Happy Independence Day From The Maryland Young Republicans

On this day, we celebrate our 236th birthday of our great nation. In the Summer of 1776, our Founding Fathers threw off the shackles of tyranny and oppression to create a new nation, one that was truly endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Today is a day that we celebrate freedom with our friends and our family. However we would be remiss if we did not take the opportunity to recommit ourselves to freedom and independence. Both in Maryland and across the nation, freedom is constantly under attack.

In Washington, our freedom and religious liberty is under attack, with Obamacare set to increase costs and decrease access to health care, while at the same time forcing religious organizations to choose between obeying the state and obeying their God.

In Annapolis, Governor Martin O'Malley is content to try to tax our middle class into poverty, expand the already overreaching web of government regulations on business, and job losses as he prepares to run for President in 2016. Legislative Democrats, when poised with citizen challenges to overreaching and unpopular laws, are preparing to restrict the right of citizens to petition legislation to the ballot in upcoming sessions, while planning to expand the scope of government and raise even more taxes on average Marylanders.

While we celebrate independence and freedom today, please remember what President Ronald Reagan so famously said about freedom:

Perhaps you and I have lived with this miracle too long to be properly appreciative. Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.

We must be prepared to fight for and defend that freedom. Join us the Maryland Young Republicans in supporting our Republican candidates, our Republican Party, and our shared conservative principles. It is our responsibility to act, for this and future generations to enjoy the freedoms that we so cherish.

Conservatively,

Brian Griffiths