As the final minutes of July 4th slip away, I’m thinking of what Independence Day means to us… all of us.

George Washington called America “The Great Experiment.” I am realizing the experiment isn’t over. 1776 set events into motion, but it did not seal our destiny as a nation. The Declaration of Independence asserted all men are created equal, and that we each have a natural right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Nearly 250 years later, we get to prove these two theories each day. Our government, our laws, our courts, our officers, our civil servants, and our choices as citizens are evidence for, or against, those assertions.

We are born equal.
Life. Liberty. The pursuit of happiness.

The Revolutionary War didn’t end the experiment. It began it. And we may not decide how the great experiment concludes, but we can decide the results it produces today.

The experiment has given us much to celebrate.

It also shows there is work still to be done.