On Independence Day this year, this is the speech I wish we had heard:

“My fellow Americans, today is Fourth of July, the day we celebrate our nation’s independence from tyranny and oppression centuries ago. That independence was won by the sacrifice of patriotic citizens, and sustained by the sacrifices of subsequent patriots we honor equally.

Those patriots made sacrifices not because they wanted to, but because they knew it was their duty as Americans. They were willing to forego their own comfort and security for the sake of their mothers and fathers, their sisters and brothers—even for neighbors and townspeople they had never met.