Now that the Fourth of July Is in Our Rearview Mirror… Now What?

Wayne and I have always celebrated the Fourth of July the same way—cookouts, parades, family, friends, and fireworks. It’s one of those traditions that anchors the summer and reminds us why we’re so blessed to live in this extraordinary country.

But this year was different.
This wasn’t just another Independence Day. It was America’s 250th birthday—a celebration unlike any we’ll likely experience again in our lifetime.

Our day started at the City of Naples July 4th Parade and continued with a cookout at VFW Post 7721. Later that evening, we settled in with Brookiepoo, Lulu, Jessie, James, and our special guest, Brutus, to watch the magnificent celebration from Washington, D.C. As fireworks lit the skies over our nation’s capital, I found myself thinking less about the spectacle and more about the words that made it all possible.

Not the Constitution.
Not the Bill of Rights.
The Declaration of Independence.

It amazes me that fifty-six men—with different personalities, backgrounds, and interests—could agree on anything, let alone produce one of the most influential political documents in human history. Every word was debated. Every phrase mattered. They knew they weren’t simply writing a protest against a king; they were declaring to the world what they believed about freedom, human dignity, and the source of our rights.

One sentence, in particular, continues to echo across nearly two and a half centuries:

“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…”

Notice where those rights come from.
Not from Congress.
Not from a president.
Not from a court.

According to the Declaration, they come from our Creator. 

The Declaration doesn’t mention God just once. It refers to “Nature’s God,” our “Creator,” the “Supreme Judge of the world,” and “Divine Providence.” These weren’t ornamental expressions. They reflected a worldview shared by much of the founding generation—that liberty wasn’t a gift from government but a gift from God, and that government’s purpose was to protect those God-given rights, not create them.

The great English jurist Sir William Blackstone, whose writings profoundly influenced the Founders, described natural law as the will of the Creator impressed upon all humanity. His work helped shape the legal philosophy behind the Declaration and, ultimately, our constitutional system.

Long before Philadelphia in 1776, the Mayflower Compact reflected a similar understanding. While it wasn’t the legal blueprint for the Declaration, it revealed a people who believed self-government required moral responsibility and accountability to God.

Of course, our Founders weren’t identical in their religious beliefs. Some were deeply committed Christians. Others leaned toward Deism. Yet despite their differences, they agreed on something profoundly important: our rights exist independent of government because they come from a higher authority.

That’s a remarkable consensus.
The Declaration was followed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, three documents that continue to define who we are as Americans. Every member of our military and every law enforcement officer swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution—not a political party, not a president, not even the flag—but the Constitution itself and the freedoms it protects.

Samuel Adams understood the significance of that moment. Shortly after the Declaration was adopted, he declared:
“We have this day restored the Sovereign to whom alone men ought to be obedient…”

Whether one approaches these words from faith, history, or philosophy, they remind us that America was founded on the conviction that freedom carries responsibility, that rights come with duties, and that self-government requires self-discipline.

Now the parades are over.
The grills have cooled.
The fireworks have faded into memory.
America’s 250th birthday celebration has passed.

But perhaps the real celebration shouldn’t end on July 4. Perhaps it should begin on July 5th because preserving liberty requires more than waving flags once a year. It requires citizens who understand where our freedoms came from, why they matter, and what each generation must do to preserve them.

The Founders gave us more than a nation.
They entrusted us with an idea.
Whether that idea flourishes for another 250 years depends not on them—but on us.

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