America: Independent & entrepreneurial
Seven score and eight years ago, Abraham Lincoln's dedication of the Gettysburg Cemetery included these words: "...our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
Four score and seven years earlier, one of those fathers, Thomas Jefferson, penned what is arguably the most important secular document in history, the Declaration of Independence, which included this passionate passage:
"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."
Having the spirit, courage and vision to declare independence, at a time when monarchy was the accepted model of government, is impressive. Fighting for those principles then, and defending them from within and without for over two centuries is unprecedented.
To be sure, America has had lapses in the delivery of some of these tenets. Indeed, while Lincoln was trying to save his beloved country, he made this judgment: "We made the experiment; and the fruit is before us."
Even today, America is a work-in-progress. We're on a journey of understanding with many stations where new things are learned and past wrongs can be righted. But in terms of contribution to the world, Ronald Reagan's "shining city upon a hill" has an incomparable record. Warts and all, the United States is still a benefactor nation with millions of beneficiaries.
Freedom to dream is found in other lands, as is freedom to pursue dreams. But no entrepreneurial soil is more fertile than in America, and it's because of those who had the spirit to create our founding documents, the will to deliver them, and the courage to defend them.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness have been essential to millions of American small businesses. If you ask anyone, anywhere on the planet, where to go to start a business and have the greatest chance to succeed and accrue the fruits of that labor, the answer would be America. Generation after generation of small business owners have, like the Founders, demonstrated spirit, will and courage as they have claimed and perpetuated the American dream.
As we celebrate the blessings of another Fourth of July in America, let's fulfill Lincoln's hope that the bonds of affection for each other will be "touched by the better angels of our nature."
Write this on a rock... Happy Independence Day
