Happy B-Day USA

232 years ago today, the Declaration Of Independence was ratified, and a new nation was born from the union of 13 upstart colonies.

A little experiment was started with a republican form of government. We’re still experimenting.

I don’t always agree with whoever sits in the oval office at any given time. And I don’t always agree with what Congress is doing. And I don’t always agree with the rulings of the Supreme Court. But the beauty of our system is that none of them can do irreparable damage in the long run. And while I sometime gotta wonder what my fellow voters were thinking, no irreparable harm is done there, either. Change may sometime come very slowly, but change comes and errors are corrected, and good things happen, and we vote the @#%^ out of office, and vote in new @#%^, and the wheel turns.

It’s not a perfect society. But, thank the universe, it’s mostly self-correcting. We may get off track sometimes, but eventually we remember the principles that this country was founded on. And freedom wins out. And liberty wins out. And justice wins out. And compassion. And peace.

Although we sometimes seem to have lost our collective sense of humor, we do usually have one. Americans work hard and play hard. We are a young country (relatively), and like young people we are unafraid and a little arrogant and sometimes a bit brash. We love challenges and new frontiers and big adventures.

We’re pretty friendly with our ex’s across the big pond now. But sometimes I think our nearest neighbors might look askance at some of the weeds we allow to grow in our back yard. Please give us a chance to work a little change and get a some of that cleaned up.

For all our issues, this is still, in my opinion, the greatest country on earth. I can’t imagine wanting to live anywhere else.

Happy birthday!