What July Fourth Means to Me

I just returned home from watching the fireworks at Danbury Airport. All the way home I couldn’t help but wonder how many of the thousands of people at the fireworks felt the same patriotic spirit I’m enjoying right now.

Sure, I hang my U.S. Flag on the front porch every morning but that’s not the spirit I’m trying to describe. July 4th is Independence Day and I hope we’ll think for a moment what happened 233 years ago.

When he was president, Ronald Reagan wrote the following piece for Independence Day in 1981. Aide Michael Deaver later wrote: "This 4th of July message is the President's own words and written initially in his own hand."

What July Fourth Means to Me
Ronald Reagan

“For one who was born and grew up in the small towns of the Midwest, there is a special kind of nostalgia about the Fourth of July.

I remember it as a day almost as long-anticipated as Christmas. This was helped along by the appearance in store windows of all kinds of fireworks and colorful posters advertising them with vivid pictures.

No later than the third of July – sometimes earlier – Dad would bring home what he felt he could afford to see go up in smoke and flame. We'd count and recount the number of firecrackers, display pieces and other things and go to bed determined to be up with the sun so as to offer the first, thunderous notice of the Fourth of July.

I'm afraid we didn't give too much thought to the meaning of the day. And, yes, there were tragic accidents to mar it, resulting from careless handling of the fireworks. I'm sure we're better off today with fireworks largely handled by professionals. Yet there was a thrill never to be forgotten in seeing a tin can blown 30 feet in the air by a giant "cracker" – giant meaning it was about 4 inches long. But enough of nostalgia.

Somewhere in our growing up we began to be aware of the meaning of days and with that awareness came the birth of patriotism. July Fourth is the birthday of our nation. I believed as a boy, and believe even more today, that it is the birthday of the greatest nation on earth.

There is a legend about the day of our nation's birth in the little hall in Philadelphia, a day on which debate had raged for hours. The men gathered there were honorable men hard-pressed by a king who had flouted the very laws they were willing to obey. Even so, to sign the Declaration of Independence was such an irretrievable act that the walls resounded with the words "treason, the gallows, the headsman's axe," and the issue remained in doubt.

The legend says that at that point a man rose and spoke. He is described as not a young man, but one who had to summon all his energy for an impassioned plea. He cited the grievances that had brought them to this moment and finally, his voice falling, he said, "They may turn every tree into a gallows, every hole into a grave, and yet the words of that parchment can never die. To the mechanic in the workshop, they will speak hope; to the slave in the mines, freedom. Sign that parchment. Sign if the next moment the noose is around your neck, for that parchment will be the textbook of freedom, the Bible of the rights of man forever."

He fell back exhausted. The 56 delegates, swept up by his eloquence, rushed forward and signed that document destined to be as immortal as a work of man can be. When they turned to thank him for his timely oratory, he was not to be found, nor could any be found who knew who he was or how he had come in or gone out through the locked and guarded doors.

Well, that is the legend. But we do know for certain that 56 men, a little band so unique we have never seen their like since, had pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. Some gave their lives in the war that followed, most gave their fortunes, and all preserved their sacred honor.

What manner of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists, 11 were merchants and tradesmen, and nine were farmers. They were soft-spoken men of means and education; they were not an unwashed rabble. They had achieved security but valued freedom more. Their stories have not been told nearly enough.

John Hart was driven from the side of his desperately ill wife. For more than a year he lived in the forest and in caves before he returned to find his wife dead, his children vanished, his property destroyed. He died of exhaustion and a broken heart.

Carter Braxton of Virginia lost all his ships, sold his home to pay his debts, and died in rags. And so it was with Ellery, Clymer, Hall, Walton, Gwinnett, Rutledge, Morris, Livingston and Middleton. Nelson personally urged Washington to fire on his home and destroy it when it became the headquarters for General Cornwallis. Nelson died bankrupt.

But they sired a nation that grew from sea to shining sea. Five million farms, quiet villages, cities that never sleep, 3 million square miles of forest, field, mountain and desert, 227 million people with a pedigree that includes the bloodlines of all the world. In recent years, however, I've come to think of that day as more than just the birthday of a nation.

It also commemorates the only true philosophical revolution in all history.

Oh, there have been revolutions before and since ours. But those revolutions simply exchanged one set of rules for another. Ours was a revolution that changed the very concept of government.

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.”

Ronald Reagan
President of the United States

McLachlan Opposes Largest Tax Increase in Connecticut's History

Reinvent Government or Same Old Same Old?

Early in the 2009 legislative session I was excited to be appointed to a new commission created to identify potential improvements and efficiencies of our state government operations. I felt my experience with this process in local government could lend a unique perspective to the Commission on Enhancing Agency Outcomes (guvspeak acronym is CEAO). Now if we could just convince the Democratic majority leadership to seriously consider reinventing Connecticut state government’s operations we might actually reduce spending!

Public Act 09-02 spells out the charge of the commission:

“The Commission on Enhancing Agency Outcomes shall identify functional overlaps and other redundancies among state agencies and promote efficiency and accountability in state government by identifying ways to eliminate such overlaps and redundancies and by making such other recommendations as the commission deems appropriate, with the goal to reducing costs to the state and enhancing the quality and accessibility of state services.”

