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What Independence Day means: Dallas-area readers examine the importance of the Fourth of July

North Texans contemplate the meaning of freedom in previously published Letters to the Editor.

The Dallas Morning News publishes Letters to the Editor to give readers an opportunity to comment on current affairs and issues affecting the region and the nation. This year, we looked to the archives to reflect upon local viewpoints expressed by readers on July 4 — their commentary on the tenor of society and the historical events that shaped past perspectives — and a snapshot of where we were and where we were going.

While each letter represents the sentiments of the moment in time of when it was written, all letters contain individual recollections on the principles of independence, freedom and the meaning of Independence Day.

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We look back today at some of those letters.

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JULY 4, 2001

The beginning of the George W. Bush administration and the Fourth just before 9/11

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Revere would cry

Many years ago, Paul Revere mounted his horse and raced frantically through the middle of the night to warn the early settlers that “the enemy was coming.” In those days the “enemy” was the army of King George. Paul’s efforts were not in vain. The people woke up and paid attention, ultimately defeating that enemy. Paul’s dream of a government by the people and for the people became a reality. That was long ago. Things are different now. All that liberty and freedom stuff is not “in” anymore. There really isn’t a world, only corporations. Nowadays, people come second to stockholders. How can one person compete against all that “big money” anyway? No need to know the name of your congressman, he only listens to whoever fills his campaign coffers. Why try? If Paul were here today, how would he react to all this? After wiping the tears from his eyes, he would probably get back on his horse and go on another midnight ride. This time he would wake the town and tell the people that the enemy is not “coming” — the enemy is already “here.” Its name is indifference!

Michele Valentino, Dallas

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JULY 4, 2004

First Fourth after the capture of Saddam Hussein by American troops in Iraq

Let us resolve!

In these troubled times for our republic, let us all jealously covet the liberty and independence our Founding Fathers won for us with their glorious dedication under extreme hardships. Let us resolve to guard, preserve and pass on to our children our heritage of rights as Americans and by nature. And let us further resolve, in the Spirit of 1776, to fight to take back those rights to our freedom that have been usurped by despotic government.

This we owe to ourselves and our progeny — and to our Founders, to whom all mankind is indebted for giving life to the concept of liberty.

Earl Lively, Dallas

JULY 4, 2005

The Iraq War continued into its third year and Hurricane Katrina hit one month after Independence Day

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West Texas liberty

As a boy in 1930s Germany, my father read tales about the American frontier, cowboys and cattle drives, mountains and wide-open spaces. When his homeland became a dictatorship, he experienced life without freedom.

My parents survived the horrors of war — my father long a soldier in brutal combat, my mother a refugee fleeing certain abuse. They endured their share of hell.

Dad’s desire for liberty and a better life for his family led him to America. And his search for wide-open spaces brought him to rugged West Texas, where he found tranquility. Not a shining city on a hill, but a little cow town in the mountains.

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We are indebted to our parents for many things. Their example of responsibility, duty, integrity and patriotism inspired us and served us well in our lives as military officers, civilian professionals, husbands, fathers and neighbors.

But what we appreciate most is their risking all to come to this land of liberty, to beautiful far West Texas and the fine people there who so welcomed us. That leap of faith across the Atlantic gave us, and now their grandchildren, that precious opportunity so widely sought: the chance to live the “American dream.”

Gordon Moller, Grapevine

JULY 4, 2008

Economic uncertainty and record-high gas prices marked the first full year of the Great Recession

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Oil Independence Day

Tired of unfair laws and unreasonable taxes, American colonists proclaimed freedom. As we celebrate liberty today, it seems ironic our country has evolved from declaring independence from foreign oppression to dependence on foreign oil.

In fact, a slow rebellion against reliance on foreign oil began when OPEC left Americans sitting in lines to buy gasoline from stations with dry tanks in the ’70s. Today, the price stands at $4 a gallon for gasoline, and it also shows up in everything from the food we eat and clothes we wear to the vacations we can’t afford to take.

We’ve proposed 15 ways to cut the cost of energy for working American families by giving them access to the American energy they want and need. The problem is that the Democrats keep blocking our legislation.

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There’s no better time than America’s Independence Day for Congress to stop arguing about this problem and start fixing it.

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Arlington

Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Lewisville

JULY 4, 2011

In the midst of the Arab Spring and two months after the capture of Osama bin Laden

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The birthday of freedom

On July Fourth, we must realize that we are confronted with the most serious crisis we have faced in our history. Our freedom is threatened as it has never been before.

And what right have we to it? We possess an intrinsic human dignity, an inner majesty that gives us an appetite and a passion for freedom.

