Sunday, June 17, 2012
Are America’s best days behind her?
Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics, seems to
think so. “The American dream is a myth,” he writes in a recent column. In a
new USA Today/Gallup poll, nearly six in 10 disagreed with the idea that the
next generation will live better than their parents do.
Negative thoughts like this are nothing new. It stands to
reason that tough economic times will breed pessimism. Sometimes, though, we
need to remind ourselves of the principles this country was founded on, and
reconnect with the genius that created the United States of America, the only
country founded not on identity, but on ideas.
That’s what prompted my friend Brian Tracy to join me in
writing a book called The American Spirit. As Brian explains in the
introduction: “Today, millions of Americans are not clear about why the United
States is the greatest country on earth and in all human history.” And that’s a
shame.
Consider the phrase “the American Dream.” The words
themselves reveal something extraordinary. In all the history of man, there has
been only one country with the word “dream” attached to it. There is no French
Dream or Russian Dream or Chinese Dream. There is only the American Dream, to
which people worldwide aspire and have aspired since our founding. From 194
countries, people have come to America to pursue this dream.
In America, people care very much who you are. They care
little about your background. In America, you can start from anywhere, with or
without benefits and advantages from your family, and make your own way and
your own life. At any time, you can decide to change and do something
completely different. Your life is yours to chart.
In my opinion, this freedom to define your own destiny
ultimately derives from the Judeo-Christian tradition. God created us in His
own image, and just as God is free, so we are meant for freedom.
Government’s purpose is not to impose some elite-inspired
vision of the good society on the rest of us, but to empower men and women to
use their God-given freedom as they choose.
This opportunity has its roots in our extraordinary
founding in 1776. Having such freedom is more the exception than the rule
throughout much of human history. The republican form of government had mostly
been consigned to the history books since the fall of Rome. Monarchies had
ruled the leading powers of the world for centuries.
By choosing a republic, where the governed control the
government -- not the other way around -- the Founding Fathers displayed faith
in the individual’s ability to know better than any elected or appointed
official what is best for himself and his family. That’s why they created a
Constitution that protects our God-given rights from government. The government
does not grant those rights to us as citizens.
If you believe we are granted our fundamental rights by
the government, then you are more likely to seek additional favors from the
government. If the government is the granter of all good things, what is to
stop someone from thinking up more good things that could and should be granted
by government?
Yet our government is not Santa Claus writ large, and our
rights are not wish lists drawn up by eager tots on Christmas Eve. The
Constitution does not grant us the wonderful rights we embrace; it handcuffs
the government from infringing upon them. Or at least, it used to be that way.
Some might be tempted to conclude that the American
experiment has failed. I take a different view. We’ve faced tougher problems in
the past, yet our optimism has prevailed.
There’s no reason why we shouldn’t overcome our current
difficulties as well -- provided we adhere to the virtues and values that
constitute the American Spirit.
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