I remember well thinking as a child how fortunate I was to have been born in America. And I was, I’ve traveled extensively and love many other places, but America is my home. It has been very, very good to me, and I deeply appreciate all it has given me. I love America.

That the United States should be in such turmoil at this time, the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, is both troubling and understandable. Never has the integrity of the nation been under such stress, being pulled apart by the venal and ignorant radicals on the right and left. But that’s the nature of a free nation, that people are free to make choices, even if their choices are poor or corrupt. And we are free to make other choices, whether to stop the venal or ignorant or to stand up for the founding principles that have served to make this great nation what it is today.

I choose the latter. It’s not that everything American is right or perfect. Much wrong has been done, and much can be done better. But the principles behind this nation are good and pure, even if they have too often been ignored or twisted for the transitory convenience of the few.

Rather than sit back and do nothing to help, I write this blawg, as I have since February 13, 2007, in the hope that my words, the only tools I have as a lawyer, contribute to making the United States the best it can be. America can be the land of the free and the home of the brave if we make the choice to keep it that way.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

I will continue the fight for these truths. I hope you will too. Happy birthday, America.