Good morning everyone. Thank you all for coming out. It’s really an honor for me to be here with you on this American Independence Day. But before I begin, I’d like to take a moment to recognize those Veterans who are present in the audience. It is because of the sacrifices made by these Men & Women in uniform that we continue to enjoy our freedoms today. So would everyone please join me in a round of applause for our Veterans? Today we’ve come together to celebrate the Independence of this great nation. And what a great nation it truly is. Unfortunately, our representatives in Washington couldn’t be here in attendance. But don’t worry, I’ve been assured that – with help from the NSA – they are monitoring the situation! The 4th of July gives us a chance to enjoy precious time with our friends & our families. But as you all know, this special day is about more than just fireworks, parades, & BBQs. It’s a celebration of freedom. It’s a remembrance of our nation’s struggle for democracy And it’s a tribute to our Founding Fathers in their battle against Tyranny over 2 centuries ago. When our ancestors established the United States of America, they did so out of necessity. They asked themselves, ARE WE REALLY FREE? And in answering that question, they determined that they were not. In the decades before the Revolution, citizens living in the colonies increasingly found themselves under the rule of an unjust Dictatorship. Despite having no representation in the British Legislature: American Colonists were forced to pay for England’s many, costly wars. They were required to pay higher & higher prices for basic goods & necessities.

And perhaps most famously, they were repeatedly subjected to unfair levels of taxation. Sound familiar? “NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION” became their Patriotic motto. Not long after the Colonists launched the Boston Tea Party in rebellion, the British Government flexed its iron fist even tighter, and tried to squash Patriotic dissent altogether. The Colonists were fed up. No longer could they tolerate the Tyranny of a Government that didn’t represent their interests. They knew that a life without freedom was not worth living. And so it was, on a hot & humid July 4th afternoon, Patriots from all around gathered together to proclaim that they would no longer be ruled against their own free will. They wrote the Declaration of Independence, which in part read: GOVERNMENTS instituted among Men derive their powers from the consent of the governed. They said that: Whenever government becomes destructive, it is the RIGHT of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government They recognized that: a History of Repeated Injuries and Abuses [by the government] … demonstrates a plan to place them under absolute Control. And they announced that: such a Government, marked by acts that define a TYRANT, is unfit to rule over free people. And so, after years of exploitation and mistreatment, our fearless forefathers stood up to their Oppressive government, and they cast it aside. They knew that nothing worth doing comes easily; that some things are worth dying for. Including freedom. Not surprisingly, war followed soon after.

But after 8 years of fighting, the ragtag American Rebel Army – led by General George Washington – triumphed over what was then the world’s most powerful military. Our Independence had been won. After the Revolutionary War, those same leaders who stood up to the powerful King of England were suddenly faced with the substantial task of creating a Democratic form of Government, which had never been done before. They drafted the Constitution, and with it – the Bill of Rights – to forever enshrine the guarantees necessary to ensure that their new government would always protect freedom for future generations. Since then, WE THE PEOPLE have continued to fight and struggle against new enemies, both foreign and domestic. During the American Civil war, our nation was deeply divided over the brutal and inhumane abuses of slavery. In the early 20th-Century, women banded together in protest to earn their right to vote. In the 1960s, Black and White Americans marched, sat in, and protested, until African-Americans were finally guaranteed long overdue equal protections under the law. And in every military conflict – from the First & Second World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan – Veterans fought and bled and died on behalf of their fellow Americans. It is because of the great and sometimes ultimate sacrifices of past generations that we are all blessed with a standard of living that we enjoy today. YET, nothing remains stagnant in this world, and sadly, our Freedoms are once again under attack. The belief in a better tomorrow has been taken over by uncertainty. In many instances, hope has been replaced with hopelessness. Government now seems to act beyond the control of the very people it was created to serve. Most of the time it’s hard to even tell who our Government serves anymore.

• Is there anyone here today who feels that way? Now more than ever, I believe that we must ask ourselves the same question considered by our Founding Fathers on THIS DAY, some 238 years ago. That is: ARE WE REALLY FREE? I ask you to consider the following truths. After the terrorist attacks on 9/11, the Government told us that – in order to protect us from further attack – they needed more power. But rather than limit their focus to foreign terrorists, they instead built a massive domestic spying program that now monitors our emails, phone calls, and social media activities. I ASK: When the Government spies on all of our communications, ARE WE REALLY FREE? We only know the truth about our Government’s spying here at home thanks to the likes of Edward Snowden and other whistleblowers. But instead of being hailed as heroes, these individuals have been called traitors, and are hunted down like terrorists, simply for revealing the ugly, hidden truth. I ASK: When TRUTH becomes TREASON, ARE WE REALLY FREE? After the greed of Giant Wall Street Banks drug our economy to the brink of collapse, our Congress wrote the bankers a blank check for trillions of dollars – no questions asked. Now we taxpayers are stuck paying the bill for their Criminal Acts. I ASK: When taxpayers on MAIN STREET are forced to pay for the excesses of WALL STREET, ARE WE REALLY FREE? When we have more choices about what shampoo to buy than we do about what people to represent us, When Money is considered Speech, and a handful of Super Rich individuals control our elections, When the colossal National Debt is jeopardizing the futures of our children and grandchildren, ARE WE REALLY FREE?

When Students have to take out TENS OF THOUSANDS of dollars in loans just to get an education, When Teachers, Police, and Firefighters receive more criticism and less support, When we work hard, and do the right thing, but still can’t get ahead, ARE WE REALLY FREE? I think Abraham Lincoln summed it up best when he said: America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. My friends, today as we celebrate our Independence, and in the days ahead, let us reject the political partisanship that deliberately prevents us from uniting as a nation. Let us support leaders who represent us – their constituents. And let us never forget that these United States of America were founded as an act of rebellion against an unfair government. We must band together for our mutual preservation and cooperate to restore the American dream for future generations. We can and we will take this country back from those who seek to exploit it. Embrace the rebel that lies within you. It is there that freedom, truth, and justice will be won. Thank you.