As we celebrate the 234th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, let us bear before us what these powerful liberties represent.

We remember the Founding Fathers and their courage in risking their lives on a new form of self-government – to secure our nation’s rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, to exercise control over taxation and government demands, and to provide effective representation for its people.

Our citizens were called upon to defend these ideals in the ensuing American Revolution and in numerous conflicts ever since, against foreign powers and even against their own countrymen.  Many of my family members have offered their lives in defense of the Constitution – on battlefields and as leaders of their communities.

Liberty needs no limits, but oppression must be limited by those who love liberty.  Oppression can come from our own government: by over-spending and raising taxes for programs that are not supported by citizens.  Liberty carries the responsibility to live within our means – as individuals, as a state, and as a nation – and not burden our children to pay for our failures in self-government.

As our community celebrates this anniversary – with parades and picnics and fireworks – let us remember the unfinished work that our forebears have nobly advanced.  And what is the responsibility each of us bears to carry it forward, so “that this government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.”