Editorial: Remember our core values this Fourth of July

As we approach July Fourth, we have no doubt that our founding fathers would not recognize the country they helped create.

They could not have foreseen the advances in manufacturing and technology that helped this country go from infant to world power in a matter of 150 years.

They could not have foreseen cars and airplanes and the Internet.

They could not have foreseen the situations that have brought unique challenges to the rules they helped establish.

However, through their words in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution that followed, we have a pretty good idea of what they wanted.

They wanted limited government. They wanted a government that derived its power from the people.

And that makes perfect sense.

Why, after suffering for years under the oppressive rule of a British king, would they have created a government similar to royal rule?

So in the case of government, they also might not recognize the country they helped create.

Today, we are in an era where government reaches beyond the boundaries of those documents, and unfortunately, many have gotten too used to it for it to change.

If you want medical insurance, go to the government to get it.

If you want retirement income, go to the government to get it.

If you want affordable housing, go to the government to get it.

If you want lower gas prices, go to the government for a solution.

If you want help on your farm, get the government to support it.

In the late 1700s when our founding fathers needed something, they didn't look to the king to provide it, and they certainly didn't look toward their new government to provide it either. They made do themselves.

They built their own homes. They farmed their own fields. They lived hand to mouth, not government to hand to mouth.

Times change, and certainly for many of us, we can't conceive of what technological advances may come in the next 50 years to reshape our country.

But, one thing holds true - the values written down 232 years ago that all men are created equal, that we have the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness without the government telling us how to obtain those rights, and that government derives its power from us, from we the people.

Let's remember that on this Independence Day.