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CELEBRATING THE 4TH OF JULY
By Bruce A. Slater,
Congressional Candidate
July 4th, 2008
 I would love to spend
Independence Day with my daughter at our favorite swimming hole, and with my
wife in the garden, and with my son sitting on our porch having a beer and
shooting the breeze. I would love to have my parents and brothers and sisters
and nieces and nephews over for that hot summer afternoon picnic so I can share
my garden’s first and best produce.
I would like to be celebrating the
founding fathers of our nation for having the courage to even think about
liberty.
But the “Fourth” is just another
working day for the self-employed and those with service-to-the-public jobs who
cannot afford health insurance or even gas for their cars so they can get to
work. (Have you noticed how many people are riding the bus these days, or
riding a bicycle to work?)
In theory, we celebrate our nation’s
independence from those who attempted to tell us how to think and whom to serve,
and who taxed early Americans’ hard earned wages and assets. But retailers
celebrate another day to have their stores open.
I think we should be celebrating the
service workers who are on the job today and cannot afford to celebrate: the
convenience store clerks, big-box- and grocery-store employees, police and EMS
workers, our nursing home and healthcare workers, not to mention our nation’s
soldiers, seamen, marines and airmen.
I salute those who signed the
Declaration of Independence and those who fought and died for our independence.
I salute those who serve today to ensure our freedom. We should be celebrating
those who vote, and celebrating freedom of the press and the right to have and
express dissenting opinions . . . and so much more.
Those who really deserve our thanks
and who we should celebrate are those who are working so others can take their
kids swimming today, so others can relax with their spouse and family today, so
others can have that barbequed hot dog and cold beer today.
I’ll raise my glass to those
who work so hard just so their kids will have food and school clothes, to those
who need to start saving to pay the costs of winter heating fuel and maybe even
health insurance. I’ll raise my glass to those who labor to make ends meet and,
maybe, even realize the American dream. I’ll raise my glass to their dreams and
their freedom -- from having to work while others celebrate our nation’s freedom
from tyranny.
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