Independence Day: Time to Affirm FaithThese are times to try mens souls. There is disunity abroad, and at home the disunity bred of suspicion which tries to set neighbor against neighbor. Over all hangs the threat of the hydrogen bomb which, it is feared, can mean the end of civilization.But what of the days when Tom Paine wrote:These are the times that try mens souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country, but he thatstands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheaply we esteem too lightly. It is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated. Tom Paine wrote to rally a new nation to a desperate cause. There were summer soldiers and sunshine patriots. But there were also fighters for freedom and stanch patriots who only a short time before had pledged lives, fortunes and sacred honor to a fight against tyranny and for independence. They were men who loved their country when there was scarcely any country to love; when enemy armies were upon these shores and the American cause was fed with hope and determination and little else. Now what of the present? Who would shrink? Who can say that this nation, the mightiest of history, must fear to face its destiny?The men who signed the Declaration of Independence one hundred and seventy eight years ago today would have had no trouble in answering. To them freedom was the most important possession and to win freedom they would face every danger. Perhaps the dangers are greater today; the hydrogen bomb certainly is more deadly than the flintlock. But a man can only die once and once freedom is lost, it may well be forever.There is need now for old time resoluteness for old fashioned patriotism; a need to stand firm for country and principles. The foe may be mighty the foe may be crafty but there is little to fear as long as fear does not become supreme. The heirs of the first Independence Day will be their own masters as long as the Constitution and Bill of Rights are respected and there is an American will to live as Americans.Our strength is in our institutions and in our belief in ourselves. As long as we do not allow faction to be set against faction or neighbor against neighbor, with suspicion corroding everything, we are well armed for any battle.Let us honor the patriots of 1776 with these words so well said by Elmer DavisThis republic was not established by cowards; and cowards will not preserve it.