At 248, America Still Waxing Strong

Prior to July 4, 1776, the United States of America, which today remains the world's undisputed superpower, was under the iron grips of Great Britain as one of its colonies.

Freedom is not actually free hence the founding fathers of America had to fight vociferously  to break away from the shackles of the British colonisers.

The American Revolution was birthed. It was an insurrection carried out by 13 of Great Britain’s North American colonies that began in 1775 and ended with a peace treaty in 1783. 

The colonies won political independence and went on to form the United States of America. The war followed more than a decade of growing estrangement between the British crown and a large and influential segment of its North American colonies that was caused by British attempts to assert greater control over colonial affairs after having long adhered to a policy of salutary neglect.

Today, America is 248 years old as an independent country. The country stands tall in the comity of nations. Even Great Britain which once colonised it has long formed an alliance with other countries around America with America playing the lead role. It calls the shots in the international politics.

Most countries in the world tailor their political system towards America. The antecedents of American federalism trace to colonial days when the concept of divided sovereign began to take shape.

At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, the thirteen colonies declared themselves to be free and independent states. During the hostilities and at the War’s end, the newly formed states recognized that they needed to operate together to function adequately on the new national stage and to enter the world stage.

America’s first attempt to codify federalism — the Articles of Confederation of 1781 — failed. Replaced by the Constitution of 1787, the government it established have survived the tenuous early days of the Republic, a Civil War, serious economic depressions, America’s involvement in two World Wars, and 227 years of innumerable internal and external challenges. 

Today, most Americans hope this Independence Day brings all Americans together to celebrate their nation’s foundation — at a time when the country seems torn asunder by many of the same issues that led their founders to break from the British crown and declare their autonomy.

July 4 celebrates America's Declaration of Independence from British control, even though that independence wasn’t achieved until 1783, after more than eight years of fierce fighting.

Still, that declaration eloquently enumerates many of the reasons the American colonists fought to break off the yoke of suppression by the British crown.

Unfortunately, Americans today can make many of the same grievances against their own government.

As Americans reassert their nation’s independence, there is the need to review some of those charges laid out in their declaration, which was intended to assert the independence of the American people over any government that would seek to subvert them — including their own.

It the general belief among Americans that governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed and that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it.

Increasing regulation, from restrictions on the vehicles Americans drive to the bathrooms the children may use, imposes the kinds of impediments against which their revolution was commenced.

One of the major parties in America has been working to delegitimize the elections process, refusing to acknowledge the results of elections with which they don’t agree.

During this electioneering in the US, efforts to stop immigration comprise the most contentious issue in this campaign. 

Those efforts already have injured the country's economy as businesses struggle to find workers and governments at all levels boost taxes to offset the loss of potential taxpayers that immigration would provide.

The steady growth of government bureaucracy and regulation increasingly hinders public freedoms and takes bigger bites out of their hard-earned resources.

Officials increasingly impose and raise taxes without public consent, and fight public notice and meeting laws intended to allow the public to voice their opinions of new taxes and increases.

Without any iota of doubt, America has remained a model to many countries around the world and it is hoped that the developing countries in the world, particularly on the African continent will emulate those things that make America tick as a great country.
Happy 248th independence anniversary, America, the God's Own Country!