The Ambassador
Ambassador's Speech
REMARKS AT 4TH OF JULY IN APRIL
April 21, 2007
Lincoln School
Greetings to all my fellow Americans and also to our many Argentine and expatriate friends who are with us today!
Happy July 4th and Happy April 21st! Before I arrived, I knew the seasons would be different, but I must say I was somewhat surprised that we would also celebrate July 4th in April!
My wife Pam and I are delighted to be here with you to celebrate this most important of American holidays. As many of you know, this is my first 4th of July as U.S. Ambassador to Argentina. My wife and I arrived here from Washington, DC last November.
Although I recognize many faces here, it is a joy to be able to meet the larger group of fellow Americans who live in Argentina and to spend time with our Argentine and foreign community friends. I hope that throughout the afternoon I will be able to meet many of you, and I encourage you to come up and talk to both Pam and me and tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do in Argentina.
I want to thank the organizers of this special event: the American Club, the American Women’s Club, the American Chamber of Commerce, the American Employees Association, the Buenos Aires International Christian Academy, the Buenos Aires International Newcomers, the Lincoln School, the Embassy Military Group and the U.S. Marines, the Policia de Buenos Aires, and the University Womens' Club, and especially Carlos Cid and Jackie Abad, the co-coordinators of this event, for all their efforts at creating what promises to be a fun-filled 4th of July celebration.
I also would like to thank the many businesses who contributed generously to today’s event. What would a 4th of July celebration be without hot dogs and hamburgers, and games? Thank you all for making today possible.
The 4th of July is always a special time for Americans, but the day becomes even more important when we are living overseas, separated from family and friends. It becomes a time when we can feel connected with other Americans and celebrate the values that define us. The ideals of equality, self-determination, and liberty that our forefathers wrote into our constitution are still the cornerstone of the American way of life and the basis for our foreign policy.
In this spirit, I would like to read a few excerpts from a 4th of July speech given by Frances Wright in 1828. Though the English is a bit dated, the ideas capture well the spirit of July 4:
1) Our hearts should expand on this day, which calls to memory the conquest achieved by knowledge over ignorance, willing cooperation over blind obedience, opinion over prejudice, new ways over old ways.
2) Dating, as we justly may, a new era in the history of man from the Fourth of July, 1776, it would be well -- that is, it would be useful -- if on each anniversary we examined the progress made by our species in just knowledge and just practice. Each Fourth of July would then stand as a tidemark in the flood of time by which to ascertain the advance of the human intellect, by which to note the rise and fall of each successive error, the discovery of each important truth, the gradual melioration in our public institutions, social arrangements, and, above all, in our moral feelings and mental views ....
3) In this context, Wright argues that a patriot is a useful member of society, capable of enlarging all minds and bettering all hearts with which he comes in contact; a useful member of the human family, capable of establishing fundamental principles and of merging his own interests, those of his associates, and those of his nation in the interests of the human race.
4) Patriotism, in the exclusive meaning, is surely not made for America.
5) It is for Americans more especially to know why they love their country; and to feel that the love it, not because it is their country, but because it is the palladium of human liberty -- the favored scene of human improvement. It is for them, more especially, to examine their institutions; and to feel that they honor them because they are based on just principles. It is for them, more especially, to examine their institutions, because they have the means of improving them; to examine their laws, because at will they can alter them.
6) It is for them not to rest, satisfied with words; and to remember that equality means, not the mere equality of political rights, however valuable, but equality of instruction and equality in virtue; and that liberty means, not the mere voting at elections, but the free and fearless exercise of the mental faculties and that self-possession which springs out of well-reasoned opinions and consistent practice. It is for them to honor principles rather than men -- to commemorate events rather than days; when they rejoice, to know for what they rejoice, and to rejoice only for what has brought and what brings peace and happiness to men.
7) But let us rejoice as men, not as children -- as human beings rather than Americans -- as reasoning beings, not as ignorants. So shall we rejoice to good purpose and in good feeling; so shall we improve the victory once on this day achieved, until all mankind hold with us the Jubilee of Independence.
Regardless of what brought each of us to Argentina, we, as Americans, are bound together by the values our country embodies and an appreciation for the sacrifices of Americans who over the past 230 years have helped keep alive the ideals that we celebrate today.
And finally, I want to personally thank the Americans here for the work you are doing in Argentina that contributes to a better understanding between the US and the Argentine peoples. All of us, in our own way, are ambassadors for the United States and have a role to play in establishing good relations between our two countries.
Thank you for inviting Pam and me to open this wonderful celebration. I hope you all have a great time today!