On this Independence Day, a look halfway around the world to recent events in Iran might put the holiday in a more meaningful perspective for the Americans who so often take it for granted.

On June 12, Iranians went to the polls to elect a new president. The election was expected to be a close one, and the continuation of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in office seemed far from assured.

Voter interest and participation was high. Even an Iranian citizen who now lives in Lawrence was moved to cast his vote during a visit to his homeland. The photo of him and several family members joyously holding up the ink-stained fingers that indicated they had voted captured the sense of hope in the nation.

The hope, however, soon turned to betrayal when Ahmadinejad’s victory was announced just hours after the polls closed, far too quickly for the millions of ballots to have been counted. It was clear that Iran’s exercise in democracy was an empty gesture, producing election results that had been determined before voters even went to the polls.

In an act of bravery that impressed the world, thousands of Iranians took to the streets in protest. They defied government orders and braved riot police using tear gas and clubs. A top religious leader called for anyone who took up arms against the government to be executed. Iran’s regime reports that 17 protesters have been killed, but the fact that all journalists for international news organizations have been ordered to stay in their offices and away from the protests spurs skepticism about those numbers.

Hope that the protests will have any impact on the Iranian election has faded away, but American citizens and the rest of the free world hope the bravery and defiance of the Iranian protesters won’t be for naught. The Iranian protests may be shut down for now but it is hard to imagine that the spirit displayed by those protesters in recent weeks won’t be back.

It’s a spirit not unlike the spirit of the American people before our own revolution. Sparks of discontent smoldered for years before breaking into flames that fueled the drive for democracy in the new United States. It’s a different time. American colonists couldn’t seek support on Twitter or the Internet, but the seeds of the new nation started as a subtle rumble that eventually couldn’t be denied.

As we celebrate our own independence today, Americans should honor the bravery and effort of those in other parts of the world still fighting for a measure of the freedom we hold so dear.