Independence Day
 

By Jim Killebrew

[July 03, 2014]  The fourth of July, wow, what a holiday! Having been born and raised in Muskogee, Oklahoma I remember vividly that holiday that brought so many different sights, sounds and smells totally different than some other holidays. The parades down main street, the sounds of firecrackers popping all over the neighborhood and of course, the smell of the smoke of the fireworks exploding and leaving that effervescent trail of firecracker sulfur. To crown the day we would always top it off with a picnic at a park in Muskogee called Honor Heights where dozens of people brought their "night-works" to fire off after dark. Roman candles, sparklers, fountains, bottle rockets and of course, the spinning wheels hanging from a stick or tree limb that looked like a small burning wheel spinning around. Even the smell of the stick of sawdust used as a "punk" to light everything from "ladyfingers" to "cheery bombs." What a day!

This day, however, is not just about firecrackers, hotdogs and night works, it is about looking at our history and finding our national identity that has defined our exceptionalism in terms of freedom and independence. Through the years Historians have written volumes about America's Founding Fathers. At least four of them who were numbered among the most important became the President of the newly established United States of America. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison were distinguished not only as Founding Fathers, but leaders through their Presidential terms. Other recognized Founding Fathers included Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay.

These men were visionaries for sure; they were leaders in freedom and independence. They risked their lives to break the tyranny of repression and injustice brought by unfair taxation and force from the rule of an adversarial force trying to remove freedom and independence. These were men of character, integrity and high honor. They believed in the principle of freedom, independence, self-rule, with power derived from the people and leadership directed from their Creator. But one ingredient in their formula for freedom is not often examined.
 

Yes, these men individually were consecrated to the idea of freedom and they put their minds, souls and talents into the creation and development of a Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, Revolutionary War and the United States Constitution. But if they were only a small group of educated, insightful, well-intentioned group of patriotic elitists who tried to form an idea into a reality for the entire country, they likely would have failed.

It was their countrymen throughout the entire land who provided the fuel for the Founding Fathers to launch into the realization of their ideals of self-government and freedom from tyranny. I suspect that people throughout the Thirteen Colonies had experienced the weight of oppression delivered by a government thousands of miles away that tried to impose on the New World population the Monarchical Rules of yesteryear that frankly did not fit any longer. The population of the Colonies had gelled to the point of having a commonality of their sense of justice. They contrasted the British garrisons dotted throughout the land with the vastness of freedom that lay ahead through the birth of a new nation that was experiencing pains of renewal and regeneration.

With like-minded countrymen throughout the Colonies the Founding Fathers were able to spark the fire of revolt that would change all of their lives forever. Countrymen who were just as smart, just as educated and just as committed to freedom and justice as were the individuals who rose to the level of Founding Fathers were willing to commit their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to self-govern. As those ideas were formulated into words that would eventually give rise to hope in the future for individual independence I suspect there were many "Patrick Henrys" across the Colonies who were ready and willing to sound the alarm and fight for freedom.

So now we find ourselves in a modern-day fire of revolt with leaders seemingly unable to listen to "We the People" nor find direction in the Constitution. We are experiencing an uneasy feeling that our government has grown so large it is ready to consume us at a moment's notice. Leaders are misrepresenting their intentions and engaging in actions that are indeed bringing about a "fundamental change" in the exceptionalism America has fought long and hard to establish and maintain. Each day seems to bring yet another scandal that diminishes America in the eyes of people groups around the world. But the spirit of our Forefathers and forbearers continue to reside in the hearts of Americans. They have slowly recognized the deceptions professional politicians have perpetrated and sense the economic, political and self-governed rule seems to be sliding away with each new revelation of trampling on the Constitution delivered by those before us.

And so it is, as we celebrate our present-day American exceptionalism, we cannot look only to the leaders of this great nation that may have stumbled into dependency and collectivism as well as perhaps grown likely well beyond the wildest dreams of our Founding Fathers. Indeed, with long careers of political office, exempting themselves from laws they pass that yoke the common citizen with heavy taxes, restrictive regulations and market-killing restraints, We the People must look to ourselves, our countrymen who still believe in freedom, independence and self-rule with the Divine Guidance from our Creator to keep us on course. We need to return to those characteristics of our Forefathers and leaders who possess the principle of freedom, independence, self-rule, recognizing that power is derived from the people and leadership directed from their Creator.

[By JIM KILLEBREW]