As America celebrates its 247th birthday and stands just three years away from the celebration of a lifetime, our 250th birthday, the morale of our Union is disheartening. Crime is rampant throughout larger American cities, such as NYC, nearly 7 million aliens have crossed the border in the past three years, and a CNN poll acknowledges the dismal state of affairs by reporting that 69 percent of Americans say the country is doing badly.

When asked about the future of America, only 32 percent of voters believe America will be better off in 20 years, according to a recent Rasmussen poll. And an NBC poll last year recorded that only 35 percent of registered voters believe America’s best years are ahead of us. Despite the disheartening polls, not all hope is lost. The good news? This has been the case before, and the days that followed similar times were so much greater. All it took then, much like today, was the commitment to lay it all out on the field.

In 1773, the name of America was merely the name of a continent. The idea of a nation was not even stirring in the minds of our Founding Fathers, and July 4 was yet another day of work. It would be a year before the First Continental Congress met and three before the Declaration of Independence gave birth to our Nation.

However, resentment was on the rise among the colonists. The Tea Act was passed in May of 1773, and Benjamin Franklin leaked Royal Governor Hutchinson’s letters that discussed the colonists’ lack of liberties in June. Six months later, the Boston Tea Party signaled another landmark moment for the colonists’ courageous commitment to liberty.

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I can’t help but wonder how brave patriots felt as they attended the Committees of Correspondence in each colony or boarded the ship to throw off the British tea in defiance. The Crown had started to corrupt the justice system to maintain its reign and to overtax the working men and women, and the British leaders believed that the colonists’ legitimately lacked liberties. Some patriots may have been terrified of the British, others angered by them, and still others solely focused on how to remedy the situation. Yet they all had one thing in common; they were committed to the idea that through their actions, they could make a difference. In short, they were committed to hope.

That’s what I love about both America and football. At no point are you truly out—you always have a chance to make a great comeback or to win the next game. As long as both patriots and athletes can remember their abilities, hope persists. Great coaches understand the importance of a fourth-quarter speech. In those three minutes, the players didn’t develop new skills; the coaches just needed to remind them of what they were capable of—winning. So today, I offer America its own fourth-quarter speech.

I stand with the 35 percent in agreement that the best is yet to come. The current state of affairs and news cycle may seem bleak, but when I look around, I see hope.

The Department of Justice may be weaponized and politicized like never before, intent on taking out the current President’s leading opponent. That same DOJ, along with progressive state legislators, might be saying, much like the British Royal Governor Hutchinson did about American colonists, that parents do not have the liberties they once knew. And across America, corporations might stand against their customers’ values. But the best is yet to come.

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In recent years, the American people have rallied together and said enough is enough. Courageous parents have stood up at school board meetings against the political indoctrination of their children, with some being so bold as to run for and win seats. And consumers have voted with their wallets and said goodbye to favorite brands for standing against their beliefs. The American Spirit is alive once again, and our Nation’s citizens are motivated.

But it can’t stop here. Ronald Reagan famously said, "Freedom is a fragile thing and it's never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. And those in world history who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again."

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So, this is your fourth-quarter speech. The America we once knew and loved is on the line, but there is hope. Americans of all creeds, ethnicities, and backgrounds have stood up against progressivism. We know what we can accomplish when we play as a team. Now is no time to back down. Now is the time to dig in and fight harder for the land that we love.

How do we preserve freedom? The answer is inscribed on the Liberty Bell, "Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants thereof," which comes from Leviticus 25:10. The progressives have launched an assault on freedom by proclaiming oppression and victim mentality through our children’s education and our news networks. In response, we must stand as Americans, proclaiming this Fourth July that America is a land of freedom and equality, not oppression, racism, or any other virtue-signaling word they throw out. This Fourth of July, we proclaim liberty, and with liberty, we allow hope to once again fill our Nation.

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