Independence Day 2011
By Brigitte Gabriel, President, ACT! for America
July 4th is more than another holiday. Much, much more.
July 4, 1776, was a world-changing historic event. It was the birth, not only of a nation, but an ideal, an ideal that people around the world have aspired to ever since.
This ideal has become known as “American Exceptionalism.” The characteristics of this ideal include self-government, liberty, volunteerism and self-sacrifice. Yes, it’s true, these noble virtues are not unique to America—but America’s founding fathers captured these virtues in a way that no other generation of people had ever done before, or, I dare say, since.
Since America was born, each generation of Americans has been called to stand up as a beacon of light to the world, to fight evil and spread justice. We’ve had to fight evil and injustice abroad, as we did in World War II, and at home, as we did in the Civil War.
Because human beings are imperfect the ideal America stands for has been imperfect. But that ideal, lived out from one generation to another, has shined so brightly that people from across the face of the earth have struggled and even died to come to America’s shores in the hope of finding freedom and opportunity they could not find anywhere else.
As I sat in my bomb shelter in Lebanon those seven years, I was one of those who dreamed of coming to America and having the opportunity to live that “American dream.” Little did I know then that today I would be writing you this message about the significance of July 4th, Independence Day.
Many of our founding fathers paid a great price to give us, and the world, a Declaration of Independence, a Constitution, and a Bill of Rights. Some paid the price with their lives. Others lost family members and others died broke.
The least we can do to safeguard the legacy our founding fathers deeded to us is to throw off the shackles of political correctness and fearlessly stand up for the values that made America a shining city on a hill to the whole world.
Today, in the spirit of our founding fathers, we are summoned to lead in our communities and our nation. We are summoned to wake up the apathetic and inspire the despaired, to silence the liars and educate the patriots. For if we fail to inform the ignorant, we will fail to save the informed.
It is time to throw political correctness on to the ash heap of history. It is time to silence those who see nothing good in America and who claim, dishonestly and falsely, that America is the source of all the world’s ills. It is time to stand together united as ONE against the evil of radical Islam—not as African-Americans, Lebanese-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Italian-Americans—but as Americans!!!
Evil flourishes when courageous men and women become bystanders. Lies spread when the informed become silent. Society deteriorates when apathy replaces activism. Tyranny triumphs when leaders become mediocre and haters become organized.
We have been blessed so generously by this country, and to whom much is given much is required. Each one of us is an instrument of change with history as our final judge. As important as all other causes are, if we lose our freedom to tyrants or our lives to terrorists all other causes will not matter. May we go forth from this weekend into our nation renewed with passion, with determination to defend our country and values, so we may be worthy of walking in our forefathers’ footsteps and deserving of the honor of serving and preserving our nation for our future generations. God bless you, bless our military and veterans, and bless the United States of America.
Yours in devotion for liberty, security and freedom,
ACT for America
P.O. Box 12765
Pensacola, FL 32591