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Guest post by: Michael Hume Become an Author

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Great Inspirational Leadership? Look No Further Than 1776 Long ago, 56 men pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to the cause of freedom in America. They resolved to lead a revolution that would remove America from the traditional order of things that had existed for all of history, up to that point. Could people really rule themselves? Those men thought so, and so did the thousands since who've sacrificed their lives and fortunes to defend the experiment they launched 235 years ago today.

Within the next few years, the American people fought and prevailed in a bloody war to throw off British rule, and then fought with each other (rhetorically) to determine the shape of the new nation. They created a constitutional republic unlike any that had existed before, dedicated to the notion that the people could, in fact, be sovereign (in a worldly sense).

Lately, it's been fashionable among junk-opinion vendors to trash the Founders, the Constitution, and the very foundation of this, the greatest nation that's ever existed. According to these ding-dongs, the Founders were racist, biased elites, and their Constitution took no account of the things we deal with today, from gas prices to sexting, from air travel to abortion clinics.

Such pundits don't know much about the Founders, the Constitution, or the last two centuries of history. In a nutshell, these men - the cream of the British colonies in America - had the most to lose among all of the continent's residents... and they put it all on the line for the ideal of a nation born of freedom. The Consitution they crafted put strict limits (often ignored these days) on the government, and left people free to invent, innovate, and create. Without the U.S. Constitution, we might still have the airplane and automobile today... but not of the quality we enjoy. And only a fraction of us would be "enjoying" those, and countless other, modern miracles.

The Founders left us free to screw things up, sure. But they made a nation in which mistakes are OK, and risks are worth taking. Entrepreneurship and personal responsibility drive the country. And just as every third-or-so generation begins to take our freedoms for granted, the other generations clean up the messes of the entire world, and fight to keep one place of last refuge where anyone from anywhere can find freedom and opportunity. The Founders were inspirational leaders, the sort that are found (to greater and lesser extents) in every American generation.

These days, as a nation, the U.S. is tied to every other nation on Earth, militarily and economically. For decades, the world has operated on a basis of "mutually assured economic destruction" - no nation can wreck the economy of another without wrecking its own, as well. I pray for the day that we, as a nation, divorce ourselves from such a system so that true American freedom can drive innovation and new solutions to global problems.

And as individuals, too many of us have become "dependent" on a government which has been only too happy to take us on as state-controlled patrons. Perhaps the start of a new spirit of independence would be found in each of us, resolving to act with more independence in our own lives, and declaring our freedom from dependence on anyone - especially the government.

Happy Fourth of July. Enjoy the party! And while you're at it, think about how you can be part of the next generation of inspirational leaders dedicated to refounding the republic we call "the land of the Free, and the home of the Brave."

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