The 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence knew they were putting their lives on the line.


(It’s a short document. You should look it up and read it.)



The United States of America did not yet exist. We were under the rule of England. We wanted out. The Declaration was our official casting of the die, a “receipt” for our reasons.


The men who put their names to that document knew that their association with that Declaration meant they could be put to death just for being involved.


(Alas, the official British response scolded the “misguided Americans” and “their extravagant and inadmissible Claim of Independency”.)



We went to war and succeeded. America won its freedom.


A bunch of those men died anyway.


They were imprisoned.
Beaten.
Tortured.
Had their possessions stripped from them.
Lost their families.
Their children.
Their land and businesses.


And they KNEW this could happen from the start. They signed the Declaration anyway.


And, for the record: These were not all “old, white slave owners.”


Some of these men were everyday professionals in their 20s and 30s and could have easily sat this project out. But they had something that much of our society lacks today.


Principles, and the courage to stand on them.


All you bourgeois Americans, especially those of you who’ve never traveled outside the country and don’t have friends from outside the USA, need to understand this: Freedom is NOT free.


Any type of freedom.


Freedom of Speech.
Financial freedom.
Freedom of movement.
Freedom to live as you wish.
Freedom of thought.


These come at a price.


You may think, being that you live here and it all FEELS free, that freedom is a normal thing.


It feels normal because of the people who put their lives on the line so you could see it as a birthright.


There will come a time, maybe sooner than you think, when there’s a freedom that YOU want. And the price for it will be made clear.


The question is, will you have the principles and the courage to pay for it?


Happy 4th 🇺🇸

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