This week we celebrate the birth of our country. It was 1776 in Philadelphia and America’s founding fathers voted to approve the Declaration of Independence.

Thomas Jefferson authored the draft and it was literally, revolutionary: “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.”

Here it was to be neither monarchs nor despots who would call the shots, but rather a government formed by each of us consenting to give up some portion of our individual rights so that we could have good order for all citizens. This Republic was an experiment in freedom, but it has certainly stood the test of time.

For 232 years people have been drawn to this special place, the United States of America; people speaking different languages, arrived to learn English; they brought different cultural traditions to blend with the melting pot of what are now American traditions; and they brought different religious faiths, to a place where they can freely worship as they wish, or not worship at all. They came and continue to come to a country where free-enterprise works and people CAN get ahead with good ideas, skill, or just plain hard work.

As we survey the wide-world and all its problems, even with all our country’s current political and economic challenges, we can’t help but conclude that we’re mighty darn fortunate to be living in this great country. On this birthday weekend, may God bless America.