Dear John,

Today we celebrate the founding of our great nation. Nearly 250 years ago, Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence, thus beginning the greatest country the world has ever known.

Nowhere else in all of history have citizens had such freedom and liberty.

President Ronald Reagan once said, “If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth. And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except to sovereign people, is still the newest and most unique idea in all the long history of man’s relation to man.”

It is a blessing to be an American, to be free to pursue our dreams, with a government sworn to protect our rights instead of suppressing them.

We’re living in a time of great unrest, but I hope everyone remembers today what it means to be an American. Every time we’ve gone through something difficult, we’ve come out better on the other side.

I have faith we will get through this too. We will come together to protect our liberties and our freedoms.

And we will leave an even better America for our children and grandchildren.

Happy Independence Day.

-Kevin