You know, with all of the negativity we hear about the war in Iraq and the pros and cons about whether we should be there, this July 4th our nations birthday, we should remember why we, as Americans, have it so good. Our freedom is at the price of a soldier giving their time and in some cases their lives in order for us to be free.

The following passage from Adlai Stevensons The Nature of Patriotism, August 27, 1952, kind of says it all; 'It was always accounted a virtue in a man to love his country. With us it is now something more than a virtue. It is a necessity, a condition of survival. When an American says that he loves his country, he means not only that he loves the New England hills, the prairies glistening in the sun, the wide and rising plains, the great mountains, and the sea. He means that he loves an inner air, an inner light in which freedom lives and in which a man can draw the breath of self-respect.' As excerpted from the Arkansas Democrat Gazette July 4th 2008.