Mark Hillman

            Perhaps the greatest irony of America’s 250th birthday is the inadvertent role played by international tourists visiting for soccer’s World Cup who remind us that our country is unlike any other.

            Much like the 1989 visit by Russian president Boris Yeltsin to a Texas supermarket, World Cup tourists are astonished by the variety and selection available to ordinary Americans at grocery and other stores.  They marvel at the taste of food in our restaurants.  Most significantly, they are pleasantly surprised to learn they can usually walk down our busiest streets without fear of being assaulted or robbed and that our police officers are friendly and helpful.

            America is a land of abundance for everyone – not just the wealthy.  Comedian Carlos Mencia once quipped, “America is such a great country, we have fat poor people.”

            As Americans, we take all of the above for granted.

            Our good fortune is not an accident, but we dare not assume it is something to which we are entitled.  Our abundance, opportunity and safety are the result of our founders’ vision of liberty for all.

            The Declaration of Independence proclaims these self-evident truths: “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 ….”

            When those words were written in 1776 slavery was common, not just in America but around the world.  Yet those words represented an acknowledgement that not only led to the abolition of slavery but became a rallying cry for civil rights leaders from Frederick Douglass to Martin Luther King Jr., who called the Declaration and the U.S. Constitution, “a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.”

            Pursuit of happiness relies on the concept of “ordered liberty” – broad, individual freedom restrained by a generally-accepted moral code; not doing anything we want but doing what we ought.

            George Washington observed, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”  John Adams added, “The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue.”

            Thomas Paine, a critic of organized religion, nevertheless recognized that citizens who believe themselves accountable to a higher power are essential to a free society.

            To pursue our own happiness, we must respect the right of others to pursue theirs.  Our own freedom depends on extending to others the freedom to dissent and disagree; freedom to own, acquire and utilize property; and freedom to pursue different interests and beliefs.

            A truly free society is best illustrated as a vast ocean of freedom dotted by a few tiny islands of government power.  The purpose of government isn’t to control the people but to ensure the free exercise of citizens’ liberty.

            Most importantly, legitimate freedom imposes no burden on others.  I may not like what you have to say, but you saying it costs me nothing because neither you nor government has any legitimate power to force me to listen or to conform to your beliefs.

            Some disparage this as “negative liberty” – merely freedom from interference.  Yet, no other country guarantees that freedom.  Instead, “positive liberty,” by their reckoning, amounts to an entitlement system which requires robbing Peter to pay Paul.  That’s hardly liberty because “a government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.”

            America is the land of abundance and opportunity precisely because liberty rewards ingenuity, creativity and hard work.  Unfortunately, some politicians – socialists on the Left and populists on the Right – increasingly view government as a tool to punish and plunder those whom they believe are too successful or too powerful.

Yet the risk-taking and entrepreneurship that bring us the convenience of Amazon, Starlink or Walmart are possible only because America is unlike any other nation on Earth.

            At 250 years old, our United States is still the direct descendent of those revolutionary colonists who miraculously defeated the British Empire.

We are uniquely blessed to live in this place and time.  Future generations will share those blessings and opportunity only if we preserve them.

Mark Hillman served as Senate Majority Leader and State Treasurer.  To read more or comment, go to www.MarkHillman.com.