Peace is more than the absence of war. It is the tranquility of order, it is security, it is liberty — thus, religious, political and economic freedom. It is life with honor and dignity for the children of God.

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Today, the most crucial time in the history of our country, we again are called upon to make sacrifices, not only for our own beloved country, but for all mankind. The destiny of our people must be to hold high the banner of freedom for all men everywhere. If this banner just happens to be the Star-Spangled Banner standing alone, then it is our duty to God and country to bear that burden, unwavering and undaunted.

We would all do well to bear this in mind during our moments of celebration on July Fourth, the birthday of freedom. I can think of no better call.

J. Waymon Rose, Farmersville

JULY 4, 2012

The Fourth before President Barack Obama won a second term

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Celebrate our independent ways

Pray, or don’t. Dissent, or don’t. Tell off a politician, or don’t. Vote, or don’t. Go to church, or don’t. Read the Bible or the Quran. Or neither. Be a Republican or a Democrat, or neither. Live in the city or out in the wide open spaces. Dress up or dress down. Drive a gasoline-powered vehicle, or drive an electric one. Exercise, or lie on the couch. Be a coach. Be a cowboy. Appreciate the Constitution, or ignore it. Choices — countless, cherished choices — are ours. Freedom and independence make it so, as we are reminded on this and each July Fourth. Heck of a deal, no?

Roger Summers, Arlington

Uncle Sam, a rescued bald eagle displayed in the Birds of Prey show, sat in front of an...
Uncle Sam, a rescued bald eagle displayed in the Birds of Prey show, sat in front of an American Flag at the North Texas State Fair on Aug. 23, 2015.(Kristen Watson/DRC)
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JULY 4, 2013

One week before the Fourth, the U.S. Senate passed an immigration reform bill paving the way for citizenship for unauthorized immigrants

Through new American eyes

A reader’s poem:

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A country has adopted me and I have adopted her.

When millions of my Ahmadi brothers and

sisters were suffering back home in Pakistan

My adopted country raised voice for them.

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When there is tsunami in Far East

When there is earthquake in mountainous

regions of my motherland

Or in open seas in Haiti

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My adopted land’s helicopters and planes were found flying

Helping people in need, people in fear.

When dictators rule their lands

When oppressors oppress human rights

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When kings and ruthless rulers kill their very own people

My adopted country is there to protect them

From the wrath of their oppressors.

My adopted country has come a long way

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From George Washington to Abraham Lincoln to JFK to Reagan to Clinton to Obama

Faces I am proud of.

Black or brown or white or Christian or Jew or Muslim or any religion or no religion

Equality for all, love for all and hatred for none.

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Now having felt the freedom of religion and speech

Freedom of conscience and thought and right to vote openly

On this Fourth of July, I would like the whole world to become United States of Freedom

Like the United States of America.

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Jari Khan, Plano

JULY 4, 2018

The second year of the Trump presidency and the border wall debate forces a government shutdown

Celebrating independence

I have always wondered why we celebrate the day that the Colonies declared their independence from England rather than the day that they actually gained that independence. When I was 10 years old, I declared my independence from my parents, but it took another eight years to achieve it. Such was the case with the Colonies. It took more than seven years of war before the British acknowledged defeat and recognized the United States of America as an independent nation by their signing of the Treaty of Paris on Sept. 3, 1783.

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I’m not advocating a change, mind you — too much risk that a Sept. 3 fireworks display might conflict with a Cowboys game. Incidentally, my parents celebrated my independence day for years.

Roy L. Steen, Dallas

A photo released by Smithsonian Institution shows curators restoring the Star-Spangled...
A photo released by Smithsonian Institution shows curators restoring the Star-Spangled Banner, the flag that inspired the words of the National Anthem, at the National Museum of American History. On June 14, 2001, Flag Day, conservators concluded that the 208-year-old flag was more fragile than originally believed and would have to be displayed to the public on a slight incline that would protect the fabric from stress.(National Museum of American History / AFP)

JULY 4, 2020

A year defined by some of the largest protests in American history

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Why we salute Old Glory

The American flag meant many things to a multitude of Americans who fought and died for this country to begin a nation and grow into the most powerful country on earth. It’s true that America has gone through many twists and turns to get us to the present. The American experience has not always been pretty. We still have a long way to go for civil rights for all our citizens. As a Vietnam veteran and author, it breaks my heart to see rioters burning our flag and desecrating it in every conceivable way. Throughout our history it has flown proudly from the Revolutionary period for our independence through the many attempts to change our way of life. Immigrants from every place on Earth risk death daily to come here to be a part of the greatness that is America. That flag has lived through strife and will forever wave proudly. America’s spirit will never be broken.

Ron Moyne, Denton

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