The CEAO membership is a diverse group with wide experience in government and business. Some members have participated in past government efficiency study efforts only to see the results of their work largely ignored.

I co-hosted a CEAO public hearing in Danbury where residents and business leaders shared testimony of common sense approaches to government efficiency – think like a business. What a novel idea!

I offered specific agency merger ideas for discussion by the commission but we have not met since April 24th for only our second meeting. Surely the co-chairs are anxious to offer sensible ideas for solving our budget crisis but it seems apparent the Democratic majority leadership is ignoring CEAO.

Budget rhetoric is abundant these days as the Democratic majority leadership drags their feet on the difficult decisions of this fiscal crisis. The major disappointment is we’re squandering an opportunity to truly reinvent Connecticut state government. Unfortunately, the Democrats in Hartford are focused on preserving powerful special interests and expanding rather than reducing state government.

Government Attacking Catholic Church Again?

I am alarmed to hear the Diocese of Bridgeport was forced to file a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court to protect their First Amendment rights due to actions by the Office of State Ethics. It seems ironic that the Roman Catholic Church and many other faith communities in Connecticut were fighting S.B. 1098 - a misguided bill that was clearly a violation of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution – and are now subject to lobbying laws in Connecticut.

I understand the lobbying laws in Connecticut are designed to carefully monitor professional lobbying activities – not the casual visitor to the State Capitol. Many organizations visit the Capitol to express their views on legislation but have no registered lobbyists. Is the Office of State Ethics suggesting organizers of every rally at the Capitol should register as a lobbyist?

I don’t see the connection of applying restrictions to a church organization using a website to communicate with their members and facilitate contacting their legislators. Once again, I see this activity as a First Amendment right.

I have grave concerns that our ethics statutes may be going too far in direct violation of the First Amendment. I have filed amendments on several bills at the Capitol to address these concerns. Hopefully, fellow legislators will agree that we must preserve church organizations' First Amendment rights and support changes to the lobbying laws.

Danbury Civil War Memorial

Memorial Day in Danbury long before the parade each monument is visited by a color guard, rifle squad and dignitaries for a wreath-laying ceremony. Twelve locations around the city. I wish everyone could experience this early morning tribute.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a special time for me. I've always enjoyed the ceremonies, parades and planting flowers at the cemetery. In 2004 I had the pleasure of participating in the dedication of the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. This was a volunteer opportunity I'll never forget as I escorted the Medal of Honor recipients to the stage with the President.

This morning was another special Memorial Day experience as I was invited to participate in the New Fairfield Veterans' ceremony. My assignment was to read perhaps one of the greatest speeches ever delivered - Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

Gettysburg Address

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met here on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But in a larger sense we can not dedicate - we can not consecrate - we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled, here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but can never forget what they did here.

It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they have, thus far, so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Death Penalty or Deficit Crisis?

The time at the State Capitol is 12:45 AM Friday morning - about thirteen hours after we convened the Senate Session for Thursday. We managed to address several bills on consent earlier today and at 5:30 PM the Democratic majority leadership called H.B. 6578 - AN ACT CONCERNING THE PENALTY FOR A CAPITAL FELONY!

I am still trying to understand why Senator Williams and Senator Looney decided to spend so much of our precious time remaining in the legislative session debating a bill that is highly likely to face a veto from Governor Rell. In fact, the Governor has publicly stated she supports the death penalty - all but promising a veto. The Democrats don't have the votes to override a veto as many of their members support the death penalty.

The debate is entering the eighth hour and everyone has not spoken. The Senate Republicans have just called the first of twenty-two amendments filed on this bill. If each amendment is called and just thirty minutes is afforded for each one we will see the sunrise over the Capitol and still be debating a bill that is destined for death.

I have struggled with the debate of repealing the death penalty in the Judiciary Committee and the Senate floor. Proponents of repealing the death penalty offered compelling arguments - many questioning the costs of executing a murderer in Connecticut and the ability of the criminal justice system to convict a murderer beyond a reasonable doubt. I will not support repealing the death penalty.

Dr. William Petit and his sister, Johanna Chapman, have shared their views on the death penalty and convinced me. Dr. Petit's wife, Jennifer and daughters, Michaela and Hayley were murdered in a home invasion - a gruesome crime where Dr. Petit escaped the home with his life. Two recent parolees were charged the crimes after police witnessed them leaving the home.

William Petit and Johanna Chapman are carrying the message of their tragedy to the Connecticut General Assembly. Dr. Petit's and Ms. Chapman's testimony to the Judiciary Committee on March 4, 2009 was brave. He said, "If you allow murderers to live you are giving them more regard, more value than three women who never hurt a soul and played by all of society's rules for their short lives. My family got the death penalty and you want to give murderers life - that is NOT JUSTICE. Any penalty less than death for murder is unjust and trivialize the victim and the victim's family. It is immoral and unjust to all of us in our society."

My sentiment EXACTLY!

The Senate Republicans' Deficit Clock tracks the daily and fiscal year-to-date deficit. Three million dollars of red ink for today! That means the Democratic majority of the state legislature is burning up the limited time remaining in this legislative session without substantive deficit mitigation action. We should be talking about the financial crisis in Connecticut - not legislation that is destined for the trash heap.