The United States of America is an exceptional country. De Tocqueville spelled it out and luminaries such as Thomas Jefferson used the term as well.  It’s not because we’re somehow “better” than other countries or have more resources, a more powerful military, or more wealth—though we may. The U.S. is exceptional because of the ideal upon which we were founded.

 

For 12 years, I’ve maintained that we were attacked on 9/11/01 because “we,” as a nation, are STILL the best example of the beauty of individual liberty in the world. To the Islamic radicals who attacked us, we are a threat to their statist, control-freak ideology. Since that attack, many members of our military have given their lives in defense of what we represent, and I thank them and their families for their sacrifice.

 

Yet I see many Americans (both within and outside of government) take those sacrifices for granted by implementing and supporting a level of state control over our lives that places our individual liberty in jeopardy. I caution those who would head down that slippery slope to not forget that more government control equals more government dependency, and that more dependency equals less individual liberty and more power in the hands of those who dole out benefits. To me—and millions of other Americans—this is common sense; but that’s apparently not the case with the current administration and others (on both sides of the political aisle) who are stakeholders in the dependency state.

 

The further we stray from the all-important founding principle of individual liberty—that which makes us exceptional—the more we become like every other country in the world…and possibly like the very monsters who attacked us on September 11th, 2001. Never forget!