[nathanbedford]

Every year my wife asks, "are you going to post your vanity about the Declaration of Independence again this year?" Her question is really rhetorical, she knows I intend to post it because it has become a tradition in the family much like whether your family opens your Christmas presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. A family tradition for us as familiar as Thanksgiving turkey.

For us, living as we do here in Germany, it is our way of holding fast to our America. Every year we keep the tradition and then await the reactions of FReepers which have been consistently gratifying and even heartwarming.

So the tradition goes on well into its second decade as the imperative to cling to the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution becomes more urgent as our country founders in the midst of a terrible cognitive break down imposed upon us by a stealthy marxist ideology that despises the nation created by the very Declaration of Independence we conservatives properly revere today.

We are buffeted by a sinister and powerful philosophy, critical theory and its evil issue, arrayed against the principles which founded America. There is not a single American institution of note that has not been co-opted by this pernicious and mortal doctrine. Our representative democracy is rendered more vulnerable, almost defenseless, by the malevolent censorship of media in league with a government regime bent on establishing one party rule. No honest patriot can confidently believe in our institutions and certainly no thinking person believes in the integrity of our elections. The judiciary as with virtually every major institution, rather than acting as the Protector of the Constitution, seems to have turned its face from us.

The 10 year old boy in the anecdote exchanged his Tee shirt for a tie and a real suit years ago and we all went proudly off to his German high school graduation, his Abschluss from Gymnasium. Our parental expectations had been, to paraphrase John Kennedy, to send him into the world and onto college equipped with the best of both worlds, a German education and an American birthright, bequeathed to him by the founders in the Declaration of Independence. Recently, he graduated from University.

He has a piece of paper, written out in German, certifying his accomplishment of the course of study laid out in an elite German high school. There is a piece of parchment reposing in the Library of Congress drafted by Thomas Jefferson but written in blood at Valley Forge, Gettysburg, Belleau Wood, Iwo Jima, Chosen Reservoir, Tet, the Persian Gulf, and Afghanistan.

Both belong to him.... If he can keep them.

Happy Independence Day to all from all of us in Germany!

[ConservativeMind]

Nathan, thank you for that.

Stay healthy and happy and stay a patriot!

[Roccus]

Not sure if I’ve done so before...Thank You

[jackibutterfly]

Great article. Thanks for the insightful message. DrBut, why are you in Germany - are you working there and is it permanent?

[Laslo Fripp]

Great post…🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[Liz]

Thomas Jefferson’s phrase ...... “all men are created equal”......... meant that no person be of noble birth.

The Brit nobility thing was anathema to the Founders.

Article I, Sections 9 and 10 forbid the federal government or any state government from granting titles of nobility.

[Lurkinanloomin]

If the USA means so much to you, why do you live in another country?

[airborne]

Happy Independence Day to you and your family!

[Fiji Hill]

When I was 17, I was with a group of high school students touring Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Czechoslovakia, and at the start of July, I was staying for a few days with a family in Kindenheim, a village in Rheinpfalz near Ludwigshafen. Incidentally, Bobenheim am Berg, where Donald Trump's great great grandfather was born is about nine miles away, and Kallstadt, where they settled before moving to the US is about the same distance.

On July 4, I told them that this day was Unabhängigkeitstag (Independence Day). I explained to them its significance and described how we celebrate it with fireworks.

[null and void]

Well worth the read!

[outofsalt]

"endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights"

I can understand your son's reply in that he was but a boy at the time. A better question would have been, Does dad really think Germans would understand this? They nearly destroyed Europe twice in one century, seeking to rule by force (not by force of ideas).

We Americans have, by and large, lost sight of our founding principles and consumerism (not capitalism) has clouded our wisdom. There is so much that needs to be retaught to our kids. FReegards,

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

I remembered that the kids had sometimes returned from Gymnasium, German high school, and recited seemingly off-hand remarks from professors disparaging America and especially George Bush. Some of the hearsay reports had been pretty rough, describing America as killing Iraqis or causing global warming and the like.

What's the big deal? I have no doubt this happens in America, too.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Happy Independence Day, nathanbedford. Sad to say, over the next few years, it might serve you well to remain in Germany, but should America survive, we’ll leave the light on for ya.

[bitt]

p

[El Cid]

Thanks for the post.
All the best to you and your family. Happy 4th!

[Nifster]

Most excellent

[DiogenesLamp]

"There is actually a couple of ideas in here that are more important than announcing our break with England," I said, highlighting with a yellow marker this passage:

that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights

I have come to understand that for most people, those are the only words in the Declaration. The rest of it is meaningless gibberish because the *ONLY* thing that matters is "all men are created equal."

You see, these 13 slave owning states were commenting on slavery, and nothing else.

Everyone says so.

[DiogenesLamp]

There is a piece of parchment reposing in the Library of Congress drafted by Thomas Jefferson but written in blood at Valley Forge, Gettysburg, ...

Valley Forge yes. Gettysburg no. In Gettysburg, one side was fighting for freedom and independence, and the winning side was fighting for subjugation and control of other people.

Gettysburg was the exact opposite of what the Declaration of Independence stood for.

[Bigg Red]

Great essay, great story.

A blessed Independence Day to you and yours.

[Billthedrill]

Happy Independence Day, NB! John Adams said we could have fireworks on the 6th too. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

[Kevmo]

+1
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