What Would Our Forefathers Do?

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Today is the 4th of July. A day that marks and celebrates our country’s adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The day that our forefathers took a stand and decided that we needed to be a free people. Thanks to their fortitude and wit, they created that unmatched document and fearlessly presented it to Great Britain.

As we observe this holiday, I look around our country, and I wonder, “What would our forefathers say if they were alive today?” I think they would be so disappointed in the way that document has been seemingly forgotten.

The Preamble begins:

“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government,”

Unfortunately, this is not being followed through today. Most of your countrymen seem to be unhappy with the way our government runs things. You see it all over social media. Some take to the streets in petition and protest, but the majority are not willing to take the one set of moves to fix the issues.

What would our forefathers do, if they were here today? I think they would suggest, to every Congressman who refuses to listen to our concerns, that they retire from office. If the Congressmen refuse? They would remove them peacefully, by voting them out.

Why can we not do the same? Instead, we petition to deaf ears, we protest in anger, sometimes in violence, and we continue to allow the same people to remain in office, into old age, or such time that the opposing party actually makes a stand. Of course, the cycle begins again, there, because of no term limits.

I sit here today, though sad at how violent and divisive my beloved country has become, exceptionally grateful that I am blessed that we had citizens brave enough to take a chance, and fight a war, that by most standards should have been an impossible feat, and won. Blessed, that I am an American.

Please take some time today, and reflect on what you think our forefathers would do to take our country back from those who seek to rule, as the King of England once did. Then thank God that you are free to take those actions, because of a small group of men who were willing to do so for you, 241 years ago today.