Every day, when Andrea and I sit down to our evening meal, we thank God for America, its freedoms, its abundance. "Proud" is not the word we use. We are "blessed" to be an American.

What I am "proud" of, is our forefathers who settled a wilderness; fought and won a war for independence against the greatest military power of their time; conceived a radical form of government based on the notion that "all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights, such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;" who had the wisdom to create a Constitution which guarantees each citizen’s rights ... and had the audacity to put restraints on their own governing power.

I am proud of all the men and women who fought and died to bring us our freedom and protect it to this day. I am proud of America’s traditional spirit of Judeo-Christian charity. I am proud of the American work ethic. I am proud of American capitalism that motivates financiers, industrialists, inventors, farmers, builders and entrepreneurs to furnish even the "poor" in America with a standard of living beyond the grasp or imagination of 19th Century royalty.

This Independence Day, I am proud of all the American people who still carry the spirit of the Founders in their hearts and minds. In a word, I am proud of you who make America "America."