|
 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.
[to top of second column] |
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.
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.
|
