[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 87 (Thursday, June 29, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6770-S6771]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           A PATRIOTIC FOURTH

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, this coming Tuesday is the Fourth of July. 
Two hundred and thirty years ago, in 1776, our Founding Fathers 
declared independence from Britain, establishing a nation on 
fundamentally new principles of government. Those principles, laid out 
in ringing tones in the Declaration of Independence and given flesh and 
substance in our Constitution, have stood us well for these last 230 
years. That is 84,007 days, including leap years, and we are still 
going strong.
  Already, one can see the red, white, and blue bunting decorating 
stores, and one can see the fireworks for sale in those places where 
they are permitted. People are purchasing picnic and barbeque makings 
at the grocery stores and filling the propane tanks that will fuel the 
backyard grills. Next Tuesday, the Nation's air will be filled with the 
sizzle and aroma of good old hot dogs and hamburgers, steaks and 
shishkebobs, and barbeque of infinite regional variety. Sweet, luscious 
corn on the cob may lay atop the grill, roasting in its own leafy 
wrapping. Picnic tables will groan under the weight of creamy potato 
salad--potato salad like they make in Tennessee--tart coleslaw, egg 
salad or macaroni salad. Cold slabs of watermelon--Mr. President, cold 
slabs of watermelon--and fresh cherries will tempt some to initiate 
seed spitting contests. It is hard to imagine a more all-American 
feast. Even Thanksgiving, with its formality and fine china, does not 
capture the American spirit in the same manner as a barefoot feast like 
a Fourth of July picnic.
  And the entertainment, too, is all-American. In the morning, we line 
the sidewalks of countless small towns and communities to watch the 
parades of fire engines and floats. Small children ride on father's 
shoulders to get a better view, and dogs--yes, like my little dog--
circle below, tangling leashes around legs as they bark happily at the 
passing show. We wave at bands and we wave at the beauty queens, too, 
and local politicians before heading home to go boating, fishing, 
swimming, or just visiting with family in the cool shade of a tall 
tree. Americans celebrate the Fourth outdoors.
  In the evening, we gather after our picnics to listen to concerts and 
wait for the fireworks. The air now is filled with whizzing 
acceleration followed by an anticipatory pause, then the bursting pop 
of the exploding sparks. We ooh and ahh and clap. We are, generally, 
filled with a pride and love of our nation on the Fourth of July. We 
feel patriotic--yes, we do--in a general and fuzzy sense--a patriotism 
borne of a full stomach and stirring martial music, tinged with the 
scent of black powder and wrapped in red, white and blue bunting.
  This general sense of patriotism and this general sense of love of 
country is, of course, a good thing. We are the very fortunate few, 
just 299,062,710 or so of the world's 6,524,438,583 citizens as of June 
25, 2006, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That is just 4.6 percent 
or so of the world's population. We live in a nation richly endowed by 
nature, generally temperate in climate, and sparsely populated, though 
that may not seem true to anyone seeking to leave Washington for the 
beach this weekend. For 230 years--yes, two centuries and two decades--
America has expanded geographically, economically and intellectually, 
literally reaching the moon and the stars. We have made great 
discoveries in the sciences and in medicine. We look after our own and 
reach out to help others. Our Nation is far from perfect, to be sure, 
but I doubt that many of us would willingly trade it for another.
  George William Custis wrote that ``A man's country is not a certain 
area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle 
and patriotism is loyalty to that principle.'' I think he is only 
partly correct patriotism is loyalty to that principle as well as to 
the homeland over which that principle governs. We love our Nation for 
all that it is physically, the collection of geography and peoples that 
we know and love.
  But it is also the principles upon which our Nation was founded 230 
years ago--principles to which we must always hold fast, lest they be 
eroded away.
  Our Nation was founded on the principles of equality and the rights 
of man to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is the job of 
government to ensure and protect these rights, and governments should 
only be based upon the consent of the people, not some powerful elite. 
Those fundamental principles should never be taken for granted. Even 
after 230 years of hearing them, they are not tired, run-of-the-mill, 
banal, or ordinary. Most of the other 96 percent of the world's 
population does not enjoy the blessings of those principles. Much of 
the rest of the world's population must live in the shadow of fear. 
Their governments have greater power and fewer restraints, and need not 
pay much attention to public opinion or internal dissent. In too many 
nations, dissenters can be jailed or simply ``disappeared'' if they 
dare to raise their voices to question their government's actions or 
policies.
  We are blessed to live under a system of government established to 
serve all of the people. Mark Twain wrote that ``The government is 
merely a servant merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its 
prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide 
who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not 
originate them.'' The orders that it is to obey should come from the 
people, and from a consensus of what constitutes the common good. That 
is rare in this world, a treasure to be guarded jealously.
  Our Founding Fathers drafted our Constitution to defend individual 
freedom and to provide opportunity for all. It is a government 
expressly designed to balance power so that no one person can ever 
become a tyrant unless the people, in their foolishness or their 
apathy, allow it. Abraham Lincoln once said that ``America will never 
be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it 
will be because we destroyed ourselves.''
  In his book, Notes on Virginia, Thomas Jefferson wrote that, ``If 
once [the people] become inattentive to public affairs, you and I, and 
Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. 
It seems to be the law of general nature, in spite of individual 
exceptions.'' We the people are the guardians of our own liberty.
  Power and the trappings of power are as addictive as the strongest 
drug. When people in power come to believe that they know the interests 
of the Nation better than the people who are the Nation, and when 
people cease to listen to the people or to remember the folks back 
home, a dangerous situation is created.
  The historian, Henry Steele Commager, said that ``Men in authority 
will always think that criticism of their policies is dangerous. They 
will always equate their policies with patriotism, and find criticism 
subversive.''
  Each of us, as citizens of this great land and benefactors of our 
system of government, must serve as its defenders, against invasion 
from without, of course, but also against erosion from within. We must 
be prepared to criticize when government strays from our fundamental 
principles, when it ceases to be the servant of the people. In doing 
so, we must be prepared to be called unpatriotic. That is hard to do 
when we are fired up on barbeque and fireworks and patriotic music. 
That is hard to do when we have troops in the field and anxious 
families back home. But criticism is not unpatriotic. Far from it. When 
we speak up, we emulate our Founding Fathers, who were not afraid to 
spread criticism where it was warranted.
  On the Fourth of July and on every day, Americans should feel 
patriotic in every sense of that word. We have every right to be proud 
of our Nation and our history. We Americans have every reason to look 
forward to a bright future, as long as we protect and

