TAIPEI, Taiwan – Every Fourth of July, Americans gather throughout the country to celebrate Independence Day, often with grandiose fireworks displays that fill children and adults alike with excitement.

Yet as an American visiting the Republic of China – commonly known as Taiwan – during their National Day festivities on Monday, I was blown away by the incomparable pyrotechnics display in Chiayi County. I’ve never seen a fireworks show quite like it.

This shouldn’t be surprising, if you think about it: it was the Chinese people who first invented fireworks, after all.

The display was both massive and spectacular, lasting 45 minutes and accompanied by dramatic orchestral music and some quarter-million reported witnesses. The unique show even included hundreds of drones in the sky, lit up in patterns that formed different images and symbols ranging from Chinese characters to the Taiwanese flag.

The fireworks show in Central Taiwan was the capstone of the nation’s “Double Ten Day” (for the tenth day of the tenth month). Earlier, President Tsai Ing-Wen addressed thousands of Taiwanese citizens gathered outside the Presidential Office in the capital city of Taipei for the annual National Day Parade.

The Taipei event has been held most years since 1949, originally as a military parade. The military still has a prominent role, complete with soldiers arrayed in military formation and a flyover of fighter jets and a Chinook helicopter flying Taiwan’s flag. The president addressed the nation in a policy speech.

Taipei’s First Girls’ High School Band offered an extraordinary and varied musical performance, followed by a slew of hip-hop dancers who took to the stage wheeled before the presidential palace galleries.

Oct. 10 marked the 111th year since the founding of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the 73rd National Day since the government relocated to Taiwan in 1949, formally separating from mainland China (formally the People’s Republic of China).

For the Taiwanese people, this is akin to a birthday celebration for a nation that stands as an essential democratic counterbalance to the authoritarian mainland China – and an affirmation of a free society and a free press.

As part of an international press tour here in Taiwan, hosted and sponsored by their Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I had the distinct privilege of attending and observing firsthand the National Day celebrations up-front, as well as joining others in receiving an audience with President Tsai.

As an American, this was a powerful reminder of the things we take for granted. We are guaranteed the right to vote alongside the natural rights to life, liberty and property. Our federal and Colorado state constitutions enshrine the freedom of speech, freedom of the press and numerous other liberties and protections.

Though we may face internal affronts to some of our rights, we are not staring down a giant and vicious panda neighboring our land just 100 miles away, seeking to control our people and our nation’s destiny and subsume our society in their dystopian visions. That is Taiwan.

As an American, I could squarely tell that Taiwan is a thriving, democratic society made of freedom-loving people intent on protecting and reaffirming their open way of life. In America, we take these things for granted.

As China takes an increasingly aggressive posture in Southeast Asia, the people of Taiwan clearly value their freedom and their right of self-determination.

“(B)uiding democratic resilience is key to safeguarding Taiwan,” Tsai said in her speech. “Our primary task in this regard is to make our commitment to a free and democratic system an unbreakable national consensus. In a democratic society, we can have different positions and we can debate with one another, but we should unanimously and resolutely stand behind our free and democratic system, no matter how much external pressure we face.”

While insisting that “armed confrontation is absolutely not an option,”Tsai warned “the Beijing authorities” not to “mistake that there is room for compromise in the Taiwanese people’s commitment to democracy and freedom.” Tsai’s firmness and fortitude are worthy of the American tradition.

Tsai’s sentiments were echoed in August by Bill Huang, director-general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Denver, which represents Taiwan in the Colorado region.

“We Taiwanese want peace. But we want peace with dignity,” Huang told me on my KNUS radio show. “We do not want peace just because we want peace, and we need to kowtow to someone else.”

Last week, as I was embarking on my travels to Taiwan, Gov. Jared Polis, U.S. Reps. Ken Buck and Jason Crow and Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman were among Colorado dignitaries who attended a grand celebration in Denver, hosted by Huang’s office.

The presence of many bipartisan leaders in Colorado – home to more than 2,000 Taiwanese – underscores the importance of the island’s friendship with our state and our country.

Even more, ballots will drop across Colorado this weekend. Then, the midterm elections will officially get underway. Taiwan’s National Day offers Coloradans a powerful reminder of the value of voting and participating in our democratic process – and the precious gift of freedom.

Let’s do our part and vote.

Jimmy Sengenberger is host of “The Jimmy Sengenberger Show” Saturdays from 6-9am on News/Talk 710 KNUS. He also hosts “Jimmy at the Crossroads,” a webshow and podcast in partnership with The Washington Examiner.