America loves a long weekend. We’re scrubbing down our BBQ’s, buying up hot dogs and corn-on-the-cob, hoping the old bathing suit still fits and generally getting ready for a few days of classic American summer relaxation.

There will be Independence Day sales, an occasional patriotic remark from an elected official and maybe even a public reading of part of the Declaration of Independence.

In many ways, this holiday is like Presidents Day weekend, Memorial Day and Thanksgiving. The idea behind the holiday was a noble one, but is easily lost or forgotten as we enjoy a couple of well-deserved days away from work.

That being said, I would just like to take a moment and thank our Founding Fathers.
While there is still spirited debate about who should and shouldn’t be included on the list of Founding Fathers, for me, the list includes our first four presidents (George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison), plus Alexander Hamilton and Ben Franklin.

These men were giants and we stand today on their shoulders. It is easy to point out their mistakes. They were, after all, men. They had affairs, owned slaves, invented American political parties and fought with each other at a level that makes today’s political battles look like a Sunday afternoon tea party. The Alien & Sedition Acts were as anti-freedom as any ever enacted by our government.

They did not invent democracy, or even representative democracy.

However, history, American and international, has never before, or since, gathered together a better group of men. The risked everything for an ideal. Excluding the bible, they created the greatest and most important documents known to mankind – The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

They codified meritocracy. They created the first country in the history of the world that guaranteed opportunity, based on effort and results. It was arguably the biggest societal change in the history of mankind and it is impossible to overestimate its importance to America and to the rest of the world.

The brilliance of what they built and the documents they wrote is that they still work and are still in use today. No doubt there are different definitions and understanding of the Constitution, but the true beauty of it is that we can debate it, discuss it, even change it – and it still works. We are the most powerful nation in the history of the world, we enjoy freedoms unparalleled by any other society and we are the most generous group of people to ever walk the face of the earth.

Our greatness is not an accident, or a coincidence; it is a result of the work that the Founding Fathers started 230 years ago and that we continue today. Like those men, and all that have come since, America is not perfect. However, we are the best and continue to work toward becoming better.

So, if you get a chance over the next few days, please join me in remembering the Founding Fathers, the risks they took, the country they founded and the gifts they gave us. It just might inspire us to keep moving in the right direction.

Have a great Independence Day weekend and an amazing 4th of July!