Deland, FL, Council Meeting
7 July 2025
Angelo Parra (255 words)

Good evening, and thank you, Mayor Cloudman and City Commissioners for this opportunity to address you today. As a resident of Victoria Park, it’s an honor to be here representing the Central Florida Freethought Community.

With the close of this past weekend’s festivities and fireworks celebrating the day a congress of colonials declared their independence from the most powerful nation on earth, it’s appropriate at this meeting to remember the other meaning of Independence Day.

The Declaration of Independence marked the beginning of a great experiment cooked up by a handful of radicals whom we today call the Founding Fathers. Their idea was that this newly declared nation would have no emperors, no hereditary kings. Instead, this upstart nation would be ruled by the people themselves through their democratically elected representatives. Monarchs around the world laughed, certain it wouldn’t last.

Almost 250 years later, here you are the democratically elected representatives of the people of DeLand, the inheritors of the great experiment.

Accordingly, we the people of DeLand ask that your deliberations today be guided by evidence-based thinking and open hearts.

We ask that you remember that behind each agenda item are real people — parents, students, business folks, retirees — all counting on you to act with foresight and fairness.

And, finally, as you move through tonight’s business know that by striving always for the common good you are honoring the legacy of those radicals who shaped the noble character of our country.

Thank you.