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Gov. Brad Little
This Fourth of July, we celebrate the 246th anniversary of America’s independence.
On July 4, 1776, our forefathers put into writing their faith in liberty, justice, and the belief that all are created equal.
Today, centuries later, those ideals remain under the laws of government and in the eyes of the Lord.
This Independence Day, we will experience the continuation of our forefathers’ hopes.
We will hear it in the high school marching bands playing proudly in hometown parades.
We will see it in the stars and stripes of American flags displayed in local business’ windows, hanging on front porches and waving in the hands of our children.
We will celebrate it as fireworks ignite the sky in blasts of red, white and blue.
Our nation has taken great strides in the unceasing quest for “a more perfect union” since 1776. It is not just the responsibility of the government to undertake this task, but that which every American citizen carries.
We must defend our Constitution, be engaged in our community and the democratic process, and respect the law and the rights, beliefs and opinions of others. These are our prescribed duties as American citizens, but our responsibilities run much more profound.
Idahoans are a prime example of how kindness, benevolence and love can empower a community to grow stronger and more hopeful. By advancing these acts and expanding opportunities for success and access to aid, we are ensuring the blessings of liberty for generations to come.
In the words of former President Theodore Roosevelt, “It is not what we see, but what our children are to see.”
Just as Idaho’s beautiful creeks, streams and tributaries collectively flow into the Columbia River, we too can unite under our shared goal of a stronger future for our state and nation.
We want our children and grandchildren to witness the power and glory of this country in its fullness. To do that, we must be unified. Because any act—good and bad—plays a role in shaping the future of the land.
As we celebrate Independence Day, please join my family and me in rededicating ourselves to the America our Founding Fathers envisioned. America: a country where we believe in the dignity and rights of every person. America: a country based on freedom and equal justice and led by a government that is by the people for the people.
God bless the United States of America. And God bless the great state of Idaho.
Republican Brad Little is the governor of Idaho. He wrote this opinion piece prior to Monday’s holiday.
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(4) comments
"This Independence Day, we will experience the continuation of our forefathers’ hopes.
We will hear it in the high school marching bands playing proudly in hometown parades." Right governor, they heard it loud & clear in Highland Park. We hear it out here in Idaho, too, and we smell the blood as it coagulates on the asphalt in the sun.
As an Idaho voter capable of bearing children, I would say this attempt to hoodwink us through the Fourth of July holiday by invoking his vague and naive idea of God in his pitiful statement as governor of Idaho is reason enough to be skeptical: "Today, centuries later, those ideals remain under the laws of government and in the eyes of the Lord." Remember, the separation of Church and State, and keep your half-baked ideas of God out of our politics. The Fourth of July is NOT a religious holiday, you idiot.
The man is under the influence of eating too much artificially-flavored red,white and blue ice cream at his local Dairy Queen to gaslight his constituents with this clumsy sentence: "These are our prescribed duties as American citizens, but our responsibilities run much more profound." No, this is the regurgitated pablum of a second-rate right-wing Idaho rube. Little has become our Alfred E, Newman, an anodyne cliché of a human being who masquerades as a governor..."What, me worry?"
I'd like to see him try and say this to the six conservative justices at the Supreme Court with a straight face: "America: a country where we believe in the dignity and rights of every person. America: a country based on freedom and equal justice and led by a government that is by the people for the people."
And you're a man of the people, too, aren't you, governor? Good luck with that.
This type of ideological, quasi-evangelical message espoused by our bullet-headed governor causes more problems than it's worth, even when its religiosity doesn’t insinuate itself into public policy and the law.
But when it does infiltrate those arenas, the effort to spread the "Word of the Lord" through public governmental mechanisms creates a destructive multiplier effect that is massive in scale, and crucially, it contradicts the country’s founding ideals.
Little’s feverish and insipid hyperbole in his July 4th message becomes a kind of artificial, institutionalized fertilizer that accelerates social and environmental damage on an exponential scale. Why? Because people take it as political gospel.
It’s much worse when it goes beyond the narrow provincial confines of Boise and pollutes the thinking of the nation's Supreme Court justices and our elected officials in the US Capitol.
Consider this article and wise up, governor:
nytimes.com/2022/06/23/opinion/uvalde-evangelicals-guns.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage§ion=Guest%20Essays
Keep your naive idea of "the Lord" out of the Boise Capitol building and adhere to the Constitution's separation of Church and State.
What about liberty, justice and equality for a woman whose contraceptive has failed? You've thrown that away in favor of a mass of cells that may or may not eventually turn into a human, based on your own religious beliefs. This is the most hypocritical piece of garbage writing I've ever read. I wouldn't vote for this guy for dog catcher.
"On July 4, 1776, our forefathers put into writing their faith in liberty, justice, and the belief that all are created equal" This is a joke right!
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