Ehrlich on Washington column, July 2, 2001

NEWS FROM Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr Second Congressional District of Maryland 1 407 York Road, Suite 304 315 Cannon House Office Building Lutherville, Maryland 2 1 093 Washington, D.C. 205 1 5 EHRLICH ON WASHINGTON Week of July 2, 2001 By Congressman Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. Independence Day: A Time for Family, Friends, and Country One of the great pleasures of my job is participating in the community July 4th parades. Each year, Kendel, Drew, and I look forward to seeing so many of our friends when we walk in the Dundalk, Towson, Kingsville, and Bel Air parades. Independence Day reminds each of us of past celebrations with families, friends, and our communities. Each year, the streets fill with generations of patriots, young and old, to proudly wave the American flag together and gaze upwards as fireworks stream across the night sky. Every time I hear the laughter of a child as a parade marches by, I am reminded of the blessings we each receive as citizens of this great land, and of the many who fought for our flag over the last 225 years. As Americans, we enjoy unprecedented freedoms; freedom to pursue our dreams, freedom to raise our children without government intrusion, freedom to choose America’s destiny by electing our own representatives to a democratic government. Never in history has one nation invested more trust in its people as did our forefathers in 1776. The American road to preeminence has been a dangerous one. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and their countrymen made great sacrifices at Bunker Hill, Yorktown, and other battlefields so that their children could live in a better world. Their victory in a bloody conflict for independence wrought a Constitution and Bill of Rights upon which future generations of Americans have built their homes, families, and dreams. Since the time of our forefathers, America’s young have defended our freedoms in wars great and small, overseas in foreign lands, and here on our own soil. In each instance the ideals of liberty and justice, once just an idea of our forefathers’, proved unshakable in the face of aggression. I salute those Americans who fought and died in conflict so that others could live in freedom’s embrace.