Have a Great Independence Day!

New Bob Barr Event: Speech at Millennium Gate Dedication Ceremony

I just got an e-mail from the Barr campaign alerting me to an Independence Day event with the former Georgia Congressman and current Libertarian Presidential candidate.  Bob Barr will be delivering a speech at the dedication ceremony for the Millennium Gate, on Friday, July 4.  The dedication ceremony will begin at 12:30 p.m. with a parade, followed by speeches from attending dignitaries  beginning at 1:15 p.m.  The Millennium Gate, which is located at the Atlantic Station in downtown Atlanta, is a 73-foot arch that will celebrate the history of  Georgia.

Independence Day Message from Bob Barr

Today, I received a very inspirational message from the Bob Barr presidential campaign discussing freedom and liberty in America today.  For those of you not already involved in the message that Barr brings, I have included the majority of the message below.  Please note that these are his words and emphasis and not mine, although I echo his sentiments.

This weekend, millions of Americans will celebrate our Independence Day.  They will gather in parks and on front lawns, fire up their grills and enjoy an evening of fireworks, family and friendship.

Children will wave sparklers in the air, tracing figure eights, while fathers will light seemingly endless fuses of fountains and firecrackers.

Most revel on the Fourth of July as a matter of tradition – and it is a good one.  I have celebrated this day throughout my life, even when I lived in nations that did not cherish freedom.

When I reflect on our Independence Day traditions, I am deeply grateful that Americans continue to celebrate this historic day, but I am also saddened by our combined failure to stop the continued encroachment upon our freedom.

Each July 4th, I look back at our year and can literally count the ways in which the path set forth by our forefathers has been distorted and, many times, betrayed.

We live in a nation bursting with people who love liberty but governed by men who lust for power.

For over 100 years, those designing men have been enabled by a political system that favors and protects the powerful.

Republicans and Democrats have maintained and significantly increased their hold on the reigns of our government regardless of the damage that has been done to the men, women and children who work, love, live and die in our great nation.

Today’s America does not resemble the intent clearly laid out within that document that was signed by patriots 232 years ago.

They put more than ink to paper when they signed the Declaration of Independence; they placed their lives, families, prosperity and honor on the line for liberty.

Our founders knew that we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights.  They held no tolerance for the thought that we are granted rights by government.

Our rights, our decisions, our very lives are ours.  It is through individual responsibility by which we prosper or fail – not by state decree or legislation.

When Jefferson added the word “among” into the phrase, “among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” he was defiantly stating that our rights are self-defined, short of depriving another of their life or liberty.

Since the day that the Declaration of Independence was signed, we appear to have lost the meaning and intent of the words: independence, freedom and liberty.

Instead, those words have been echoed with abuse on campaign trails and government buildings by politicians who use them as Orwellian tools to mean just the opposite.

We now use “freedom” as an excuse to invade sovereign nations.

The protection of “liberty” is now an excuse to take it from us.

But today, during this election year, we have the opportunity to change the course of events.

We have a chance to send a message to Washington that will rock its foundation.

Together, we can make the word LIBERTY ring true with deafening accord.

My candidacy for President of the United States is not one of vanity or shallowness.  I, probably just like you, have had my eyes forced open by a government that wants to take all that it can from me and my family.

I am running for president to stand firm and demand a return of my liberty, my privacy, my labor and the peaceful heritage of my nation.

I ask you to stand with me.

Together we face the two-party behemoth that will do all that it can to silence us.

I have made contributions to the campaign, as recently as today’s Barr Bomb, and I encourage you to do the same if you truly hold freedom and liberty as highly as I do.  You can donate to the campaign here, and if you haven’t researched his message enough to feel comfortable contributing, I strongly urge you to visit him at his campaign website.

It’s YOUR Declaration of Independence.

On July 2, 1776 the Continental Congress elected to pursue the Nation’s Independence from British rule. On July 4th, Thomas Jefferson would present to them The Unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America, an indictment of the practices of King George III of England a mere 16 years after his taking the throne. With July 4th fast approaching and an historical Presidential race on the horizon, I’d like to remind Americans of exactly what sort of behavior it takes to infuriate a Patriot, as penned by Thomas Jefferson himself:

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance
[...]
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures
[...]
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power
[...]
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
[...]
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
[...]
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
[...]
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
[...]
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever
[...]
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people
[...]
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

This Independence Day, take some time to revisit the Declaration of Independence. Familiarize yourself with the principles upon which our Revolution was executed. Execute peacefully and freely. “Change” will never come from within Washington, D.C., but from the Hearts and Minds of devoted Patriots, from Men and Women who will rise up and tell our government that enough is enough — change begins with you.

Upcoming Barr National Media Appearances

The national media is really starting to accept Bob in campaign appearances.  Today, I received a listing of several upcoming national appearances, and I have listed some other appearances listed on the website.

June 26 – The Radio Factor with Bill O’Reilly – 12 noon, Tom Sullivan Show – 3:10 PM

July 5 – Guest at NASCAR’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway (details for this appearance were not disclosed)

July 6 – This Week with George Stephanopoulos – Please click here to find the station and time for your area

Don’t forget that Independence Day is fast approaching a week from Friday.  A contributor to this site wrote a strong, thought-provoking piece about what Independence Day meant in 1776, something we seem to forget with each passing July 4th.