Independence Day

July 4, 2007

As this 231st celebration of American Independence winds down, the sun is setting and the fireworks displays starting, I am left to ponder just how many more of these celebrations will we be able enjoy.

That might seem a strange thought for me to express, but look around us. Most of our time honored holidays are either under assault, such as Easter and Christmas, or they are going ignored as to their significance, as in the case of Veterans Day and Memorial Day. To be sure many of us honor them for their significance, but many more just take the day off and enjoy barbecues, a day at the beach, go shopping (as many business now hold Xday Sales) and still others just watch TV. For whatever reason, the significance is gradually being lost and I’m afraid, that same fate is starting to befall the Fourth of July, the day we celebrate our Independence from England two centuries ago.

What started me thinking of this was hearing a portion of the “Man on the Street” interview yesterday on the Sean Hannity radio program. It was astonishing to me how many people seemed to have little or no idea why we celebrate this day. While most said it was to commemorate our Independence, most couldn’t say from whom. Some said France. Others said we won our Independence through whomever we fought during the Civil War. Most had no idea who wrote the Declaration of Independence and didn’t seem to know just who Thomas Jefferson was.

Discussing the Fourth of July with some anti-war liberals recently, they were aghast that I claimed our annual celebration included commemorating war as well. One replied, “The fourth of July is not a celebration of war but a celebration of independence from tyranny.”

I guess the symbolism of the stanza “And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air” in our national Anthem, the Star Spangled Banner, escapes that person completely as does the significance of the fireworks displays tonight. As I see it, we celebrate the VICTORIOUS end to the Revolutionary War that won our independence from England in 1783. What also escapes many is that we could not have won that war and our Independence without the aid of other European nations, mostly France, Spain and the Netherlands who joined in opposing Britain.

Fast forward to today and we see our Troops engaged in two countries, Afghanistan and Iraq, both struggling for their freedom from a tyrannical faction of Islam. After our Troops, with the aid of several other nations, overthrew previous tyrannical groups oppressing both nations, the Taliban in Afghanistan and Al Qaeda led groups now in Iraq are fighting to re-impose tyrannical rule once again.

As we set about celebrating our own independence, many within our country are doing their best to ensure the Iraqi’s and Afghani’s don’t receive that chance we did when others joined against the one we fought to be free so long ago. Political opportunists that agreed initially to set these countries free while seeking and fighting the ones responsible for the worst attack ever to hit our shores on September 11, 2001, not express outrage and disgust that we are still fighting the despots seeking world domination, not just the countries of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Government leaders are saying we need to get out, leave them to work out their own problems, all is lost there and on and on. At the same time, the second in command of Al Qaeda releases a tape telling the world the end of the west is imminent. Just last year, this same terrorist, accompanied by an American traitor, Adam Yehiye Gadahn, issued another tape “Inviting” Americans to join Islam, with just a hint of ‘or else’ in the message.

To these and other messages and terrorist attacks overseas, we have at least one candidate for President labeling the current War on Terror as “a Bumper Sticker Slogan.”

Every one of the candidates for President from one party advocate, not winning this war, but “getting out.” The other party has some of the same mindset as well, but not all.

In this encroaching age of Political Correctness, we also have the newly seated Prime Minister of our closest ally, Great Britain, the same we fought for our Independence long ago, issuing a directive banning the term “War on Terror” or identifying Muslim Extremist as “Muslim.” In a nutshell, war and Political Correctness are not compatible. Allow me to also state that I am NOT of the mind that all Muslims are terrorists; they are not! At the same time, I also have to acknowledge that the vast majority, if not all, of the terrorists currently are Muslim, even if only a small faction of the religion.

If our allies cannot, or refuse, to see or acknowledge our enemy, can we win this war, this Radical Muslim Crusade against the West? Just as in our own War for Independence, consider if our allies then simply threw in the towel because it was a bit tough or refused to see Britain then as their enemy as well. Would we have our liberty today? I doubt it.

It is the same for the Iraqi’s and Afghans. There freedom and liberty will not only benefit their people, it will benefit us as well, denying Radical [redacted] terrorists a place to form, train and strengthen. This war is as much for us as it is them.

As this 231st celebration of American Liberty winds down, as we expend all the fireworks, put away our barbecues and prepare for work tomorrow, reflect back on the price many paid for our Independence. It was worth their sacrifice for us to be free today. Surely the sacrifices made by the brave today is equally as worthwhile to give more their liberty as well.

Above all, remember why we celebrate and what we celebrate. Don’t let the Political Correctness of today minimize this day and forget the high price paid by the brave and courageous for our liberty throughout our history. The weak among us would have us lose our liberty by denying liberty to others.

May God continue to Bless America and all who have defended her.

Lew