It was our late, great President Ronald Reagan who wrote, “Let the Fourth of July always be a
reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain
God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people,
with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people. We sometimes
forget that great truth, and we never should.”
As President Reagan so eloquently stated, the American Revolution didn’t simply exchange one
set of ideas for another; it changed the very concept of government. With the signing of the
Declaration of Independence, the founding fathers, through unimaginable sacrifices, created the
greatest experiment in history, dedicated to preserving what George Washington called the
“sacred fire of liberty.” And as Washington said, it was an “experiment entrusted to the hands of
the American people.”
Now, nearly 250 years later, this nation that we love has not only endured, but has become the
most powerful force for freedom in the world, a bastion of hope, and the model of democracy for
all. The overwhelming success of the American experiment is a result of not only the designs and
sacrifices of the founders, but also the unbreakable American spirt that has been manifested in
generations of men and women - individuals who agreed with the founding fathers that the
people can govern themselves better than a handful of wealthy elites.
When we gather on the Fourth of July to barbecue, shoot fireworks, and watch parades, let us all
- Dale Wright represents District 116 of the Missouri House of Representatives