Dear Friends:

As we celebrate Independence Day, it is a great opportunity to reflect on the ideals that have made our country great.  As our forefathers wrote:

"We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."

With those words, our Nation was born.  Our nation was an idea "conceived in liberty."  And that liberty created a land of hope and promise. A land where anything is possible.  Today, as we honor our country and remember our nations roots, our heritage is not our DNA. Our heritage is that land of liberty.

That liberty is something we must continually defend. Today, we have brave men and women standing watch and risking their lives around the world to protect our liberty.

So Independence Day is also a good time to remember that just declaring our independence did not make it so.  Many brave soldiers gave their lives for that independence and many more have served to protect those ideals since.

We honor those soldiers in many ways. Their names are on a wall in Washington. Others are a star in a window. They lie beneath crosses and even they lie, unknown but to God, in a tomb overlooking our nations capital.

But they also are our family and friends and people we meet every day. We cannot go about our lives without brushing up against veterans. So I want to take this opportunity to thank all of our veterans for their service to our country.

I hope everyone has a great weekend with family and friends. I look forward to continuing our work together so that we can uphold New Mexico's hope and promise so we can strengthen our Country for future generations.

Best Wishes,

Steve Pearce