The United States of America became a country in 1776 and the Declaration of Independence was its establishing document. Historians can quibble whether the nation’s birthday is on July 2^nd, or July 4^th, or even August 2^nd when most of many of the delegates signed it. The USA was not founded in 1619, and its establishing document was not the Mayflower Compact or the Jamestown Charter. It has one Declaration of Independence, and therefore only one Independence Day, celebrated on each 4^th of July. Now that that’s out of the way…

How, with all the current division and by what right do we celebrate America’s birthday? Yes, the country is divided– as much as it’s ever been since the end of the Civil War. We must note that those who drive the division are not aligned with the Founders vision for our country. Their political philosophies of socialism, fascism and the authoritarian style that come with them are foreign to these shores. They are not truly for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They may claim they are for these things but in reality, are for: death, subservience, and the pursuit of pleasure and power. Freedom of speech, assembly, and religion all have come under assault from the Left in recent years. America was founded as, and remains nominally, a free market-capitalist country. The Left has pressed and sadly, achieved a level of statism approaching economic fascism, causing supply shortages, rampant inflation, and an energy crisis. Yet despite this, America remains the greatest country the world has ever seen. Our Constitution has so far proven as a bulwark from the worst of the Left’s progressive polices, even on occasion, rolling back their excesses. The Founders, in their genius, made it hard for tyranny to take root in our nation due to the U.S. Constitution. This document should be considered a landmark human achievement.

Many opponents to the concepts that America was formed upon use several recent Supreme Court rulings that checked the power they seek as examples of how our democracy is being destroyed. They are mistaken. Only a fool would for instance, claim that a ruling (Dobbs v Jackson) that removes a critical issue, abortion, from the sphere of unelected officials and remands it back to the states, where citizens are once again free to vote on it, would call such a ruling a “failure” of democracy. Another ruling which curtails the power of unelected officials in the EPA and other government agencies and forces these issues to be dealt with by the legislative branch or the states is a victory, not a defeat for democracy. Other recent rulings reaffirming 1^st and 2^nd Amendment rights serve to strengthen the wall between us and subjugation known as the Constitution.

We may not like the state of our government, our leaders, or the direction that the country is currently moving in but still, It’s OK to love America. Here as a reminder, are some of the reasons:

We beat the most powerful empire at the time, Britain through a combination of sheer determination, imagination, and just plain luck. The courage, valor, and determination of the American patriots should not be overlooked. Our Revolution could have been lost in so many ways, yet we pulled off the upset of the century. Read just about any book on the American Revolution and you’ll see just how amazing and improbable our victory actually was. Some, such as George Washington have even attributed our nation’s birth to divine providence.

We freed the slaves. Yes, unfortunately, we had them in the first place, but the matter of slavery was a contentious one since the founding of our republic. Slavery was abolished in Pennsylvania even before the Battle of Yorktown was fought. Though slavery lost support in the North early, it was only ended in the rest of the country at tremendous cost. Imagine a war that was not only the bloodiest in the nation’s history but one where all of the casualties were citizens of the same country. Imagine a war fought not over territory or religion, but over the freedom of people.

We invented stuff, lots of cool stuff. We invented a lot of things the world would have a lot of trouble getting along without. Basic stuff, like light bulbs, the telephone, wireless communication, the internet, zippers, the airplane. Nothing too important.

Your map looks the way it does mainly due to America. Once there were two German states, we helped get that number down to one and a rather ugly wall was torn down in the process. There is a Russia, but not a U.S.S.R., again, mainly thanks to us. We had some help of course, from leaders like Margaret Thatcher, Lech Walesa, and Pope (now Saint) John Paul II, but it was the visionary leadership of a certain American president named Reagan that finally broke the stalemate. There are two Korea’s, one we kept free, a few countries that used to comprise Yugoslavia, and a few more that were either Soviet republics or vassal states. America’s influence has literally been global.

We helped win two world wars and the Cold War. Countries once former enemies are now either allies or important trading partners, or both. Hundreds of millions of people are free due to our willingness to sacrifice for their freedom. Millions more have a chance if they can resist the temptation to revert back to authoritarianism.

We sent a man to the moon. In fact, several of them. To date, the only human beings to ever walk on the moon have been American. Every single human being to take a selfie on the moon has been an American. Every single human being to ever drive a cool dune buggy on the moon has been an American. Every single human being ever to drive a golf ball on the moon, you guessed it– has been an American.

We help people. Anytime there is a major catastrophe anywhere in the world, America offers aid. Be it after an earthquake in Haiti, tsunamis in Indonesia and Japan, or hurricanes in the Caribbean, or any number of other disasters you can name, America is always one of the first countries to offer humanitarian assistance. Were also generous, The United States consistently rates high among all nations in charitable giving, both in terms of total dollar amounts and dollars per capita. Just google: “charitable giving by country” and you’ll see.

Article: It’s OK to Love America, J.P. Mac, LibertyRelearned.com

We are a divided nation, but our Constitution is strong. It has allowed us to retain our God-given rights. It has not weakened but strengthened our democracy by returning issues that once were out of reach of the democratic process back into the domain of the people, subject to their will. Even the acute mismanagement we’ve faced of late can be resolved and overcome with the strength, perseverance, and commitment to first principles. The Founding Fathers, in their wisdom, built in mechanisms that we can use to self-correct. Our founding documents still represent quantum leaps in human freedom and liberal governance. America is an exceptional nation, full of exceptional people, and has achieved many exceptional things. We can celebrate our nation’s birthday secure in the knowledge that the dream that is America will persevere so long as enough Americans hold true to its founding principles.