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Congressman
John Boehner
Independence
Day Tribute... “Here’s to the Spirit of ‘76”
PERMALINK|
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman John Boehner (R-West Chester), in a
message
recorded in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol, marks
Independence Day by
paying tribute to the Declaration of Independence, the brave patriots
who
conceived it, and the sacrifices that have been made to preserve
freedom and
liberty:
“If you’re
like me, when you enter the Capitol Rotunda, your eyes are drawn to
Trumbull’s
depiction of the Declaration of Independence.
And why not?
It’s humbling to
stop and think about how it all began.
“Though
hard to imagine now, America was once the little guy.
We had no grand Capitol, no booming commerce,
no flag or currency of our own. Our
army, if you could call it that, was a rag-tag bunch of farmers and
shopkeepers
who had homemade uniforms. We
were
nothing more than the subjects of a ruler an ocean away.
“But
percolating in the hearts and minds of our forefathers was a radical
idea,
never before tried… that individuals could, given freedom and liberty,
govern
themselves and live out their God-given potential.
These principles, once put to parchment,
landed with seismic force and changed the course of human events.
“For this
Declaration did a whole lot more than make a republic, it remade the
world. And it still
is. Every time
someone, somewhere resists the
constraints of tyranny and aspires to freedom, it is an echo of what
happened
right here.
“That is
why, from our earliest days, Americans have marked the Fourth of July
as the
‘great anniversary celebration,’ as John Adams predicted it would be. We raise Old Glory, march
down Main Street,
and light up the skies -- our pride front and center, just like
Hancock’s
signature itself.
“So here’s
to the Spirit of ’76. Here’s
to its
blessings, and to the men and women who have worked, sacrificed, and
pushed to
preserve them. And
here’s to the United
States of America, the land where anything’s possible and our best days
are
always ahead of us.
“Just
think, it all started with a small group of believers and a few
self-evident
truths. What a
country.”
See the
video here
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