04 July 2014

Independence Day


 "I am apt to believe that it [Independence Day] will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. — I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. — Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not." 

~ John Adams


The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.

~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy

5 comments:

On a Wing and a Whim said...

workin' on the feast and the bonfire. Of course, since petty tyrant and bureaucrats (but I repeat myself) have declared fireworks illegal, I won't be shooting them off tonight... when they're coming down the street at me... I'll wait until they've passed. Because tonight, they will once again come face to face with the fact that they can only impose laws, rules, and regulations with the consent of the people, and we the people aren't too good at that there "being governable" thing.

Old NFO said...

I'm wondering how much longer before Kennedy's quote is no longer valid... sigh

Rev. Paul said...

Wing, I'm right there with you. The 55 mph freeway limit comes to mind, along with many others that are roundly & widely ignored. Americans have a strong streak of stubborn independence inborn at birth, whether they realize it or not.

NFO, it seems we're teetering on the edge, doesn't it?

Cathy said...

This from Peggy Noonan's July 3 column: "The Daydream and the Nightmare"

"It is weird to have a president who has given up. So many young journalists diligently covering this White House, especially those for whom it is their first, think what they’re seeing is normal.

It is not. It is unprecedented and deeply strange. And, because the world is watching and calculating, unbelievably dangerous."

Wish I felt more hopeful.

Rev. Paul said...

Cathy, I'm hopeful ONLY because God will never turn His back on His children - and there are millions of us praying for deliverance.