It’s that time of year again, when Idahoans turn out for parades, light fireworks, and celebrate the greatest country on God’s green earth. Two hundred forty-nine years ago, John Adams declared that we should commemorate America’s independence with pomp and parade, shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other, and boy, do we ever!
From the Emmett Cherry Festival to Meridian Dairy Days to Eagle Fun Days, Idahoans are already celebrating. Over the next few weeks, nearly every community in our great state will pay tribute to our country, culminating in the Fourth of July.
On Independence Day, come join us in downtown Boise for the Star-Spangled 4th, the annual parade celebrating America in our capital city. The Idaho GOP is back with our award-winning float, and this year, we’re honoring Idaho’s Medal of Honor recipients with a gold star motif.
Here are just a few of their stories:
- Junior Van Noy, born in Grace in 1924, enlisted in the Army during World War II. While manning a machine gun during an enemy assault near Finschhafen, New Guinea, he refused to retreat despite being wounded. He destroyed half the enemy force before falling in battle. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor and buried in his beloved Idaho.
- Lloyd McCarter, born in St. Maries in 1917, served with the 503rd Parachute Infantry during World War II. He earned the Medal of Honor for gallantry during the battle for Corregidor Island in the Philippines. Tragically, after losing his wife to cancer, he took his own life in 1956.
- James Johnson, born in Pocatello in 1926, fought with the Marine Corps in the Korean War. At the Chosin Reservoir, he stayed behind to cover his platoon’s withdrawal, engaging the enemy in hand-to-hand combat. He gave his life so that others might live, and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
These are just three of many Idahoans who stepped up when freedom was on the line. We must never waver in our defense of this country and the flag for which it stands. At the same time, we must exercise wisdom when placing American lives in harm’s way. Sometimes, the best war is the one you don’t have to fight, which is why I couldn’t be more proud of President Trump for his efforts to promote peace around the world.
This Fourth of July, let us come together to celebrate our great nation, honor those who fought and died to keep it free, and look forward to a new golden age of peace and prosperity for all Americans.
One reply on “Remembering the Price of Freedom”
FREEDOM!?!
How have the men and women sacrificed in wars at the behest of the international bankers brought about freedom for America, especially being American’s have only become more and more enslaved, licensed, indebted, and imprisoned since the inception of the biblically egregious Constitutional Republic and it’s ungodly wars of aggression?
“…The power to declare war is a serious responsibility. Why were the framers so vague in defining the parameters of war and the conditions under which it could be declared? Section 8, Clause 11 is the only place of significance where warfare is mentioned in the Constitution. Little wonder this power has been abused. Luther Martin [one of Maryland’s delegates to the Constitutional Convention] protested:
‘…the congress have also a power given them to raise and support armies, without any limitation as to numbers, and without any restriction in time of peace. Thus, sir, this plan of government, instead of guarding against a standing army, that engine of arbitrary power, which has so often and so successfully been used for the subversion of freedom, has in its formation given it an express and constitutional sanction….’40….
“Because the framers provided no Biblical parameters, unbiblical warfare has been the rule ever since. Following is a list of the countries bombed by the United States since World War II:
China: 1945-46; 1950-53
Korea: 1950-53
Guatemala: 1954; 1967-69
Indonesia: 1958
Cuba: 1959-60
Vietnam: 1961-73
Congo: 1964
Laos: 1964-73
Peru: 1965
Cambodia: 1969-70
Granada: 1983
Libya: 1986; 2011
El Salvador: 1980s
Nicaragua: 1980s
Panama: 1989
Iraq: 1991-2001; 2003-09
Sudan: 1998
Afghanistan: 1998; 2003-09
Yugoslavia: 1999.
“From 1945 to the present [2012], the United States has bombed nineteen different countries under the guise of defending America’s sovereignty and promoting democracy. But America is none the better for it, and not one of these countries has become a legitimate democracy – not that this would be anything to celebrate. Something is amiss. Wars fought for political gain or financial profit can only be classified as ungodly acts of aggression….”
For more, see Chapter 4 “Article 1: Legislative Usurpation” of free online book “Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective” at bible versus constitution dot org. Click on the top entry on our Online Book page and scroll down to Chapter 4.