MORE INDEPENDENCE DAY THOUGHTS. Follow the link.

A BRIEF HISTORY of the U.S. Federal Government and Innovation: From Independence to World War I (1787 – 1917). Key takeaways:

[T]he government can be most effective when it intervenes in areas where innovation is needed but the risk for any individual entrepreneur to invest in the research and development would be too great.

[U]nder proper conditions the results of this government investment can benefit society well beyond its original narrow goals.

Modern examples abound. The best is likely geosynchronous communications satellites, first proposed by Arthur C. Clarke in 1945. Earth observation satellites are a close second, and I suspect GPS and manned spaceflight will soon be fully commercialized now that the risk has been reduced and the economic benefits are established (being established for manned space).

A FOUNDING FATHERS' INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATION.

THE FOLLY of soaking the rich. Read the comments too.

AN INDEPENDENCE DAY MESSAGE from Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli:

Dear Friends and Fellow Virginians,

235 Years ago our nation's founders issued a declaration of independence - formally severing the bonds between the thirteen American colonies and Great Britain.

So strong were our founders' convictions that they pledged their lives, fortunes and scared honor toward the shared goal of forming a nation premised on the ideals of life, liberty and property.

Independence Day gives us an especially good reason to remember these ideals upon which our nation was founded - and what makes the United States so great today.

For many in our country - the fight to preserve liberty seems like an antiquated concept. Over two centuries have passed, and yet the struggle to achieve the same ideals still continues today.

We are a great nation - but it is not by default that we remain that way. We must always be fighting for liberty and freedom - so that we remain free from tyranny.

We have troops on the ground fighting in multiple conflicts around the globe. These brave men and women fight to secure our freedoms and spread democracy around the globe. They keep us from harms way - May God bless all they do for our country.

So, as we celebrate this, our 235th year as an independent and free nation, let us do so keeping in mind all we still must do in defense of liberty.

Remember the words from a truly inspirational leader in the defense of liberty, President Ronald Reagan:

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free. -- Ronald Reagan

Sincerely,
Ken Cuccinelli, II
Attorney General of Virginia

Thank you for the reminder.

THEY TOLD ME if we elected Barack Obama, Independence Day would look like this.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA!


From the Marietta [GA] Daily Journal: Why we're celebrating.