Thoughts on this 4th of July...

In the United States of America, the traditional parades, family picnics, speeches and fireworks each July 4th commemorate the signing of the monumental document known as the Declaration of Independence. It was on that glorious day in 1776 that it was drafted by a committee headed by Thomas Jefferson, and since its signing the Declaration of Independence has proven to be one of the most significant and memorable freedom documents of all time, proclaiming as it does, every human being's right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."


As Thomas Jefferson lay dying at his hilltop estate, Monticello, in late June 1826, he wrote a letter to the citizens of the city of Washington, DC that he was too ill to join them for the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Declaration of Independence. Seeking to inspire the gathering, he told them of his belief that one day the God inspired experiment he and the Founders started would spread worldwide. "To some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all," he wrote, the American form of republican self-government would become every nation's birthright.


Democracy's worldwide triumph was assured, he said, because "the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion would soon convince all men that they were born not to be ruled -- but to rule themselves in freedom."


It was the last letter Jefferson ever wrote. He died 10 days later on July 4, 1826, on the same day within hours of his old friend, fellow Founder, and fellow former President, John Adams of Massachusetts.


If Jefferson's dream is weakening in America, our ultimate task in our national life is to save it, restore it and exalt America's true purpose -- to build that beacon of hope for all mankind, that "shining city on a hill" about which Ronald Reagan spoke so eloquently and so frequently. Then, when our own house is in order, the world will again look to us for example.


This is the task facing all freedom loving men and women on this memorable 4th of July and in the 230th Year of our exemplary and beloved Independence.