Happy 4th

I’ve talked to many people about our country, and usually (and fairly quickly) the conversation comes to variations on the question: “What’s your favorite thing about America?”

It’s a complicated answer. The simplest, and the answer you’ve probably seen from too many politicians, is to yell “freedom!” with the most most egregiously powerful megaphone available. But for Americans who are rapidly losing their freedom, this is a dishonest answer.

https://freedomhouse.org/explore-the-map?type=fiw&mapview=trend&year=2026

What I like most about our country is its beauty, both in nature (our national parks are absolutely incredible, and for the current president to continue cutting their staff is an affront to our most spectacular treasures) and in it’s people. We truly do have the kindest, generous, and warmest people in the world. It’s almost trite to say this, but it’s absolutely true.

The other day, though, a visiting German woman asked me a slightly different question: “What’s so important about the United States?” She asked the question in a way that put me a bit on edge, with an undercurrent of challenge, basically wondering if 250 years was enough, ending on the cliff’s edge of failure.

My answer went back to the Declaration of Independence and specifically about “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

The idea of life and liberty have caught on around the world. Right now other countries have more liberty than we do in the United States.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/freedom-index-by-country

But we are unique in having the “pursuit of happiness” in our defining document. It’s not happiness itself. It’s the pursuit. It’s the idea, built into our very fabric of who we are, that the act of finding happiness pushes the country forward.

These are important words and Jefferson thought deeply when he wrote them. These are our natural rights, not rights given to us by any government or any king. That means a government or a king cannot take them away.

But 250 years later the brazen corruption, the incredible theft, the lack of regard for the people shows those in power, the richest in the country, are the ones pursuing whatever they can get. For the rest of us, happiness be damned.

https://www.citationneeded.news/trumps-crypto-disclosure/

So to me, what’s important about the United States? Yes, economically and militarily, we’re the most powerful country in the world. But our real importance is the foundation of who we are and the pursuit of who we want to be. Happiness is your choice, your decision. The government is there to help us when you need it, and when you don’t it should get out of your way.

We stand for something in this country. We stand by our friends and with our families. We stand those by those ideals our revolutionary fathers and mothers set out in the Declaration of Independence. That’s why it’s worth celebrating this Fourth of July.

And that’s why it’s worth fighting to keep celebrating it.

I sincerely wish all of you a joyous Independence Day.