I know this election cycle has left many of you hurt, dejected, lost and are looking for the next step forward. I want to share an opinion that some of you may have a hard time believing and that is – America’s not dead!!!!! I know some of you might point out the many problems America faces right now including the choice this election, the Supreme Court, your debt, your low labour participation rate and Obamacare. But I am going to lay out the case why I KNOW America is not over.
Let me ask you a question… Can you remember a time in YOUR history like now, where so many of you no longer believe your children will have greater opportunities than us, or that you think the America Dream is nothing more than a bumper sticker? Yet despite all our many troubles right now, America still ranks 11th in economic freedoms and 20th in human freedoms.
Am I suggesting these should be celebrated? No, I am not but I also know many other nations including my own nation Ireland would gladly take these positions, and promote them to their people about how great they are. Even though these figures are an embarrassment to America, I believe they are also a testament to how unique and truly special America is. You are at an all-time low today and yet you are still more fortunate and closer to real opportunity and freedoms than 90% of the world.
America also has one major strength that no one else can match and that is the size of your economy. Despite years of slow growth, the highest corporation tax rate, a tax code few can understand and excessive burdensome regulations to which you are all forced to comply with, you still have the largest economy in the world. Let me put this into context for you. The US economy is bigger than the combined economies of China, Japan and Germany who rank second, third and fourth in the world.
I want you to close your eyes for a moment, imagine you have a magic wand in your hand and you have the power to swap the America’s future with that of any other nation in the world.
Which nation’s future would you choose?
This might sound crazy to some of you but given the choice I would still choose America’s future. Why? Because I believe the actions of your Founding Fathers, declaring your independence, and empowering the individual to be responsible for themselves, put you on a trajectory that is unmatched even to this day. America at its very core is not a political party, an election result, a policy or even a land mass. America is an idea and a set of principles that changed the way our world works. An idea or a dream cannot be defeated by finances, policies, elections, people or even the strongest army ever assembled.
The Progressive movement in both parties know this and their plan is to slowly and consistently chip away at our principles and your way of life. They know the only way you can defeat an idea is acting in a way that makes you feel every emotion that you are feeling right now. Their whole plan is based on making you lose faith and hope in America and everything our country stands for, to the point that even the most ardent believers start questioning them, and eventually you either stop promoting them or ideally you forget them completely.
This sounds like a plausible and doable plan, right?
WRONG!!! I have bad news for those who want to write America’s epitaph because they have grossly under-estimated the most powerful part of America… a part of you that can NEVER be crushed and that is the American Spirit which lives inside every one of you. The history of America is not some fairy-tale where people woke up, found real freedom and then lived happily ever after.
Your history is that of facing major challenges and overcoming them with class, honour and dignity. Do you think you are the first generation to feel hurt, lost or lacking in hope? Do you think this is the first time the enemies of freedom thought WE were beaten? No you are not – just look at some of your history.
YOU are a people who overcame the King and the most powerful army of the day at our founding. Do you think that was all one sided and easy? How did George Washington feel when the Continental Army suffered major defeats, and witnessed troop numbers decrease down to 2,000.
YOU are the people who washed your country in blood during the Civil War to cleanse yourselves of slavery. Can you imagine how Lincoln must have felt during the first few years of war when thousands lost their lives with no one side gaining any significant advantage?
YOU are the people who stared Russia down during the nuclear arms race and where terms like M.A.D were used. Now I know some will point out the change of attitude in your people but there have always been voices from within who oppose our ideas and the principles of America.
During the Cold War some felt Détente was a positive step and encouraged America to accept a form of democratic socialism. There were even commentators using phrases like “better red than dead”. It was your principles that empowered Ronald Reagan to stand in West Germany and utter the words heard across the globe, “Mr. President, Tear down this wall”!!!
Let us also never forget YOU are the people who have unleashed the energy and individual genius of man that has never been seen before and this has directly led to your people creating advancements we all take for granted today including suspension bridges, refrigeration, anaesthetic, jack hammers, machine guns, the Model T, the Internet and even the teleprompter.
NO – America facing major issues is not something new! IT IS YOUR HISTORY!!! The story of America is not only a principled one of doing what we all know is morally right but also one of making the impossible… possible.
The battle today is both an individual and a national one and takes place in each of our beings and souls. Do YOU stand and fight for everything you believe is morally right? Do YOU stand for the principles that truly made America great – like God, the Constitution and giving the individual the dignity to pursue their own happiness and dreams? Do YOU act and lead by example to our children showing them the values and principles that are important in this life, so that they may have the opportunity to pursue their dreams and pass them onto future generations, ensuring the continuity of our great nation.
Or will you be the first generation of Americans to lay down your principles, compromise, give up and succumb to the tyranny the rest of the world has always experienced and is still experiencing to this day. Ronald Reagan summed it up perfectly when he said:
Some may try and tell us that this is the end of an era. But what they overlook is that in America, every day is a new beginning and every sunset is merely the latest milestone on a voyage that never ends. For this is the land that has never become, but is always in the act of becoming.
America does have problems, but it is only over if YOU give up.
