Why the Fourth of July is My Favorite Holiday

The assembled group was in a quarrelous mood. Unable to move forward with a unified voice, facing troubles at home and abroad. The political differences ran the gamut from the more liberal Northeast to the more conservative South. If the situation sounds like Washington today then that shows how despite the advances in technology that we as a people have not changed much in the 235 years since the delegates assembled in Philadelphia to bravely sign the Declaration of Independence, an act that could have resulted in their hanging by the English Army occupying much of the colonies.

It is the courage of these men to proclaim fundamental human rights and establish a new country in a unique way that was never seen before and has rarely been replicated since. The French and Russian revolutions created more war and terror than solutions for the people of those countries. The American Revolution has become the strongest beacon for liberty and justice since the concept of democracy was first put forth by the Greeks many millennia ago.

The Fourth of July is a holiday for all people in the United States of America regardless of your race, your religion, or your gender. All that you need to celebrate today is the desire to be free and live free as outlined by the Declaration of Independence and guaranteed by the Constitution. These documents, among two of the most important ever created, form the bulwark of ensuring the freedoms of people in the United States of America.

Many people will argue that this country is flawed. They are right because it is flawed, but it has shown an amazing capacity to self-correct in ways that few political systems could ever copy. In the years since our founding we have given full rights to African-American to end the scourge of slavery and given women the right to vote, ending the prejudice based in Judeo-Christian traditions of women being the property of the husband. The expansion of the country came at a cost to indigenous tribes, who they themselves came from elsewhere, but it was a necessary expense to a great nation that it would not otherwise become and those people are allowed full participation in our system even as they cling to foreign nation status.

We as a nation face many problems with runaway spending on local and national levels, we are pursuing oversea misadventures that do not advance the cause of freedom or our economic interests, and we have leaders who seem incapable or unwilling to work together for our common good. Despite these challenges, which I think are less daunting than faced by our forefathers when they signed the Declaration of Independence, I still believe in this country. My faith is not based on the strength of our military, without a doubt the strongest army the world has ever seen, but based on the values expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Whenever I read these documents I am moved because of the fundamental truths that they express for all to witness.

So today I will celebrate these truths by listening to music created by great Americans like Sousa, Bernstein and Copeland, among others. I will eat and drink great American foods like hot dogs and drink Coca Cola. I will watch fireworks on the Hudson and wonder what Francis Scott Key witnessed as the British bombarded Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. Today is a day of celebration for all Americans.