As we celebrate Independence Day, let us remember the many reasons
to honor America—and to fear for its future.
I love America for being
the place where an upstart group of colonists, imbued with the ideas of
liberty, launched an impossible battle against the Goliath British Empire, the
most powerful force in the world—and won.
I love America for
establishing a revolutionary new country in which a person’s life is his and
his alone to live as he chooses and for his own sake, where a person has
complete sovereignty over himself and his possessions, and government’s only
purpose is to protect that sacred right.
I love America for
recognizing that not only is it illegal for a criminal to steal your property,
rob you of your liberty, or hijack your life, but the government cannot do
these things to you, either. I love America for being the first country in
history to establish through its founding charter that government cannot act
like a common criminal, but must be accountable to moral law, which means it
must respect the rights of the individual.
I love America for igniting
a firestorm of liberty that ultimately led to the abolition of slavery, the
suffrage of women, and the spread of freedom around the globe.
I love America for
unshackling the minds of its people so that they could think, dream, create,
and achieve, triggering an explosion of scientific and industrial advancement
and a standard of living unmatched—and unimaginable—in history.
I love America for being
the place where wealth was created and earned, rather than looted and
plundered, a place where it was understood that if persons were to be free,
then their economic activities had to be out of the grip of government.
I love America for being
the place where it was possible for genius to flourish, where the Henry Fords,
the Thomas Edisons, the Wright Brothers, and many other innovators formed
ground-breaking new industries that moved mankind forward.
I love America for spawning
the American Dream, the worldwide symbol of the boundless opportunity
and achievement that results from the freedom to carve one’s own destiny.
I love America for offering
freedom and opportunity to so many of our ancestors who arrived as immigrants,
who came here to work—not to collect handouts or to terrorize—and who knew that
in America nothing was owed to them and everything had to be earned, and who
rose to the challenge, creating a spectacularly better life for themselves and
for us, their descendants.
I love America for its
vision of a truly civilized society, one of independent, resourceful,
industrious, wealth-creating, and life-loving people, who live in peace and
good will toward their fellow man because no one can stake a claim to anyone
else’s life, wealth, or property.
I love America for being
the country where people could work hard, rise, and be proud of their success,
because production, profit, wealth, and achievement were life-giving values to
attain and enjoy, not to envy and loot.
The America I love is fast
becoming a distant memory. Every day we wake up to frightening new assaults on
our rights—on our industries, our freedom of speech, our freedom to control our
own lives, our food, our healthcare, our children’s education, our homes, our
businesses. Every aspect of our lives is under assault by an ever-growing, intrusive,
liberty-killing government. The root of all of these attacks is the notion that
a person no longer owns and controls his own life. It is in the hands of a
menacingly growing government to control for its own ends.
No matter how much our
country has swayed from its ideals today, I will never forget that I am an
American. I will never forget that our ancestors forged a continent not with
public aid and bailouts but with the shining vision of a better life and the
self-reliance to attain it. Our forebears created wealth, progress, and
achievement on an unprecedented scale. No government fed our pioneers,
inspected their wagons for safety, certified their chickens, meddled in their
businesses, looted their wealth, or subjected their lives to endless controls,
permissions, and regulations.
The time has come to
reclaim our legacy from the meddlers, moochers, expropriators, and budding tyrants
who are hammering away at Lady Liberty, knocking her down bit by bit, and ready
to topple her completely.
When we enjoy our barbecues
and fireworks on Independence Day, let’s remember the real meaning of this
holiday. The day America was born is the day the individual broke free of the
shackles of government to forge his own life. The result was unprecedented and
spectacular. The cause was liberty; the effect was the flourishing of human
life. Today we see everywhere a new force at work: the destruction of liberty.
The effect is the destruction of our cities, our industries, our schools, our
healthcare, our energy, our wealth, our power.
We the
people must pick up the pieces, make our Lady whole again, and return her to
her pedestal as the country we love and honor, the country of liberty.
Copyright© 2014 by Genevieve LaGreca. Permission to
reproduce this essay is given with attribution to the author.
The spark that began so many of the free-market organizations and think-tanks that we have today has passed away. Sadly, the world has lost economist, author, and historian, John Blundell. John was a personal friend who supported and encouraged my work. For a tribute to John's illustrious career and accomplishments, see the Atlas Network's "In Memoriam, John Blundell":
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