Happy Birthday, America.

Happy Birthday, America! 

A while back a bunch guys in powdered wigs determined “to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another” brought you to life. And for the last 246 years we’ve labored towards realizing their vision of a free and open society for you. 

To be sure, the form of government hoisted upon you is a far cry from what many of the Founding Father’s envisioned. Nonetheless, the result has been a freer and more open society than any other country on Earth. 

For centuries, people from around the world flocked to your shores in hopes of a more prosperous, self-determined life. And despite our current perverse immigration incentives, your principles have provided a better future for some exceptionally large multiple of millions. 

Well done. I am proud of that heritage. 

As a child of the 70s and 80s, you simply meant freedom to me. You represented a collection of individuals united in the responsibility that comes with personal liberty and mutual respect. 

Along with me, most Americans believed we were each accountable for the consequences of our actions and would reap the rewards in exchange. Charity was a choice, not a mandate. Alas, sadly, that mentality no longer dominates. 

Somehow, even after the stunning collapse of your ideological opposite, the Soviet Union, you now strain mightily under the same Marxist morality by force masquerading as the Greater Good that brought down the U.S.S.R. 

Government offices overrun by unaccountable bureaucrats, politicians, and appointed officials champion equality of ends to justify endless means of robbing power from the individual. And a world populated by the powerless is the ultimate ends of Marxist ideology. 

So, forgive me when I rail against the government and its minions. It’s not an attack on you but, rather, in your defense. 

And as bleak as things look for the Land of the Free right now, I am confident that you will always have a place to spread your wings and soar. 

Even if Political Bands get dissolved in the process. 

Think Free. Be Free.