Signed, on behalf of millions of beneficiaries across the globe, Peggy Butler

Friday Harbor, Washington

We, your mothers, your wives, your children, your sisters, your neighbors, your friends, and those who count on your strength, declare our deep appreciation and support for all true American men, whose *“native justice and magnanimity” seek to provide for the “safety and happiness” of the citizens of our nation.

We recognize the role of your “manly firmness” to defend and promote freedom, to confront the *“dangers of invasion from without and the convulsions from within.” We acknowledge the often unsung sacrifices and untold struggles borne in private moments unknown to the beneficiaries. You are the flank.

We further recognize the bold initiative, the risk, the sweat, both physical and mental that support an economic environment favorable to *“life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” We recognize that financial stability and a robust infrastructure allows and *“guards for the future security” of the coming generations. We recognize your role and immense influence for prosperity.

We applaud men of honor and their role in protecting human rights and administering justice to protect the young, the innocent, and the vulnerable, and who enact and enforce laws that are *“wholesome and necessary for the public good.”

Finally, as women who share this nation, we thank you honorable men for being there —for your integrity, and also for doing the heavy lifting, for reaching the high shelf, for fixing the toilet when it overflows, for making sure the tires and the brakes are working, and for trying to see us as our best selves. For keeping on in spite of hearing so little that is encouraging in the public discourse. We want you to know that there are many, many of us who depend on you. We cannot imagine where our nation, our neighborhood, our homes, would be without you.

We need and honor your role as we share a critical period in the course of human events. We declare independence from the harsh and critical voices that divide us.

(*Asterisks denote words taken from the Declaration of Independence.)