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CALL IT INDEPENDENCE
DAY – THE MEANING MATTERS
Illinois Policy Institute
We too often
call it the “Fourth of July” and lose sight of its true meaning –
independence. Independence from tyranny and the freedom to pursue life,
liberty and happiness.
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America’s founding unleashed the greatest leap forward in human history. From
this leap, liberty and prosperity followed – and not just material prosperity,
but also prosperity of the human spirit. After all, that is what happiness is
all about; not some transitory joy over a good joke or an amusing moment in
life.
Independence and thus liberty did not come easily. It took decades for the
colonies to move from discontentment to revolution to independence. The seeds of
the revolution were planted long, long before 1775 or 1776.
I share this not because we are in the patriotic season. I share it because all
of us in Illinois need historical perspective.
I talk to many of you who are frustrated by our state’s challenges. Many of you
express envy for the political victories that swept the country a few years ago
in seemingly every state but Illinois. I feel those pangs of frustration myself
as I have watched policy victories unfold in places like Wisconsin, Michigan,
New Jersey (New Jersey!), Indiana, Florida and elsewhere. It is hard to watch
the march of liberty elsewhere when it seems we remain bottled up in trench
warfare here.
But despair not. The seeds of victory in Illinois are being sown today. They are
growing and gaining strength. We cannot always see the progress, but there are
clear hints all around us.
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It took years for the colonists to change the hearts and then the
minds of a sufficient number of colonists to marshal the will to
fight. Once the will was summoned, it took years to win. Let us
remember that it is the patriots who stay; it is the patriots who
fight. It is the patriots whose hearts grow stronger and whose minds
work smarter who persuade enough of their neighbors, their
co-workers and their family that the fight is worthwhile and
winnable.
And finally, Independence Day is a day to be celebrated, not as
“July Fourth” but as the anniversary of the day when the Founding
Fathers declared to the world and to the crown that the individual
is sovereign – not the king or the state. It never goes out of favor
to remind the world that we are free, independent, sovereign beings.
To do so, let’s bring back the term Independence Day and not treat
this day as just another number on a calendar signifying a day off
from work.
Please celebrate your independence – your sovereignty – safely.
This essay on Independence Day was originally published on July 4,
2013 and we are repeating it this year for the message is timeless.
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