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The five-alarm-fire wake-up call to defend and honor the 56 signers of our Declaration of Independence came to me quite shockingly, on July 4th last year.

It was then, on the very day we celebrate the birth of our nation, that I witnessed example after example of those from the left and the far-left––be they in the mainstream media, activists, or anarchists––calling for not only the "canceling" of the Fourth of July, and the American flag, but the continued smearing, censorship, and canceling of our founding fathers.

As I did, one overriding thought filled my mind:

"What if they are successful?"

JULY 4TH TRIVIA: WHO WERE THE SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE?

Those who believe such totalitarian censorship could never come to be in the United States of America, need only review how quickly and brutally many on the left were able to create the woke cancel culture to silence those they oppose.

Now some on the left openly declare they are coming for Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin Franklin, and others who courageously signed the Declaration of Independence.

firework display washington

July 4th celebration in Washington, D.C.. ((Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images))

Just this past week, woke school board members in California were calling for the Fourth of July to be "boycotted" and not celebrated.  It was and is these collective declared acts of censorship, targeting the Fourth of July and the 56 men who signed our Declaration of Independence which galvanized me to write a book in their defense.

That document and those men created our history. The history of which should never be bent, twisted, censored, or banned to fit any ideological narrative. As I stress in "The 56", if our history is bad, let us condemn it and learn from it. If it is good, let us praise it and build upon it. But let us never twist, censor, or cancel our shared American history.

JULY 4TH QUIZ: HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW INDEPENDENCE DAY?

Such are the acts of cowardly totalitarians who -- as Jefferson stressed almost 250 years ago -- fear the people.

And yet, since the left and far-left does control a majority of the media, academia, entertainment, science, and medicine…who is to stop them?

Us. 

As I highlight in my book, each of us can still instill the lessons of liberty handed down from those who put their very lives on the line to sign the Declaration of Independence.  

As these 56 men knew, unless and until those who push tyranny imprison us or take our lives, they cannot silence our individual voices.  They can’t stop us from passing along the truth from one American patriot to the next.

And yet, sadly, as a new Fox News poll out this week has just indicated, pride in the United States of America is down significantly.  

FOX NEWS POLL: PRIDE IN US DOWN SIGNIFICANTLY

One reason for that is because the far-left has managed to take away our voices via their control of those five megaphones.

But guess what? "We the People" can get our voices back.  

Thomas Jefferson portrait

 Cropped image of the official presidential portrait of Thomas Jefferson painted by Rembrandt Peale, Dec 31, 1799) (Public Domain)

One of the editors involved in my book project compared it to a "modern day version of ‘Common Sense’ by Thomas Paine."

While that was an exceedingly kind comparison, there is real truth behind the intent.

In January of 1776, Paine’s 47-page pamphlet swept across the colonies like a wildfire. Precisely and only because of the warnings against the crushing tyranny within it, "Common Sense" became – proportionally – the largest bestseller our nation has ever known.  In a population that at the time hovered around 2.5 million, that small paperback sold approximately 500,000 copies.  That’s the equivalent of 70 million copies today.  

At 37 years of age, the poor and struggling Paine found a benefactor in Benjamin Franklin and moved  from London to Philadelphia.  Though poor and the farthest thing from the upper crust of the colonies, Paine was an exceptional writer.  He was a man of the poor and the working-class.  Because of this, his voice was able to connect with the colonists who were suffering under the oppressive dictates of the Crown in a way that spoke loudly to them. 

"Declaration of Independence" - detail of the painting by John Trumbell

"Declaration of Independence" -- detail of the painting by John Trumbell.  (Getty Images)

And because Paine did raise his voice in desperate warning, his words against the suffocating tyranny of the time spread from one colonist to the next.  More than that, it put tremendous pressure on Jefferson, Franklin, John Adams and the other founding fathers to use their collective genius to save the people from that tyranny and give them "Liberty."

Our voices can do the same today.

In my book, while I do highlight, honor, and seek to protect all 56 signers of the declaration via the small chapters on each, I also spotlight the fact that the authoritarian dictates silencing the voices of the people in 1776 dangerously parallel the tyrannies of today. 

Except...the tyrannies of today are arguably much worse. 

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Still, along with pointing out that treacherous reality, I also seek to remind readers that all of those 56 signers left us a blueprint to protect our individual rights and our freedoms.

Independence Hall

FILE – Tourists walk in view of Independence Hall Thursday, July 30, 2015, in Philadelphia. (The Associated Press)

These are rights and freedoms that, as they correctly declared, were "bestowed upon each of us by God."  We simply must rediscover that blueprint, dust it off, and put the vision, genius, and courage of our founding fathers back into action.

Because I was blessed enough to be born in the nation envisioned and created by those founding fathers, I was able to rise above abject poverty and homelessness to create a comfortable life.  

Because I did, I am working with two former government officials to establish a foundation to preserve the history and protect the reputations of our founding fathers.

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Liberty.  Let’s remember that word this Fourth of July.

Add your voice to preserve and protect your unalienable rights. 

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM DOUGLAS MacKINNON