by Arvin Vohra
Two hundred and forty-two years ago, the founders of this nation decided to overthrow their government. Today is more than a day to celebrate that decision. It is a day to remind ourselves to carry on their tradition of overthrow in our hearts, in our minds, and in our actions.
The myth is that we get to overthrow our government every four years. But the facts are that we have midterm elections, local elections, special elections. Our struggle against status quo continues outside of those election days, as we fight the policies and culture of welfare statism and government intrusion.
The 1776 revolution was perhaps finalized with guns, but the true battle was a battle of ideas. The rejection of the divine right to rule, the principle of consent of the governed, the repudiation of taxation without representation were the ideological battles of the time. Today, we continue to fight these vital ideological battles — the principle of self-ownership, the rejection of the preposterous notion of government protecting us from ourselves, the repudiation of the idea of perpetual military involvement in foreign civil wars, the full-scale opposition of every part of the welfare state.
We can get tricked into easier distractions. We can fight the minor injustices instead of the real ones. We can opt for tinkering around the edges of tyrannical statism.
But on July 4, I’m reminded that the Libertarian Party, the Libertarian Movement, America herself are about much more than that. America was born in revolution, in a spirit of independence and self-determination. By choosing to support the Libertarian Party, we’re boldly declaring that neither flavor of immoral statism is the right one, that we won’t settle for less than what our founding fathers spilled blood for.
Today, we once again declare our independence. We pledge ourselves to fight for the causes of individual freedom and dignity, of self-determination, and for liberty itself. It is an honor to fight for freedom alongside you.
Arvin Vohra is an educator, entrepreneur, and former vice chair of the Libertarian National Committee. He is the Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate in Virginia, and is running for the 2020 Libertarian nomination for president.
