A day of peace

The Fourth of July was a really nice day. I went to the movies. I saw the movie “America” by Dinesh D’Souza. I thought that was a fitting way to honor the day that some very brilliant men and women (wives) came together and created the greatest document of the time. We declared our independence from the rest of the world that day but we did more than that. Our Declaration of Independence honored each one of us as one-in-the-human-race with rights defined only by God, not man.

Since July 2, 1776, and then Aug. 2, 1776, when the states ratified the declaration, this country has been a magnet for the tired, the poor and the huddled masses. Immigration was, and still is, the cornerstone of this great country. My forefathers and mothers on my mother’s side fought in the Revolutionary War. I am by birth a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution from my mother’s side. I am also indirectly related to the Hudson that found the Bay in New York as well as indirectly to Queen Victoria.

From my dad’s Italian side my great-great-grandfather came to America to first be a potato farmer and then an entrepreneur opening and running an ice business in New Jersey. He changed his name from D’esposito to Moris (which was my great-great-grandmother’s maiden name). He did this because Italians were not very well liked yet the French were. Moris is French and my great-great-grandfather was no dummy. He knew what he needed to do to succeed.

America is a shining light on the hill of the world. We are the beacon that screams out to the world to follow our example of personal freedom and true representation in government by the people and for the people. Politicians in the past were statesmen who took time out of their lives to serve their country for two, four or six years and then went back to their normal lives. There weren’t lifetime pensions for two years of representation. These men, and later women, served out of pride. They volunteered their services even though they campaigned on issues for the right to represent their districts or state.

We have been a two-party system since our inception. Even at the outset there were those who felt that government should play a larger role in our lives. But there were the staunch believers who insisted that having an imperial head of state was something that they were fleeing from, as in the tyranny of King George III of England. We are fighting an imperial presidency today seeing as the president has been found illegally overstepping the Constitution in nine straight Supreme Court decisions and yet we have politicians who are ripping the Supreme Court for their defense of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

A recent poll was taken and only 78 percent of Americans are proud of their country. That same 78 percent also feel that our freedoms have been vastly eroded over the last two decades. America has been on a slippery slope toward having an all-knowing, all-seeing government ever since evil flew airplanes into the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon. There was a need to start balancing personal freedoms against our security and now we have an NSA that can land every one of my emails since the inception of the Internet as well as Chancellor Merkel’s of Germany, yet mysteriously there are no Lois Lerner emails. If you don’t know who Lois Lerner is, I would suggest you Google her.

Fox had a special on July 4th. It was called “Proud to be an American.” To a tee, every single person who was asked why they were proud to be an American mentioned free speech and the right to practice religion in peace. Freedom of speech means that I, Joe Moris, can write this column professing the goodness of our Constitution, the right to freedom of thought and the right to openly worship the god of my choice. It means that I can piss people off to the max and have every right to do so (although there have been a few who have tried to have me fired and silenced).

I can also please many who wish that those who oppose me would shut up, but that is our right as Americans. We can say what we want as long as we don’t purposely hurt another person, like yelling fire in a crowded theater. And personally… PC be damned. Bring back Archie Bunker please. When we can’t make fun of ourselves, sooner or later we will no longer have free speech.

July Fourth is a day of recognition. It is a recognition of the uniqueness of our country. It is unique in that we are the most prosperous nation in the world and we have the best and brightest institutions. The world is trying to break down our doors to get in because we are free. It’s something you can feel. It just exists and if you don’t feel it then go visit any another country. God has blessed this country and that’s why I know we will not fail.

There are those whose life intent it is to destroy the United States and me personally, but if they come to my door I’ll just welcome them with my 2nd Amendment right: unlocked, loaded and ready to defend. Name another country where the citizen has that right to defend himself against all enemies, personal and institutional?

Peace! Such a fragile thing.