29 Jun America: Pretty Cool

A pretty bold experiment indeed. A ragtag group of rebels fought against the greatest Empire in the history of our tiny orb and were successful. The idea: let’s combine a bunch of smaller places with a central government but local control as much as possible. Let the people (mostly) decide stuff. Overall, it’s worked pretty well for these couple centuries. Thanks Haym Solomon, thanks Pres. GWashington, thanks Continental Congress. All these people risked life, limb and prosperity for the cause of freedom.

Yeah we did some other stuff that was pretty horrible. So America doesn’t get A+. On balance, though, as noted above, pretty cool. But let’s remember: every dominant power in the history of the Earth was eventually overthrown. We should never assume our superpower status is to be taken for granted. Hopefully our debt will not ultimately cripple us. Hopefully our relationships with other nations will be more based on mutual respect than fear.

So as we enjoy the July 4th weeklong celebration, let’s indeed celebrate our pretty darn awesome experiment. And also remember all those who gave everything to protect and preserve it.