Celebrating Independence

We celebrate the 4th of July as Independence Day. Not Revolution Day, or Freedom Day, or Victory Day, or Liberty Day, or Equality Day, but Independence Day. We celebrate the idea that the best minds and hands to shape and determine our destiny are our own. We celebrate that no tyrant nor faction nor political party nor social trend nor popular opinion nor societal norm nor vital statistic is better than our own intelligence and sense of right and wrong. Most of our most hotly contested issues boil down to this notion of independence, of this idea that either we as a people and as individuals are capable enough for us to think and act for ourselves and can be trusted to make the right decisions, or we are too weak and unintelligent and ineffectual and the government must think and act on our behalf. On July 4, 1776 a revolution had not yet been fought, victory had not been attained and freedom and liberty and equality are things we are still wrestling with and striving for two hundred and forty six years later, but a spirit of Independence was established on that day that despite efforts from enemies without and within has continued through thick and thin even until today and will continue to define our nation's history for as long as there remain any who believe that each individual has the capacity and the right and the duty to determine the course of their lives for themselves.