We wish all our members, families and friends of the Queens Village Republican Club a most happy and meaningful Fourth of July. As we celebrate our national holiday, it’s important to keep it’s meaning in mind, which was so eloquently expressed by Frederick R. Bedell Jr., Grand Knight of St. Anastasia Knights of Columbus Council #5911.

Remember the Reason for the Fourth of July

By Frederick R. Bedell Jr.

The Fourth of July is a day of great importance. In 1776 we fought as a people for a birth of a new nation founded on Democracy. Since then we have fought many wars and many lives were lost for the cause of democracy. In this democracy, we have the right to speak our minds and the right to vote for those who will represent our rights of freedom and justice for all.

So the next election, please get out and vote. Let not our ancestors, who have died for what most of us hold most dear, and that is freedom, to have died in vain. As it says in the Declaration of Independence, “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 them these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” So, let freedom ring on the 4th of July. Remember this too: The 4th of July is not just a day off, for store sales and barbecues but a day to celebrate our day of independence from tyranny.