Every Fourth of July, Americans are reminded of the truth that made our nation possible: that all men and women, no matter their background or beliefs, should have the right to live their lives free from government interference. That was the promise embedded in the Declaration of Independence. It proclaimed that every person possesses natural rights and that government exists not to manage our lives, direct our ambitions, or define our happiness, but to secure the liberty that ensures people can live their lives as they see fit.
That promise is as urgent today as it was in 1776.
Across the country, Americans are confronting a government that has grown too big, too cumbersome, and too willing to place permission slips between citizens and their dreams. Families are blocked from building homes. Parents are told bureaucrats know better than they do. Patients are denied the freedom to seek lifesaving treatments. Entrepreneurs are smothered by regulations written by people who have never had to make payroll.
For more than 35 years, the Goldwater Institute has stood at the front lines of the liberty movement, turning constitutional principles into permanent, game-changing reforms. We recognize that the only way to preserve and advance the cause of freedom is to meet our enemies head-on on today’s battlefield—the courtrooms and capitols across the country—to ensure the torch of freedom is never dimmed by bureaucratic whims and government overreach.
That is the work required in our time. Liberty is not preserved by sentiment alone. It is preserved by people who recognize that the fight for self-determination must be renewed by every generation.
This Independence Day, as America marks 250 years since the Declaration, we should remember that the pursuit of happiness was never a promise that life would be easy. It was a promise that Americans would remain free to forge their own paths, pursue their individual desires, and shape their own future uninhibited by the heavy hand of government. It was a promise that our destiny resides within our own hands, and that no one has the right to manipulate that destiny through government coercion.
Because of your support, the Goldwater Institute continues to advance the cause of freedom across the country. We’ve developed and passed reforms that restore the right to build and use property. We are defending parents and students to ensure an education system that promotes learning rather than indoctrination. We are fighting bureaucratic overreach. We are protecting taxpayers, patients, entrepreneurs, workers, and families.
And we are proving, state by state, that constitutional liberty is not a relic of the past, but the surest foundation for America’s future.
The Founders entrusted that future not to kings or bureaucracies, but to the people themselves—to individual citizens who are ensured the freedom to make their own decisions regarding every aspect of their lives, regardless of popular sentiment or political winds.
On this Fourth of July, I am grateful for your partnership, your conviction, and your confidence in the enduring promise of this country. Together, we can guarantee that the next 250 years are worthy of the first.
Happy Independence Day!
Victor Riches
Goldwater Institute
