We Have a Legacy to Uphold

Independence Day is a day to celebrate the birth of our nation ... a day for family, barbecues and fireworks. But the real reason we celebrate the Fourth of July is because of the undying belief of some remarkable people who lived before us. Our Founding Fathers and their supporters believed that there was a better way to live. An alternative to living under the absolute control of an oppressive regime.

"We believe that all men are created equal" is how they put it. That every man and woman has the right to choose their own path. We have the right to live free of fear, free of oppression and free to pursue what makes us happy. They believed this with such conviction that they were willing to lay down their lives to see it become true.

This is what we celebrate tomorrow.

We celebrate what those who came before us have given to us. It is something extremely valuable; something to protect and nurture.

For generations after our country's founding, many have sacrificed and taken risks to imagine, invent and advance this great experiment. And, on some occasions, there are those who ran to the sound of the guns to defend it. Let us today, remember all the hard work, the blood, the sweat and the tears of the pioneers—those who traveled across our nation from the East Coast to California. Let us honor all the inventors who toiled in their laboratories, the creatives who imagined and the visionaries who guided the way—the Alexander Graham Bells, the Benjamin Franklins, the Martin Luther Kings, the Thomas Edisons, the Orville and Wilbur Wrights, the Rosa Parks, the Abraham Lincolns, the John F. Kennedys, the Jesse Owens, the Eleanor Roosevelts, the Sally Rides, the Walt Disneys, the Walter Cronkites, the Thomas Jeffersons, and all the others whose names history did not record.

They all invested in this nation because they believed in it. It is our responsibility not to let their sacrifice and their hard work be in vain. We are an optimistic and pioneering people and we must do a better job of fixing our government, fixing our economy and mending our divides, not only for our children, but for our ancestors. We can not let their sacrifices be in vain. We can not let them down.

Enough pointing fingers. Enough blaming others for our situation. July 4th does not belong to the government or to Republicans or Democrats. July 4th is ours. It is a celebration of OUR responsibility—We the People.

Those who came before us, all those who made this nation great, took responsibility to do something. Now it's our turn. Let us work together to prove to future generations the sacrifices we are willing to make to keep a flame that was lit 242 years ago burning brightly.