What This Fourth Of July Means To This Detroit Michigan Firearms Instructor

As another Independence Day rapidly approaches, I am not happy about where our beloved country is headed on many fronts, but I can boast that I am a citizen of it. I truly believe that the 'good ole U.S. of A.' is the greatest nation on the planet despite the efforts of those who desire to make it just like the rest. If I wanted to be a citizen of a 'lesser' nation I would emigrate.

As a citizen, I have many rights that are enshrined in the Constitution as inalienable despite the best wishes of those who hate liberty. For example, I have the right to free speech and free expression, the right to keep and bear arms, the right to assembly, and many other rights that many around the globe do not have to enjoy and can't take for granted. In fact, many risk much - life and limb - just for the opportunity to seek a safe haven and refuge on our soil.

I so value freedom and the cause of liberty that I have become extremely active with respect to networking with other like-minded individuals and organizations to not only preserve the freedoms we have left but to fight to regain the ones we have lost. Along this journey I have met many fellow patriots and aspire to meet more. I am eternally grateful that others had joined this cause before my participation in it. For now, I can make my contribution. I have made many friends on the path and have earned the ire and wrath of others.

Fighting for freedom requires eternal vigilance and debating politics - such as gun rights - with either close minded folks or people who have no qualms about mischaracterizing (i.e. lying) about the issues. Some days, I actually get weary at the prospect of doing my part of all that is required to to be truly 'pro-freedom.'

But when I realize that failure is not an option, I march on. I march on for the future freedoms of my children. I march on for those who have not yet joined our cause but will later. I march on for the 'undecideds' who have until this juncture have failed to pick a side. I even march on for the anti-gunners and the freedom haters who have been deceived and have not yet discovered the truth.

Many think that folks who speak about guns, liberty, and freedom are anachronisms - crazy kooks still living in an era long past and irrelevant to what is happening today. To those folks, I would like to inform you that in this modern-day era we have in our country secret courts, secret judges, secret trials, no-fly lists, bank record snooping, domestic eavesdropping, calls for national ID cards, and numerous other aggregious offenses to the cause of freedom and liberty.

Today our rights are being sacrificed so that we can be safe. A often quoted statement by Ben Franklin quips that if we do that we truly deserve neither. Governments chip away at our rights for one reason: control. To accomplish their ends, they need a bogey-man. This concept is not old. Today, our nation fears terrorists in the Middle east. In the 1950's, an age of Mccarthyism whipped up fears about Communism. Further, our country got into the Vietnam War because of the flawed Domino Theory.

As a student in high school, I learned about fear mongering, populist appeals, propaganda, and lying governments. I was in disbelief as I read books such as 1984 and Animal Farm. No way could those things happen NOW in THIS country. It is a remarkable thing to see history repeat itself. I fear that younger generations aren't learning history and can not see what is happening today. The tactics that governments have used in the past to disenfranchise and enslave their citizens are still effective today.

As I glance in my inbox at a popular social networking site on the Internet, there are many invitations for various functions all over town for the upcoming holiday weekend. I wonder as people plan to have a good time over the next few days if they even know what is going on today. Yes, I am going to have some fun myself. This weekend is after all a celebration of our freedom and I would dishonor it by not having some fun - if only because I am free and I can.

However, I will still fight for the cause - freedom and liberty - this holiday weekend too. I will implore people to seek truth in all things, to look beyond the surface, to question what is being told to them, and to research the issues instead of reiterating what the mainstream media says.

If you by chance are ready to help preserve our freedoms, join us. You are free to determine the means and ways that you can make your contribution. Freedom is not free; we have to fight for it every day.