Happy Independence Day

On July 4th, 1776, our Founding Fathers took the extraordinary step of not only declaring American independence from the British Empire, but also laying the groundwork for a nation in which every citizen was equal in the eyes of the law. The Declaration of Independence, along with our Constitution, represents the best of the American spirit – a commitment to freedom, representative government and the rule of law.

As you take time to celebrate Independence Day this weekend, I hope you’ll join me in reflecting on the blessings of our liberty, the sacrifices of those who have died to win and preserve it, and the need to every day remain vigilant, safeguarding that liberty against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

However, these freedoms come at a price, one that millions of Americans throughout our history have paid with their blood. In fact, since the American Revolution, more than one million American service men and women have given their lives in defense of the United States, and hundreds of thousands more have been injured in the line of duty, many times in ways that fundamentally change their lives. Their sacrifices will never be in vain, however, because what they have fought for is nothing less than the cause of liberty. I hope you get the chance to thank a veteran or two this weekend – they are the reason why the American experiment birthed by Washington, Jefferson and the rest of our Founding Fathers remains alive and well today.

That American experiment, however, will always need to be defended by citizens, not just its brave military members. Though we enjoy the freedoms I mentioned earlier, there are those who constantly seek to limit those freedoms, or take them away altogether. So I close with some of the words that gave birth to our nation, from the Declaration of Independence, words that highlight our God-given rights and warn despots that use of government to usurp those rights won’t be tolerated:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

As I implied in the Benghazi report above, you can count on Judicial Watch to fight the “long train” of Big Government “abuses and usurpations.” Thank you for your support in our effort to preserve our nation and inalienable rights. On behalf of all of us here at Judicial Watch, I wish you and yours a wonderful Independence Day.

God bless you and the United States of America.

Until next week…
Tom Fitton
President Judicial Watch