There's a moment of twilight on every Fourth of July, somewhere between the second burger and 3rd beer, when the cool uncle breaks out the sparklers and the soundtrack for the whole world could be sung by Lee Greenwood forever.
In that moment, it can seem as if every prosperity and blessing could never be lost, and every freedom we enjoy was inevitable and eternal. It can seem as if all the blood and ink spilled over nearly two and a half centuries to preserve our way of life could have only led to this time and place, that history called us to this moment because it could not have turned out any other way.
But a minuteman, woken in the dead of night to take up arms against an empire, had no such assurance.
A delegate, trying best to keep his hand from shaking while signing his own death warrant calling his King a Tyrant, knew nothing of the future.
A rebellion, sparked against taxation but waged bitterly for the right to self determination, could not imagine conceiving a republic which would span the continent.
But duty called, the dice were rolled, and the day was won.
America's freedoms are no more assured now than they were then. And her minutemen and sentinels must every day choose to fight for an uncertain future, as their forbears did so many years ago--not knowing what may happen, but knowing that it is the right thing to do.
And then, if our efforts align with providence, our children's children may one day see a twilight in July, when all the world will once more make the whole thing look too easy.
Thank you for taking up the fight, for every generation, as long as our land endures.
Happy Independece Day,
Michael A. Needham
Chief Executive Officer
Heritage Action for America
