Happy 4th of July from Ron DeSantis

Statement

Dear Friends,

Happy 4th of July! I hope everyone has a wonderful day. I know there are a number of great events that will be taking place.

While you are enjoying yourself, please take a moment to reflect on what July 4th means to our country and its people. By my lights, July 4th is about much more than the day America separated itself from Great Britain. After all, nations throughout history have gained their independence from other nations and colonial powers.

We are different because our Declaration of Independence announced to the world not only our formal independence but also the fundamental principles of a free society:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. -- That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…"

These are enduring truths about human liberty, as relevant today as the day Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration. To my dismay, we have been walking away from many of the principles that have made us great.

The inalienable rights that Jefferson cites come not from government but from God. The reason for creating government in the first place is to protect these rights, not to diminish them. When I see things happening today that contradict this basic insight -- such as the HHS mandate requiring religious institutions to provide services that contract their core beliefs -- I fear that some in our country don't subscribe to Jefferson's basic formulation. For these people, government's needs are supposed to come before the rights and liberty of the people. This is wrong and it turns what the Founding Fathers did on its head.

Jefferson also makes it clear that we as individuals are not guaranteed happiness but merely the right to pursue it. Abraham Lincoln said that the Constitution guaranteed "an open field and a fair chance for your industry, enterprise and intelligence." Ultimately, it is up to each and every one of us to make the most out of the talents that we have been given. We are free to succeed but also free to fail. The choice is ours.

For some, such as Barack Obama, this is not compelling. In my judgment, Obama believes that government's role is the equalize outcomes and to guarantee "happiness" through government dependency programs. By making people slightly more comfortable in middling circumstances, Obama thinks he is creating a utopian society in which central planners (such as himself) take care of the rest of us. The problem is that the policies advocated by people like Obama tend to trap people in a culture of dependency and make it less likely that they will do great things. This a demoralizing vision for a nation conceived in liberty.

The principles that have made us exceptional are being challenged like never before in my lifetime. Most of the Founding Fathers had comfortable existences in the colonies yet they risked everything -- their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor -- to take a stand for human liberty and to establish what they considered to be a new order for the ages. We are the heirs to this legacy. We must vindicate their sacrifice.

I look forward to seeing you on the campaign trail.

God bless America.

Ready To Serve,

Ron DeSantis

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