Friend,

Two hundred and fifty years ago, a group of farmers, merchants, and printers looked at the most powerful empire on Earth and said: not anymore.

They didn't have an army to speak of. They didn't have a guarantee of victory. What they had was an idea — that people have the right to govern themselves — and the stubbornness to bet everything on it.

That bet is why we're here.

This Fourth of July marks a quarter of a millennium since that idea became a country. Two hundred fifty years of arguing, building, falling short, and trying again. Of a Constitution written in pencil, in a sense — amended, tested, and still standing. Of generations who showed up, in uniform and out of it, to keep the experiment going.

We don't think that's something to take for granted. Self-government is rare in human history and never permanent — it has to be chosen again by every generation that inherits it.

So however you're spending this Independence Day — at a parade, by a grill, watching fireworks crack open the sky — take a second to notice what you're actually celebrating. Not a flag. Not a fireworks show. A promise, made in 1776 and kept, imperfectly but persistently, ever since.

Happy 250th, America. Here's to the next quarter-millennium.

Fmr. Congressman Ken Buck (CO-04)

Founder, Americans for Good Government

Paid for by Americans for Good Government, Inc.

Unsubscribe [link removed]