[[Page S6771]]

encourage the right of every American to express his or her views and 
keep this Nation on the track that has carried us so well for so long.
  I close with a poem Arthur Nicholas Hosking, ``Land of the Free.'' I 
wish everyone a Happy Fourth of July.

     America, O Power benign, great hearts revere your name, You 
           stretch your hand to every land, to weak and strong the 
           same; You claim no conquest of the sea, nor conquest of 
           the field, But conquest for the rights of man, that 
           despots all shall yield.

     America, staunch, undismayed, your spirit is our might; No 
           splendor falls on feudal walls upon your mountain's 
           height, But shafts of Justice pierce your skies to 
           light the way for all, A world's great brotherhood of 
           man, that cannot, must not fall.

     America, in God we trust, we fear no tyrant's horde; There's 
           light that leads toward better deeds than conquest by 
           the sword; Yet our cause is just, if fight we must 
           until the world be free Of every menace, breed, or 
           caste that strikes at Liberty.

     America, home of the brave, our song in praise we bring--
           Where Stars and Stripes the winds unfurl, `tis there 
           that tributes ring; Our fathers gave their lives that 
           we should live in Freedom's light Our lives we 
           consecrate to thee, our guide the Might of Right.
  Mr. President, I hope that all the Senate family will have a safe, 
joyous Fourth of July

                        The Building of the Ship

     Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State!
     Sail on, O Union, strong and great!
     Humanity with all its fears,
     With all the hopes of future years,
     Is hanging breathless on thy fate!
     We know what Master laid thy keel,
     What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel,
     Who made each mast, and sail, and rope,
     What anvils rang, what hammers beat,
     In what a forge and what a heat
     Were shaped the anchors of thy hope!
     Fear not each sudden sound and shock,
     'Tis of the wave and not the rock;
     'Tis but the flapping of the sail,
     And not a rent made by the gale!
     In spite of rock and tempest's roar,
     In spite of false lights on the shore,
     Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea!
     Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee,
     Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears,
     Our faith triumphant o'er our fears,
     Are all with three,--are all with thee!

                                     --Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

  Mr. BYRD. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Isakson). The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ALLEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. ALLEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak in morning 
business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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