Let Freedom Ring
What to know: On this Independence Day, Americans will celebrate the founding of the most free and prosperous nation in history—one that remains for the world “a shining city on a hill.” Want proof? Last year, nearly 1 million legal immigrants became new U.S. citizens—the third-highest year on record.
The TPPF take: TPPF’s own Carine Martinez became a U.S. citizen in 2019.
“The United States was founded on ideas that were revolutionary at the time: that men are created equal and have inalienable rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of their own happiness, and that government is instituted to protect these rights—not to limit them or create new ones,” she says. “But what a lot of people forget is that these ideas are not universally accepted. In some places, they are still seen as revolutionary, or even rejected outright as relics of the past.”
For more on Carine’s journey to become an American citizen., click here.
Where Liberty Dwells
What to know: Brace yourself for the glut of opinion pieces declaring that America is less free today than ever. And the media will blame the states.
The TPPF take: New Texan Jonathan Reich left Pennsylvania for good last year.
“State and local governments, rather than a distant federal government in Washington, know what policies work best for their people, since they live in the communities they govern,” Reich wrote for The Cannon Online. “Texas, with its unique pandemic policies that have generated a low unemployment rate and a thriving economy, is a prime example of federalism at work.”
For more on liberty and federalism, click here.
A Republic, If You Can Keep It
What to know: On the last day of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked whether we would have a republic or a monarchy. He replied, “A Republic, if you can keep it.”
The TPPF take: At Princeton, which trains many of our young leaders, the basic tenets of freedom are shockingly disregarded.
“According to a survey of Princeton students conducted by Princetonians for Free Speech, an alumni group, ‘[t]hree-quarters (76%) of students say it’s always, sometimes, or rarely acceptable to shout down a speaker to prevent them from speaking on campus. By comparison, 44% of students say it’s acceptable to block other students from attending a campus speech in some instances and 16% say the same for using violence to stop a campus speech,’” says TPPF’s Tom Lindsay.
For more on Princeton and freedom, click here.