Today is not veterans day, or memorial day, or remembrance day...
It is not a day of mourning, or of thanks, but a day of recognition, celebration, and exultation...
Today is the day we recognize, and celebrate our independence, as the only nation in all of history founded on the notion, that the only form of legitimate government, is that which is based on recognizing, securing, protecting, and defending; the fundamental, inherent, and pre-existing, unalienable individual rights of man...
... and deriving it's just powers from the same...
... a government of the people, by the people, for the people...
A government of the people, by the people, and for the people, AS INDIVIDUALS...
...all created equal, and with equal and unalienable rights...
...Not to secure, protect, and defend, society, or collective, or even nation...
...but the individual rights of man...
To my knowledge we remain the only nation so dedicated.
Our revolution began April 19th 1775, at Concord and Lexington...
...a day we in New England celebrate as Patriots Day...
Our independence was officially declared July 4th 1776...
...the day we celebrate today, as independence day...
Our revolution was won, with the surrender at Yorktown, October 19th 1781...
...six years and six months, of mud, blood, and toil, from the day it commenced...
Our new nation was made whole, and strode forth under our Constitution, March 4th, 1789...
In the last 242 years, millions of service men and women have fought, and over a million of them have died; fighting to secure, protect, and defend, those fundamental, inherent, and pre-existing individual rights of man.
...Every single day in this country...and around the world...
...millions still fight for those rights...
...in whatever way they can, according to their own gifts and abilities, and their own circumstances, whatever they may be...
...whether by bullet and blade, by badge or by ballot...
...whether by words on a page, or spoken on stage...
For all of my brothers and sisters who have fought, and all who have died...
For all who are still fighting today, at home and abroad...
Whether you're here today celebrating with family and friends...
Whether you're lost and alone out there...
... and if you are, rest assured we are coming for you brothers and sisters, to bring you home...
Whether we'll meet again the other side of the veil, and share this toast with those who live forever, on fiddlers green...
Today, I lift my glass, in honor of those who fought...
Today I lift my glass in honor of those still fighting, at home and abroad...
Today I lift my glass in honor of absent companions, and fallen comrades...
Today, I lift my glass, to celebrate our independence day.
