On this Independence Day weekend in 2016, America is beset with challenges from within and without. Both threaten our nation’s long history of self-government and ordered liberty.

As we gear up for a frighteningly consequential national election in November, we would do well to recall our heritage and take courage from it. The American Civil Rights Union’s pedigree comes from the Reagan years, when a brave president declared that Americans were not destined to live under the smothering hand of government as embodied in communist nations at the time and even in the increasingly bureaucratic welfare states of Western Europe.

Even before he became president, Mr. Reagan wrote with the pen of a visionary. In 1964, he proclaimed that, “If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth.”

In 1981, shortly after becoming the 40th president of the United States, he celebrated Independence Day with these thoughts:

“Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people. We sometimes forget that great truth, and we never should. Happy Fourth of July.”

Here at the ACRU, where Mr. Reagan’s spirit lives on, we are committed to preserving America’s unique, Constitution-anchored liberty.

With that, we wish everyone a rousing Independence Day!