Independence Day 2023: Liberty is a gift from God
Independence Day 2023 is a time to remember that America was born as a land of liberty, and that liberty is a gift from God, not the government.
If you’re a regular reader or listener of the Strident Conservative, you know I write a lot about liberty and how this gift from God is under constant threat from Democrats AND Republicans, inching us ever closer to becoming a tyrannical, post-constitutional America.
There are those, of course, who disagree with me concerning this threat, but there can be little doubt that inside-the-beltway politicians routinely put the Constitution on the back burner to pass laws designed to line their pockets and build their tyrannical empires instead of protecting liberty and freedom as they are sworn to do.
While this can be frustrating, even discouraging, I believe we can find the inspiration we need to turn the tide by remembering the reason we celebrate Independence Day.
Think about this for a moment: America, perhaps the greatest nation in the history of the world, was birthed when our Founding Fathers pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor and adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 — a nation dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Have we always lived up to these ideals? Of course not. We are fallen and imperfect men and women living in a fallen and imperfect world; as a result, we miss the mark from time to time. But we are also men and women who know that liberty is a gift of God, and because we live in a land dedicated to the principles spelled out in the Declaration of Independence, we can choose to make America what it can be — what it was meant to be.
Why aren’t more Americans making that choice? Perhaps, as Strident Conservative contributor Derrick Wilburn said in a recent edition of his newsletter, the answer to that question lies in their lack of understanding what Independence Day is about:
Ours is a nation responsible for bringing freedom and liberty to untold, innumerable millions all around the globe and having done so at the cost of our own treasure and blood.
Yet what do we now see playing out on the streets of our nation and even more so in cyberspace? Millions of Americans view our sense of national pride as foolishness and our acknowledgement of American exceptionalism as a delusion of imperialistic grandeur, many emboldened by celebrities, high-profile athletes and, sadly, those in positions of political leadership who are of a like mind.
Antifa punks and others make a mockery of and burn our flag. They hold signs declaring “America Was Never Great”, put on rallies at which they deride and decry the United States as ‘the great Satan’ and view our nation not as the solution to but the source of the world’s problems.
These and other America-hating globalists would love to see certain memories fade – which is why they’re tearing down monuments. Would love to see certain attitudes destroyed, certain practices and pillars of nationalistic pride torn down too. Practices such as standing hand-over-heart for the national anthem prior to sporting events, such as the celebrations of America’s independence and subsequent rise to become the greatest superpower in the history of planet earth. Celebrations and displays like the ones millions will attend this weekend.
They’d love to see us forevermore say and celebrate “the 4th of July” with as little or no reference to exactly what we’re celebrating on that date as possible. To let it be all about nothing more than hotdogs and fireworks. They’re putting great effort into having parks, statues and memorials removed or renamed, words and memories scrubbed from history books, not taught in schools, dropped from the public conscience.
It’s easy to see what Derrick is saying. From Democratic Socialism to Republican Nationalism, the knowledge that liberty is a gift from God isn’t all that important when it gets in the way of politicians dedicated to advancing an agenda.
With all of the political noise in Washington, and with rewriting history becoming more the norm, I’m asking you to take some time on America’s 247th birthday to remember how she began. Take time to remember the hundreds of thousands of men and women who gave their lives over the centuries to make it possible for you and me to be here today to live in liberty as we celebrate the birth of our great country.
So, before you fire up the grill, light the fireworks, and attend that parade, take a moment to thank God for liberty and thank him for allowing us to live in America because in the words of Ronald Reagan, “If we ever forget that we are one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”
On behalf of all of us at the Strident Conservative, I wish you a happy and safe Independence Day 2023 celebration. And let me close by saying . . . “Happy Birthday, America! May God richly bless you!
Here’s a little “Born Free” musical inspiration to get your freedom juices flowing:
♫ And I will bow to the shining seas
And celebrate God’s grace on thee ♫
♫ I was born free ♫
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties.
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