Greatness

250 years ago, on July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, severing the political ties of thirteen American colonies from Great Britain. This historic vote established the United States of America as an independent nation. It was truly an experiment. It was the first nation to establish a constitutional federal republic based on principles of popular sovereignty and the consent of the governed.

Even though, the signing of the Declaration of Independence was when our country began, it took another 7 years and 2 months of war with the British army to actually become a truly independent nation. This was no easy task or foregone conclusion. Of the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence, nine were killed in the war; five were captured, tortured, and executed; Twelve had their houses burned to the ground; and seventeen lost everything that they owned.

Approximately 25,000 soldiers laid down their lives fighting in the war for our independence from British rule. 80 years later, 360,000 Union soldiers died in the Civil War liberating the slaves from bondage. 80 years after that, 400,000 American soldiers died liberating Europe and Asia from totalitarian rule. From its beginning, America and Americans have been fight for freedom. But now, another 80 years later, we are back in the fight for our independence. Those brave men and women fought and died for the very freedom and self-determination that the people on the left who are voting for socialism are so willing to give away because they think working five days a week is too hard and someone having more money than them is too unfair.

Sadly, there are too many people who want to go back to the time where the state has authoritarian control over the people. We are electing socialists to public office at alarming rates. Whether these politicians are called socialists, communists, autocrats, oligarchs, kings, monarchs, despots, tyrants, totalitarians, fascists, dictators. They are all the same. They want total dominion over all the people. Zohran Mamdani is no different than King George III. They are driven by the same power-hungry arrogance. These new penny-ante autocrats believe that they know how to run your life better than you do; they know how to spend your money better than you do. Hasn’t this question been answered a thousand times? They don’t. The colonists went to war over a 3 pence tax on a pound of tea, and now we are voting in politicians who are vowing to raise taxes and seize property.

Mamdani is the newly elected socialist mayor of New York City – the financial epi-center of the wealthiest and most prosperous nation that the world has ever seen. The United States is the economic envy of the entire world. And that prosperity was built on 250 years of free-market capitalism, and Mamdani comes in as says, ‘no, I have a better way – socialism.’ Not one person can name one country that was ever improved by adopting socialism or communism – not one. While the United States is the glowing example of the results of free market capitalism. Visitors who came here to watch the World Cup are stunned at how great America is. But no, Mamdani is going to implement socialism because socialism sounds great in an antiseptic lecture hall at Columbia University, but it has never worked in real life – never.

People on the left vote for candidates like Mamdani because they hate America. Somali-Muslim Representative Ilhan Omar believes that America is “becoming one of the worst countries in the world.” Hank Johnson, Democrat congressman from Georgia called the United States, “the world’s number one bully… and the Great Satan.” Democratic socialist congressional candidate Melat Kiros claimed that America had 9/11 coming. Democrat congressman from Pennsylvania, Chris Rabb said, “this is a nation born on stolen land & stolen labor.” Nikole Hannah-Jones, of the New York Times said that “the entire existence of the United States” is a crime.

They believe that it is not right to love America because of the sins of our past. To them I would ask, do you love anyone? There is no person on this planet who is sinless. If we can only love someone who has never committed a sin, then we would love no one, and we ourselves would not be worthy of love. But we love other people, knowing very well that they have committed sins. Likewise, there is not a country that has not committed every single one of the sins that America has committed in its past. Every country has been forged through conquest; every country, every race of people have both enslaved others and have been slaves. Every country and every race has been bigoted and racist, many still are. The United States is the least racist country in the world, but the left believes that we must continually apologize for past racism.

The people of other countries are not forced to make land acknowledgements. The ancestors of the Hispanic people living in Central and South America were Europeans who came from Spain – that’s what Hispanic means – from Hispania, or Spain. They took that land from the indigenous people, yet they never make land acknowledgements. The entire Middle East was stolen from Christians and Jews, and not one Middle Eastern Muslim has ever made a land acknowledgement. Not one.

White people in America have to continually apologize for slavery, but it is the predominantly White countries – the United States, Canada, Europe – that first ended slavery and where slavery no longer exists. There are 25 million people still living in slavery throughout all of Asia; 3.6 million people live in slavery across the Middle East and North Africa; 2 million people are enslaved in South America. How many slaves are there in the United States, Canada, Europe combined? Zero. Zilch. None. But the left demands that only America and only white people must apologize and make reparations for slavery, and no one else – not even the people or countries who are currently holding others as slaves today. They never criticize these other countries. They only focus on the past sins of America and white people because they want to tear down both.

Instead of dwelling on the sins of our past, why don’t we spend more time on the good that we do? United States of America is the greatest imperfect country on the planet, and it is continually working to become a more perfect union.

The book of Proverbs says, "For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity." (Proverbs 24:16)

The difference between the righteous and the wicked is not that the righteous never sin, it is that when the righteous falls into sin, they get up, repent, and try not to sin again, whereas the wicked when they fall into sin, they stay in the sin. We should not denigrate the United States and the other Western countries for the sins of their past, but glorify them for their willingness to acknowledge their sins, repent and reform. There has never been a country in the history of the world that has had more wealth and military power that has used it more selflessly and shown more restraint in using it for their own self-interests, as the United States of America. The United States gives 175 countries a total of $85 billion every year in foreign aid while we are $39 trillion in debt, but we give it anyway. We have used our military might for the last hundred years to fight for the causes off freedom of other countries throughout the world.

The United States of America is a great country – the greatest country that has ever existed, but it is not a perfect country. It never has been and never will be. You can be great without being perfect. And those Americans who can only see the imperfections of America but cannot see the greatness, do not understand how absolutely spoiled American greatness has made them. We hear so much about privilege these days. The greatest privilege that anyone can have is to be an American, to call the United States your home. And the people who have that privilege but do not appreciate it, do not deserve to be an American. The truest testament to American greatness is the fact that the people who hate America the most refuse to leave American because deep down, they know how great America is.  

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Mr. Garrett is a graduate of Princeton University, and a former NFL player, coach, and executive. He has been a contributor to the website Real Clear Politics. He has recently published his first novel, No Wind.