There is a strong lesson for us to learn from Ronald Regan’s First Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981:

If we look to the answer as to why, for so many years, we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on Earth, it was because here, in this land, we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before. Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on Earth. The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay that price.
 
Ronald Regan: “Let us renew our determination, our courage, our strength

 
It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government. It is time for us to realize that we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We are not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. So, with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. And let us renew; our faith and our hope.

Most American Presidents from George Washington to George Bush would deplore what is happening to us.
Yikes!  Did I just imply something good about George Bush?!?
Well, here I go again, quoting a Republican. We need to do just as Regan said.  We need to “renew our determination, our courage and our strength.”Together we will overcome this “intervention and intrusion in our lives.”
Coming July 4:  Declaration of Independence, 2014.