friend and foe befall; knew daunting fear, wavered, went on to terrible victories, and so have heard death’s sad, lamenting song. I am courage, and sacrifice And honor’s grand and stark unbending will that will not yield to fear, but die and offer to some worthy cause the life we have but once to give. I am the flag that guards this land, the symmetry of Arlington, our sacred hill; I am the essence, and shall be, of what is good in America and what true worthiness can mean; I am what the tyrants cannot kill.
William A. Watson, 2d. Lt. USMC
G Co. 3d Bn. 7th Marines
This Independence Day we remember the sacrifices that were made to give this country birth, “with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence”. We remember and honor the blood, sweat and tears of our fallen and our founders. We know that, if America was founded upon the Word of God and held in His great mercy, we are a nation where evil cannot ultimately prevail. Let the Revival begin today in the heart of every American.
Semper Fidelis,
Colonel Ronald D. Ray