Our liberty is cheap when we take what other generations have fought to provide and then use it for the silly pursuit of what is also cheap. Our freedom is hardly a lofty matter if we see it as mere license to do what we please when we please to do it. What must the leaders think who were willing to fight and die for an ideal only to see a nation and a people squander the blessing on amusement, entertainment, and indulgence? You are certainly free to look inside yourself for the answers to trivial questions and then much down on a hot dog and call it patriotism but that does not mean you either understand what liberty is or appreciate those who provided it. If our freedom is no more precious than our whims or is willingly exchanged for government control or support, we really do not understand what heritage we have been given or value liberty enough to defend it. If all our freedom means is the right to indulge ourselves and have somebody else pay for it and defend it, perhaps we are not worth the gift that has been passed down to us. The kingdoms that have arisen and fallen down were not attacked by those on the outside but were decaying and deteriorating from the inside -- usually when the only thing worth fighting for is me and whatever I feel at the moment. The best way to cherish our liberty is to use that freedom responsibly, not as license for the worst in us but as the opportunity to shine with the brightness of America's light -- sacrifice for the sake of others and duty over self-indulgence every day of the week.
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