European soccer fans, of all people, have reminded us at the perfect moment that America actually is still great. And while they may not comprehend it, we are still the greatest nation on earth because we launched a revolution against history 250 years ago.
Perhaps there are no more beautiful words that re-framed the world, that are not in the Bible, than these in our Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that their Creator endows them with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The powerful words launched a revolutionary act against history. Before that, virtually all nations everywhere had been and were ruled by monarchs, despots, and dynasties that were antithetical to those concepts. Human value was dependent on a person’s station of birth — princes and peasants. And this was accepted.
Not only did the American colonies revolt against the most powerful empire of the age, but this great American experiment also revolted against the very idea of it and all of history. People were neither less nor more because of their birth; their rights were not only those bestowed by the local monarch or tyrant.
The Biblical injunction ruled that all men are created equal and have basic rights that come from God. It is hard to comprehend today how wildly revolutionary an idea this was.
But from it we gain the concept of government by the people and for the people, of a representation chosen by the people, of the rights of free speech, freedom of religion, property rights, and the fresh air of freedom for all. Americans dreamed big, built big, and lived big, drawing tens of millions of people from around the world who wanted to pursue life, liberty, and happiness.
Centuries later, this revolution against history produced the most powerful, wealthy, world-changing country in history, lifting billions worldwide out of poverty and exporting the concept of individual rights, including to Europe, which eventually abandoned its monarchical authority for the American ideal of representation.
It was this America that fought a horrific Civil War to finally live up to the Declaration and free the enslaved people because of the value of every human life being in the image of God.
It was this America that was attacked by imperial Japan in Hawaii, followed by Germany declaring war on it, that then defeated its enemies and went on not to occupy or colonize the conquered enemies but to export the ideals of individual liberty and representative government and spend billions of dollars to rebuild them. Truly unheard of.
In this dynamic, Americans were incredibly innovative: from mass electricity, the lightbulb, telephones, and air conditioning; from cars, airplanes, and space flight; to the internet, computers, GPS, smartphones, and artificial intelligence, and so much more.
It was upon this legacy of individual rights, as the most powerful nation in the world, and on the dream of big things, that the soccer fans of Europe arrived in America for the World Cup. And to their shock, they found nothing like the ugly portrait that had been painted by the media (ours and theirs) and by movies and politicians. Their impressions went viral around the world through social media (another American innovation)
In the awe of a Bucee’s, they discovered that individualistic Americans continued to build big and live big. In the dozens of enormous stadiums and flyovers and amenities, they reveled in the glorious immensity that is America. In the diversity that is not nearly as violently divisive in real life as in media life, they found a nation steeped in hospitality that had drawn so many people from so many cultures to its shores in pursuit of a better life. And they saw why.
Our rights and generosity have been horribly abused in recent years by the brutish enemies of all of the above. But to this day, America remains a beacon of freedom, a shining city on a hill. European soccer fans are seeing why firsthand.
Rod Thomson is a former daily newspaper reporter and columnist, Salem radio host and ABC TV commentator, and current Founder of The Thomson Group, a Florida-based political consulting firm. He has eight children,seven grandchildren, and a rapacious hunger to fight for America on their behalf. Follow him on Twitter at @Rod_Thomson. Email him at [email protected].
