Published – Idaho State Journal, 07/08/12
At the NATO Summit in Strasbourg, France, in 2009 our
president said, "I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect
that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in
Greek exceptionalism."
Contrary to what some among us erroneously assume, American
exceptionalism is not some obtuse reference to Americans being any better than
anyone else in the world. It doesn’t mean that our products are somehow
superior, or that we’re any more erudite than the inhabitants of any other
country. It simply means that, as a nation, America was exceptional in how it
was founded and the precepts upon which it was established are unique and
unparalleled in all of human history.
There has never been anything so unique and exceptional in
the rising up of a new nation than one being established according to declared
inalienable individual and collective rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness. In an era when monarchs, rulers, autocrats and aristocrats
governed according to their whims and disposition based primarily on caste or
bloodline, a motley collection of men steeped in classical-liberal principles
led a revolution and established a nation dedicated to individual freedom.
Those precepts were the foundation to the Declaration of
Independence, which states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” There is nothing
more exceptional in human history than those two sentences and the nation that
resulted from their utterance: a nation that derived its “just” powers from the
“consent of the governed.”
A decade later, a structural document creating the
governmental framework by which the tenets articulated in the Declaration of
Independence were codified, was ratified by the colonies. That document, our
Constitution, stated specifically what our national government would do in no
uncertain terms, and whatever powers were not specified or enumerated, were
“reserved to the states respectively or to the people.”
That concept of limited governmental power and maximum
individual freedom is the embodiment of American exceptionalism and is the
reason for our holiday this past week. It is a time for us to reflect on the
historical significant of a nation being so founded, intentionally constructed
in such a way as to prevent tyrants, despots, and bureaucrats from usurping the
authority and power of the people. While we may seem so far removed from those
ideals today, the poignant reflection on the historicity of the day should stir
something deep within our souls for a return to such principles.
We can also reflect upon, and celebrate the lives and
contributions of those who fought and died for those principles. Not just in
our revolutionary era, but with each successive generation from that time. None
have given more, and sacrificed more, than our men and women in uniform, who
have carried high the banner of freedom onto foreign lands to defend life and
liberty, and vanquish tyranny.
Those who don the nation’s uniform take an oath of fealty to
the Constitution, and that they will defend it against all foes, foreign and
domestic. I often reflect how all of us, as citizens, should take a similar
oath. For if we did, the abuses of power, usurped and purloined from the
citizens, would be so much less likely to occur than we observe on a nearly
daily basis in news emanating from our seats of government.
In our reflection of the historical significance of the day,
may we catch a glimpse of the fervor that filled the hearts and souls of those
earliest of patriots. They were so willing to give all that they had, including
their very lives, for the freedom for which they yearned. Yet collectively, we
allow that very liberty to be frittered away on a daily basis by ostensibly
well-intentioned politicians who, through new legislation, laws, and Acts,
limit individual freedom and liberty, and engorge government with ever
increasing power to harass, subjugate, and rule over us. With each such law, we
become less citizens of a republic based on freedom, and increasingly subjects
to an omnipotent and omniscient government.
If we are to truly celebrate Independence Day, let us
recommit to those principles for which our forebears struggled that we might
enjoy the fruits thereof. Let’s not allow their sacrifices to have been in
vain, but let us take up the torch of Lady Liberty, with the fire of freedom
burning within our souls, and recommit to those founding doctrines that made
America unique and exceptional in all of human history.
AP award winning columnist Richard Larsen is
President of Larsen Financial, a brokerage and financial planning firm in
Pocatello, and is a graduate of Idaho State University with a BA in Political
Science and History and former member of the Idaho State Journal Editorial
Board. He can be reached at rlarsenen@cableone.net.