4th of July
I don't imagine the Founding Fathers would mind if they knew that their efforts during a very hot Philadelphia summer were the cause for celebration, vacations, and long weekends over two centuries later...

1) Although they would probably be baffled as to how it is used to sell cars, mattresses, and stereo equipment!  I also suspect they'd be amazed at how well it has all worked out over that time.  Dignified characterizations in paintings and on postage stamps notwithstanding....

2) I imagine it was a hot, bitter, and often angry room that signed the Declaration of Independence, and I also imagine that there were some trembling hands that put those big, loopy signatures at the bottom.  After all, the signers were among the most fortunate in the country...

3) At that time, they were those who had profited the most from America's Colonial status. To risk it all and challenge the most powerful nation on earth at the time, without much of an Army or Navy to speak of, must have seemed like madness to many...

4) Even though time gives a sense of inevitability to events after they've happened, it was certainly not a foregone conclusion that the signers would not find themselves hanged for their treasonous temerity. The size and scope of the risk that those men took, stands....

5) ...in sharp contrast to a couple of different trends today. Acting in your own national interest, even with little or no risk, is often cause for criticism or worse in today's world.  Politically, it can be suicide, and diplomatically, nations are willing to line up...

6) ..and throw stones.  We have actually been publicly criticized by the Germans for acting in our own national interest, by Iran for human rights violations, by France for how we conduct military campaigns, and by China for our slow transition to democracy.

7) Let the irony of that sink in.  At some point, a decision has to be made, and it can't always be done by committee.  And, if you never swing at a pitch, you'll make it on base from time to time, but don't convince yourself that you actually hit the ball.

8) Its striking how much the signers had to lose, and how much most of them did actually lose.  Not many of them died with their fortunes intact, and it’s hard to imagine the richest and most successful people in the country TODAY staking so much on such a long shot!

Except one.

9) Thomas Jefferson wrote, "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor." 

Today Americans wants his statue torn down...disgraceful.

10) The constant criticism and name-calling from those who confuse fame (Hollywood Actors) with expertise (myself) has long since grown very tedious! As a rebuttal to those who denied the rightness of our actions and suspect sinister motives in the wars we fought for freedom...

11) ..I offer this: "Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by..

12) ...abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to...

13) ..provide new Guards for their future security."
I worry that we take our own rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for granted, and that we tend to forget that we are merely granted the right to those things, and not the things themselves!!!

14) I'm proud to be part of the defense of those rights, and to be working to extend them to others. Today is the day to honor those who have risked EVERYTHING to establish and preserve everything that makes us who and what we are today as a Nation.

15) In your own pursuit of happiness today, be proud to be an AMERICAN, and please do not forget how we got to this current state of affairs. Tonight I will reflect on all the things I have done to preserve ALL OF OUR rights and would offer each of you to do the same...

16) And to those like myself, who signed on the dotted line and went to war to protect AMERICA, much like our forefathers, without knowing the full consequence of those actions. For that, I am proud to serve by, with and for - each and every one of you!!!

17) Enjoy your celebrations tonight, feel safe and secure knowing that capable people like myself will be on watch through this weekend - police, fire, rescue, and others.

I would gladly stand on watch again while you and yours sleep peacefully in the safety of OUR great Nation

18) Happy 4th of July - Independence day from ALL FORMS of Tyranny....

Never ever forget that.