Americans are facing a defining choice between two very different ways to organize society: one based on freedom, and one based on control.
Just recently, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani laid out the stakes clearly in his inauguration speech:
“We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”
This debate isn’t new.
Back in 1776, our Founding Fathers faced a similar decision.
On one hand, there was the old world order in which the king and nobility dictated to their subjects. On the other hand was a radical idea: a society built on individual rights, self-government, and liberty.
We all know what choice our Founding Fathers made.
Those ideas shaped the nation.
Americans stand on our own feet, take risks, and take ownership of our own lives. We are a nation of people who don’t look to the government to build our future — we build it ourselves.
Now, 250 years later, our freedoms are still being tested. Not from a king in London, but by people who think government bureaucrats know better than you.
Their beliefs are at odds with the principles that made America exceptional.
[Take one small step today to protect American freedom]
In 1775, the first shots of the American Revolution were fired in Lexington and Concord. After years of British officers taxing them without representation and having their most basic rights denied, the American colonists had simply had enough.
But the rebellion was about far more than high taxes and an out-of-touch government dictating orders from afar. The colonists were challenging a set of ideas that had existed for centuries.
They rebelled against the idea that people were subjects, not citizens.
They revolted against the belief that kings and queens had absolute power over the people.
They rejected a government that saw them as part of a collective, instead of citizens with individual rights.
And when they met in Philadelphia in July 1776, they put their convictions into writing. The Declaration of Independence became the cornerstone of a new world.
One where the people were truly in charge.
What Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence was truly revolutionary.
For the first time in human history, a nation asserted that the government exists to serve you, not the other way around.
The Declaration set forth the core principles that fueled America’s revolution:
[Virtually sign the Declaration of Independence here]
Those principles guided the framers of the Constitution.
That’s why they built a government that was divided, limited, and restrained. No single person was allowed to hold too much power, and the government was barred from taking away your most basic rights.
We have a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. And thanks to that, America became a land of ingenuity and prosperity.
It was in America that humans first discovered how to fly, the light bulb was invented, and mankind went to the moon.
Today, the principles laid out in the Declaration of Independence face new tests from a growing belief that big government knows better than you do.
Under this vision, decisions that used to be made by individuals, families, and communities are being made by bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., and state capitals. Zoning mandates and permitting delays shape housing choices. Federal mandates and subsidy structures guide health care choices. Energy prices and consumption are driven by political priorities rather than affordability and reliability.
The consequences of this way of thinking are felt in quiet but powerful ways. As rules multiply, opportunities narrow. Permission replaces initiative. Innovation slows. Local needs are overlooked. Citizens wait for solutions rather than crafting them.
The warmth of collectivism stands in direct contrast to our founding principles — the Founders believed that progress came from free people empowered to act, adapt, and improve their own lives.
As America approaches its 250th anniversary, we face a familiar choice. Will we reaffirm our commitment to the principles that made us exceptional? Or will we drift toward a system where decisions are made for us rather than by us?
The Founders rejected centralized control and placed their faith in free people.
Preserving our founding principles doesn’t require grand gestures. It starts with everyday Americans stepping forward.
That’s why Americans for Prosperity, The LIBRE Initiative, and Concerned Veterans for America are launching the One Small Step campaign.
America has always moved forward because ordinary citizens took responsibility for defending liberty.
Today, that responsibility belongs to us.
The next chapter of our nation’s history will be written by people willing to take that one small step. Sign your modern Declaration of Independence here.
Join our movement to reignite the American Dream.
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