The Constitution for the United States is the crowning achievement of Western civilization. The NATURAL RIGHTS of mankind are specifically acknowledged. The Constitution explicitly states the purpose of and reason for government is to secure these rights.
The creation of the United States is our greatest achievement. From that Liberty and prosperity has flowed. Health, wealth and well being has never been greater. We have brought mankind to the stars. Communism has subjected mankind to poverty and brutality, killing hundreds of millions to achieve its Utopian ends, it has sent mankind to the depths of Hell.
For fun, I compared the constitution of Cameroon with ours---very much the same. But Cameroon has a genuine dictator, vs Obama who so far is constrained by (occasionally) the Supreme Court, the House, and elections.
In America, every citizen is responsible for his own security and has the right to bear arms in order to maintain it. This puts the monopoly of force, necessary for the security of the state, at the lowest and most disperesed possible level.
All of our freedoms stem from this one freedom. The right to not be messed with, and the firepower to back that up.
The American People, freed from the shackles of repressive government, responded by building the greatest nation in the history of the World.
What's overlooked in this article is the importance of being "new." And by this I mean the U.S. is one of the few places in the world where land titles and property ownership can be traced back continuously through the entire history of human settlement in the modern age. This is absolutely critical in any economic system built on bank financing and mortgages.
It wasn’t what government did that made America great, it was what the Constitution prevented the government from doing that allowed America to become great.
The Constitution is the only reason America became a great power.
Many of today’s Americans have never experienced the freedom a government with limited powers of legislation allows. The elected discovered they can get more votes by ignoring their oath to defend the Constitution and advocate more favors from the Treasury that their powers of legislation permit.
"Do not blame Caesar, blame the people of Rome who have so enthusiastically acclaimed and adored him and rejoiced in their loss of freedom and danced in his path and given him triumphal processions. Blame the people who hail him when he speaks in the Forum of the new wonderful good society which shall now be Rome's, interpreted to mean more money, more ease, more security, and more living fatly at the expense of the industrious." --Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC)
"When the law no longer protects you from the corrupt, but protects the corrupt from you - you know your nation is doomed."
1. Barack Obama wasn't President
2. Harry Reid wasn't Senate Majority leader
3. Nancy Pelosi wasn't Speaker of the House
4. John Roberts wasn't Chief Justice
5. There was no "Great Society"
6. The mainstream media was only mildly biased and corrupt
7. No one called the Constitution a "living document"
- protestant work ethic
- limited government at all levels, especially the federal level
- abundant resources
- unbridled capitalism
- willingness to nearly exterminate the natives
- restrictive immigration policy that protected the culture for the most part and enabled an English speaking super majority.
- success in recruiting the best and brightest from elsewhere to come here from their home countries where they were either under appreciated or outright discriminated against.
- plus, we were blessed with the greatest founding fathers in the history of the world which make the intellectuals of today look like complete morons.
- willingness to fight to protect or expand.
- restricted voting rights for most of our history to only those who had earned the right.
I think America is great, and that is because of history and the leadership of many many people.
What is happening however is we are now facing a bigger challenge.
China.
China has five times our population, and (much) cheaper labor pool, and a strongly nationalistic government which does not allow equal treatment under the law. The country limits companies to Chinese ownership, and prevents foreign (American in other words) ownership of land.
China is doing to America, what America earlier did to the world. Except they are doing it, not simply by competing, but by setting up laws which discriminate.
China is in the drivers seat, and both American parties are playing along.
The problem is, China is getting ever stronger, and ever more sophisticated.
China is a very formidable competitor, and America faces a real threat if we continue to just go along.
I’m not sure how to best deal with China, but what we are currently doing is simply surrendering.
Rapidly.
America Became A Great Power...
Don’t worry, Obama’s working as hard as he can to correct that...
I thought it was mostly because we turned out to be bigger and meaner than the Japanese. :)