Today is a very special day for our nation and its people. Today, we celebrate and remember the 4th of July as the day the founding fathers of our country declared independence from the British empire and thus birthed the greatest nation on earth 242 years ago. I know our political atmosphere is a little chaotic right now, but today should be a time where Americans can unite and celebrate. As we contemplate today, I think we all ask ourselves if we are truly proud to be American? I mean, despite its flaws, America is in fact the greatest nation on the face of the earth and is the greatest slayer of tyranny around the globe. However, there are people today who see America as a force for evil in the world, and I think that has to do with the denial or ignorance of the principles the nation was founded on. Let me explain in detail.

I think it’s important to point out that many Americans see the constitution and the declaration of independence differently then others. The left generally sees the Declaration as situation where rich white men wanted independence to protect their property and weren’t sacrificing anything. They believe declaration as well as the constitution supported the existence of slavery and discrimination thus it being just for white men. As for our rights, they see those as something the government gives us and thus can be taken away at any time. As for the right, they generally see the declaration as situation where the founders were willing to risk everything, including their lives in order to protect our rights. Conservatives for years have believed that our rights were bestowed by God and preexisted the government. The government was put their to protect our rights with minimal intervention. As evidence for this claim, here is an excerpt from the Declaration:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.

So, the idea that founders didn’t believe in the notion that our rights preexisted government is utterly asinine, and plays a big part in the mind set of some Americans.

There was a troubling poll that came out the other day that showed that less than half of americans were not proud to be American. According to the poll, on average, 47% of Americans are extremely proud to be American. As far the party split, 32% of Democrats are extremely proud to be American, and for Republicans, 74% are extremely proud to be American. The reason why there is such a gap between Republicans and Democrats is because, conservatives tie their love for the country to its founding principles regardless of who’s President. For the left, they tie their love for America to whoever is the President. So, when Obama was President, more Democrats were proud. And of course, since the left hates Trump, less of them are proud to be American.

Regardless of how today’s society is, America is better off than it has ever been in history. Seriously, if someone from 1930 traveled to 2018, they would think have died and gone to heaven. That’s not to say we don’t have our issues, we do, but we have massively approved. That’s why so many people from other countries want to come here because of the opportunities we have here. As long we the American people, remember the principles, the values, and philosophies, that went into building this country, I guarantee the United States will continue to be as great as it always has been.