I love Independence Day. It is hands down, my favorite secular holiday.

With all the history and the deep meaning of a great number of things which resulted in this day two-hundred and forty-three years ago, it’s hard not to be overwhelmed by the simplicity of it. At the same time, to also understand that it was only an end of one phase and the beginning of another. The “Revolution,” John Adams once said, was actually over. Now began the fight for liberty and the ideals of that revolution. Which – by the by – we are still fighting for today.

Above all else, the American experience is about perseverance. It is about staying on the course to the ideal through all the attempts to sidetrack or derail the journey. It is another reminder that I have a responsibility to pass on my passion and beliefs to my son so that he can help to continue the journey towards a more perfect Union.

The bigger part of that journey began when it became necessary to declare the causes which impelled us to separate ourselves from Great Britain…

Special Thanks to Alex the News Guy for his reading of the Declaration of Independence…