July 4 celebrations always are an appropriate time for reflection — not just on why we're celebrating America's past, but, more importantly, on what our expectations for the future might be.  Those knowledgeable of the past realize that thousands of our citizens sacrificed their lives to ensure that our great country could emerge victorious engaging in a revolution against the mother country to obtain our initial freedoms.  History also shows the enormous sacrifices Americans have made during multiple wars since that separation.  Americans have always elected to fight tyranny that infringed not only on America's rights, but on our global neighbors' security as well.

Freedom for all Americans over 200 years ago came at a high cost.  The price paid by her brave men and women back then was an investment in America's freedom for her citizens who even today are yet to be born.  They paid it forward as all of us are obligated to do.  How we choose to view this unselfish "individual ante" into a high-stakes game for freedom will either ensure that it continues or doom us all into subservience under a tyrannical dictatorship.

But there are those who don't understand this obligation.  Worse yet, there are those who are actively working injudiciously to destroy America from within.  They are attacking our freedoms, many of which are guaranteed by the Constitution.  They are seeking to denigrate our Founding Fathers, who, as an acceptable practice at the time, owned and cared for slaves.  And they want to destroy our history because it doesn't suit their agendas.  Their arsenal contains lies, distortions, fake news, and perfidious activities by high-ranking politicians who have sold their souls in a quest for power.

This insurgency from within is far more dangerous than an attack from enemies without.  In the past, our country has paid a significant price for remaining vigilant against any threat to our freedoms.  Wars were fought and won.  But once again we seem to be approaching a new type of civil war, one that won't bode well for any of us if we are again engaged in a brutal conflict pitting neighbor against neighbor, which seems so inevitable that it's frightening.  Few of us understand what possible rationale exists in the minds of so many on the Left who are willing to sacrifice Americans' freedoms in exchange for what is being irrationally promoted as a socialistic Valhalla, where everyone and everything fares equally.  This political pandemic is a malady inflicted upon society by the Democrats and is spreading quickly.  No one knows how it will end, but odds are that it won't be good for our nation.

It is, however, once again time to ante up.  This means individually standing up to resist any type of threat against our flag, our right to bear arms, our right to free speech, our right to vote, our right to worship, our right to life, or our right to maintain our history even when some find it offensive.  Our past is the past.  It's cast in stone, and we all should be proud of it.  Our future is on quicksand.  So as we celebrate this Fourth of July, reflect on our past, visualize the future, and decide how much of an ante you personally are willing to wager for America's future.

Image: Jeff Turner via Flickr.