The Most American of Holidays

I consider Independence Day or July 4^th to be the most American of holidays. In addition to celebrating our Independence from the mother ship of England, it falls in the summer and typically includes barbecues, swimming and fireworks and a guilt free day off from work.

In my business, I spend a lot of time with newly minted and soon to be Americans from all over the world. They ask about all sorts of things that they notice - habits and customs of Americans that in fact define our country. They ask about where to take short trips on the weekends to experience America. My advice to them is to get out of the city. Look in towns that have populations of fewer than 50,000 people. It’s not that cities are devoid of Americana flavor – but it is so hard to find as cities bring out the selfish, arrogant and isolationist tendencies in most people, so it’s just harder to find real American greatness in them at a personal level.

In small towns anywhere in America you find people that love their country and are not afraid to show it. They have parades where soldiers from various military eras’ parade and are universally cheered. They have local newspapers like the Enterprise that show what local folks really do during the week. You see that sports matter much more than politics and that crime is far more uncommon than in the cities. Most small towns discard the anti-capitalist dogma of the cities and encourage new businesses to begin and thrive, and encourage customers to flock to the local merchants.

I tell my friends that in my opinion there are several things that make America not only good, but great. I am never ashamed to tell folks from other countries that I feel America is truly blessed, and here are a few reasons why.

The first thing I point out is that America loves change. We are forever eager to absorb new foods, new phrases and new cultural icons from all over the world. We love to read about life in other countries and adopt bits and pieces of those cultures into our own uniquely changing American culture. Americans like foreign accents and are curious about how people from other countries came to decide to move here, and why. We are constantly embracing new technology, new modes of transportation, new fashions, new ways to learn and new ideas. Change is constant and we believe it makes us stronger and more adaptive.

The second point I make to searchers of the real America, is we are builders.  We love to build homes, factories, statues, cars, roads, bridges, electronics, and most of all businesses. We love to think of new ideas that we can make money with, and will struggle nights and weekends to make these business dreams come true. We do it because we can. America allows anyone to get wealthy with nothing more than grit, hard work and a good idea.  We’re fascinated with engineering and architecture, science and math and of course technology as they are means to our ends of building something new and never before seen. This is why supply side economics works so well here. We love to change and we love to build things never dreamt of before, and take those ideas to the free market.

The third area I point out about America’s greatness is our willingness to give. We give more to charitable institutions, invest ourselves more in social causes, dedicate more sweat to build up our communities and willingly give even more time and money to our Churches, schools and clubs than any country in the world.  Especially in small town America you can call on your neighbor for help even in horrible weather, late at night or early on a Sunday and you likely will receive their help. When cars break down by the side of the road we stop to see if we can assist. When people are broke and begging for a few bucks we give and give and give.

The final area I always mention to my friends to consider is the most important one. We are great because we are a spiritual and a religious people. We believe in God and seek to worship our own notion of Deity in the way we feel best suits ourselves. The global statisticians that measure the religious natures of countries still show that Americans are strong and active people of faith. We also believe that our Government is subordinate to our natural unalienable rights give to us by our Creator. 

As you enjoy your Independence Day holiday it might be worthwhile to compile your own mental list of reasons you consider America to be unique and special. There lies in the future that moment when you too will have a chance to tell someone who did not grow up here why it is America the Beautiful.