SACRIFICE FOR FREEDOM

Independence Day is a time of celebration. We celebrate our freedom. We light off illegal fireworks in the spirit of rebellion. We have also forgotten that we celebrate sacrifice.

The founding fathers sacrificed their wealth, property, the freedom they had and their very lives. Having no treasury to fund a rebellion, they used their own resources. The signatures placed on the Declaration of Independence were done so with firm devotion to the ideal of liberty and freedom from oppression.

The founding fathers were the rich elite of the colonies. It was the rich and influential that led the people of the new world into rebellion against their king and their security. The poor had little and gave what they had -- their lives. They could have kept security but sacrificed for freedom to control one's own destiny. Together the rich and poor created an army that repelled the Redcoats.

Sacrifice must be made to keep and maintain liberty. We are in a rebellion to preserve freedom. To do nothing we risk liberty. We must sacrifice. Involvement is required to remind government that the premises set by the fathers and enforced by our Constitution must be upheld.

Without sacrifice liberty becomes just a concept and the passion for freedom dies. When we revel when taxation is greater on the wealthy we stand against liberty. Their wealth freely given and our numbers are the fighting force that will keep us free. When our rights and freedoms are denied we become as slaves.

- Roger W Hancock