For more than two centuries since winning our own freedom, we the people of the United States have repeatedly answered the call to lead the quest for freedom around the globe.

In sum, we took energy for granted, assuming when we flipped the switch, the lights would go on and assuming that there would always be plenty of cheap fuel for our vehicles.

No other date on the calendar more potently symbolizes all that our nation stands for than the Fourth of July.

The day before the anniversary of D-Day, we lost a man who was equaled by few and surpassed by none as a leader in the cause of freedom: Ronald Reagan.

Now, forty years after his passing, Winston Churchill is still quoted, read, revered, and referred to as much, if not more, than when he was alive.

The challenge we have in the war on terrorism is looking around for those pieces that matter and trying to fit them together.

And to stick our head in the sand and pretend that we are somehow safer if we do not know or to pretend we are somehow safer if we limit our options seems to me not only foolish but actually dangerous.