HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA! ***********************************
Today most of you will gather with your loved ones for a birthday party--America's 229th birthday party. You may go to the beach, or the lake. You may have backyard barbecues and take the kids to see nightfall fireworks. There will be a lot of Stars and Stripes forevering. It is the way honest John Adams thought we should celebrate our nation's birth. It is the Glorious Fourth. America is the only great nation whose birthday we can pinpoint with precision. July 4, 1776 marked the beginning of a "new order of the ages."

The Declaration of Independence was our birth certificate, Thomas Jefferson's great charter of liberty, and it was unanimously approved by Congress. George Washington had it read to his troops in the field. Later, at Gettysburg, Lincoln pointed to our nation's birth and said we were "dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." As we defend the right to life, we can look with confidence to the Declaration for inspiration. The man who wrote those immortal words said it clearly, for Jefferson also wrote: "The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time."

Today many have forgotten the stirring message of the Declaration. They claim that our right to life is only a right if we are wanted. What a confused and confusing doctrine. It's as if the signers of the Declaration had written their names in disappearing ink! No, the Founders of this great country did not hide their light under a bushel basket. They raised a torch on high. They proclaimed liberty throughout the land. And, yes, they hoped that those words would lead in time to the end of human bondage, to the emancipation of the slaves. As indeed it did.

Today, we oppose all assaults on innocent human life that try to pit liberty against life. We stand with Jefferson and the Founders. They knew that life and liberty were our inalienable rights--endowed by our Creator God. Unashamedly, our Founders sought the protection of Divine Providence. Fearlessly, they pledged their lives, their fortunes and their "sacred honor." So happy birthday, dear America, and may God give you many, many happy returns.

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