We also live in a great country. It doesn’t matter where you started in this country, you can go anywhere and follow your conscience to become who you want to be, who you are called to be.
On this day, I choose to remember the group of imperfect people who came up with a grand idea all those years ago and all those who have stood up to declare their allegiance to something bigger than themselves since then.
Nope. No perfect people. Just people.
Idealists? Maybe. But if believing that your home, as imperfect as it is, is a gift worth defending, protection, loving, and nurturing into all that it could be, then call me Idealist.
You can choose to see her for her failures. That’s your right.
I see her for who she can be, if we would all embrace the great ideals that are behind America.
Copied from my State Representatives Facebook page
Happy Independence Day! As Americans, we refer to the Fourth of July as our nation’s birthday…the birth of our direct representative style, Constitutional Republic. Since our founding, the United States of America has done more to improve the human condition, lift people out of poverty, and spread freedom around the world than any other nation on the planet. Americans are free because of the battles won by heroes on both American and foreign soil.
We are free because throughout our history, brave patriots have answered the call to fight and die to defeat imperialism, the scourge of slavery, Nazism, Communism, and radical Islamic jihad. Some battles continue to this day.
While our military continues to be the most dominant force for peace and stability on Earth, the men and women that wear the uniform of our nation’s police are equally deserving of our thanks and praise. American police put their lives on the line every day to keeps our communities safe. American police protect our freedom in ways we can’t even measure. THANK YOU to our police…the vast majority of Americans love and appreciate you!
The United States as we know it also endures today because of our shared freedoms to organize, assemble and protest (peacefully), and vote for our representatives. We are free to do these things because there are heroes that have worn and still wear the uniforms of our country and communities in service to our nation. Thank you to our police, first responders, and military members for working tirelessly every day to protect every American’s God-given rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
I am proud to be an American for these and many other reasons. As you celebrate this 2020 Independence Day, please remember the men and women who paid the ultimate price in defense of our country. God Bless you, and may God continue to bless America
May the Lord bless and protect our great Republic. May our patriots endure and continue to defend and preserve our United States from those who want her destroyed.
And here is a bit of a history lesson. And that is ALL of the STARED SPANGLED BANNER with ALL OF THE VERSES. And not just the one everyone knows.
What are the forgotten verses of the “Star-Spangled Banner”?
While the first verse of “The Star-Spangled Banner” is widely known by the American public, the last three verses are generally omitted in performances. Here are all the four verses, as they were written 200 years ago by Key:
O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light, What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming, Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes, What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep, As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam, In full glory reflected now shines in the stream, ’Tis the star-spangled banner—O long may it wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore, That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion A home and a Country should leave us no more? Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave, And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation! Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto – “In God is our trust,” And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
The first thing that popped into my head was “Holy Crap!!! That’s an XM-177!!!” Then I looked closer and there was a shell deflector on the upper. Oh well pretty close.
We are lucky enough to live in the greatest country in the world learn from it short coming and celebrate the Great accomplishments and how far we’ve come God bless to all happy Fourth of July
I loved his rendition of “Jingle Bells” as well. 