As we approach the 250th birthday of the United States of America this July 4th, the world has awakened to the truth and reality of what the United States really is and means. Thousands have travelled to our nation for the World Cup soccer games in cities all across our land. The interviews from these foreign visitors is eye-opening, encouraging, and enlightening. The hospitality, generosity, and bounty of our nation, people, and resources has been hidden from the world for generations now by negative news reports, political propaganda, and others who want to tear down the ideals and image of our nation, its foundations, and the unique exceptionality of our people. But today in this 250th year since the birth of our nation, so many now know the truth. The evidence is clear that the United States is indeed a very exceptional, special, wonderful, and unique nation among all the nations of the world.
No other nation in the world has the freedoms and opportunities we have. That is something to celebrate and be grateful for. Our nation, unlike most, was founded on ideological and philosophical ideals and not an ethnic culture or geographical proximity as most nations are. Our nation’s forefathers held as a self-evident truth that God grants us our rights and not a government or king.
Our government is also designed to be limited in power and has a duty to protect the rights of each individual while affirming that all are equal under our laws. The right to freely think, speak, and carry out our dreams and pursuits of life, liberty, and happiness is guaranteed in our Constitution to every citizen through our Bill of Rights and a government framework with rules of law based on God’s Word and that our government will be of, by, and for its people. This is unique in our world and is dependent upon the virtue of its people. John Adams said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Though imperfect in its function because of the pride and power-seeking of flawed and selfish people and politicians, our system of governance was designed to provide what is good, right, and best for all of its people. George Washington, John Adams, and other founding fathers affirmed that our freedoms depend on our people being virtuous. Without virtue, there is nothing but tyranny. In principle and in the ideal, a virtuous people have moral excellence with integrity, patience, and courage. The virtuous do the right things because the right things are right. It is a selflessness that many have never seen or even comprehended.
Some today hold that what one does shouldn’t matter to others, but it absolutely does. How we think and act affects not only ourselves, but our families, and fellow citizens. We are not an island to ourselves in these United States. Some have forgotten this, but with the renaissance of Christianity in our nation today, we can once again be seen as the well-lit shining city on a hill that Ronald Reagan spoke of in his farewell address as a beacon of freedom, hope, and opportunity. The United States of America is still the only nation in the world that for hundreds of years, millions of people have sacrificed their lives, families, worldly-treasure, and left their homelands to move here. In what other nation in the world do so many people want to move to and build a life in, even pursuing unauthorized entry (breaking in) into our nation? The United States and its people remain a living testament that the ideology and philosophy of our founding fathers worked then and works now giving our citizens the opportunities to thrive like nowhere else in the world.
Let’s rejoice in our nation’s 250th birthday. Let’s celebrate with a national pride reflected through patriotism, love of our country, and love for our fellow man. Let’s appreciate the many who fought long, hard, and sometimes to their death for the opportunities and freedoms we enjoy. Let’s recognize and rejoice that, as a nation, we are “exceptional” meaning unique and uncommon among other nations. We are not better than others, but our system of ideals blended with God’s Word, principles, morals, and laws makes us exceptional and very blessed with a government that encourages each person pursue and live out their dreams in freedom. Let’s celebrate our traditional motto “E Pluribus Unum” – that from many peoples, we are one people of the United States of America. Let’s commit again to our or national motto – “In God we trust” – for in placing ourselves and our trust in God, we can do no better as individuals, as a people, and as a nation. Happy Birthday, USA!!!