It’s Memorial Day and, as free citizens of the United States of America, we should be thinking of more than hamburgers, hotdogs, and NASCAR, but most of us won’t.  What a pity that the majority of us in the Land of the Free don’t have any idea why we are free.

The easy answer is that we have a Constitution and a Bill of Rights that tell us how our freedoms come from our Creator, and cannot be infringed upon by man.  We are citizens of the greatest nation that has ever existed on planet Earth and, as citizens of this great nation, it is our honor and our duty to protect our freedoms.  As Thomas Jefferson said, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”

On Memorial Day we honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice to refresh the tree of liberty.  We honor those who served.

Is it enough?  Is it enough to spend one day a year remembering those who have given their lives that we might be free, and spend the rest of the year oblivious to the constant erosion of our freedoms by the government that is supposed to protect them?

I think not.  It makes the sacrifice we honor today meaningless if we live the other 364 days a year allowing the meaning of this day to be violated, the sacrifice marginalized, and our freedoms diluted.

The migration from constitutional government to European style socialism — the nanny state — has been in process for over 100 years.  In that time we’ve seen income taxes, the Federal Reserve, Social Security, segregation of the armed forces (and then desegregation), the Great Society, Medicare, and Medicaid become the practice and policy of our government, when each and every one of these programs and practices is unconstitutional.

Many will blame politicians, but that blame is misplaced.  Benjamin Franklin, when asked what type of government the Constitutional Convention had created, replied “A Republic, if you can keep it.”  The blame lies squarely on us, the citizens who don’t value our freedoms, our government, and our way of life enough to insure that the Constitution is followed.

Politicians are the symptom, not the cause, and you can replace them forever without effecting a cure.  Until the citizens of this country take responsibility for electing city, state, and federal office holders who will honor and obey the Constitution, we will see special interests pandered to.  An office holder whose only real job is getting reelected will never make the hard choice to anger their constituents by doing the right, constitutional thing.

So take pleasure in the day.  Hamburgers, hotdogs, and NASCAR make for an enjoyable time.  But remember why you have the freedoms to have this holiday.  Honor our veterans and wake up tomorrow with the commitment to restore constitutional government and our freedoms — and then do something about it.

You are the United States of America; you have a duty to protect this country and her Constitution just as those we honor today did.

We the People will protect the USA against all enemies, both foreign and domestic.  You should be one of Us.