Countdown to Independence Day: #4 Understand what America means to people around the world

Over the next several days leading up to Independence Day I will be posting the 10 steps that must be taken to preserve our great nation and the principles it was established on.  Each day will cover one of the steps as they appear in my book Liberty Inherited.  It is my hope that, in some small way, I can get Americans to start thinking of what they are on the verge of throwing away.  Today's posting covers step number #4.  I recommend reading the previous posts for step #1 through 3.  Please note that any additional comments that I add to the original text will be in italics.

4. Understand what America means to people around the world

If you were to pay much attention to the mass media or believe the anti-American rhetoric of so-called experts you may think that America is no longer admired in the world. This may be true for the elites and those who follow them but for the majority of people – the silent majority – America is still a special place. Just the amount of people that want to come to this country is evidence of this being true. Of even greater significance is the popularity of American culture around the world. The anti-Americans complain about its influence on their culture but the reality is that American culture would not have the influence it has if it was not for the common people embracing it. And the reason they embrace it is because they are trying to capture a little bit of America’s exceptionalism for themselves.

More significantly we need to note how important America is for the oppressed people of the world. It is no coincidence that the first countries to support the United States in its war on Iraq were the Eastern European countries that were recently liberated from the oppressive rule of Soviet communism. This is because for oppressed people the United States has always inspired hope and faith. If anybody can rescue them from their desperate lives it will be the Americans. Who else is there? The Germans? The French? The Chinese? The fact is that there is no other country that can match the United States’ history of liberating oppressed people all over the world. It is these oppressed people who truly recognize that America is indeed exceptional and they know that if America were to stop being that “shining city on the hill” a dark and sinister shadow would cover the globe. But we must believe this ourselves for as Hannan points out, “as long as Americans believe in themselves, others will believe them, too.”

Ever since 1776, oppressed people have attempted to recreate the American Revolution for themselves.  This was the case for the French in 1789, the Russians in 1917, and the Cubans in 1953.  It is also the dream of many who are taking part in the revolutions that are currently spreading throughout the Middle East.  While all those revolutions ended in tyranny (and the current Middle East revolutions appear to heading the same way) it is important to note that there were/are significant segments of those societies that believe in America and what it stands for.  It is for these people that America must stay exceptional, must stay the 'shining light on the hill.' For without the USA and what it symbolizes any hope of freedom that these people have will be forever extinguished. It is these people, and not the American-haters, that we must keep in our hearts and our minds.