What a country!
Baseball great Babe Ruth was twice as likely to strike out as he was to hit a home run. In fact, he struck out sixteen percent of the time when he came to bat. Another baseball great, Ricky Henderson was caught trying to steal a base more than any other baseball player in history. And yet he stole more bases than any other player in history, by a lot.
When we talk about these greats, we focus on their accomplishments rather than their failures.
They dared greatly and succeeded far more than they failed.
We’ve noticed something odd about our political discourse these days. When it comes to the United States of America, all we seem to hear about our country is how horrible we are. The sharpest criticisms invariably come from our most vocal proponents of unrestricted abortion.
Pulse Life Advocates believes that the United States of America, though flawed, is the greatest country in the history of the world.
For once, let’s sing America’s praises!
- America designed a Constitution built upon a Creed expressing God-given rights of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
- We have religious freedom and a Bill of Rights! Citizens and visitors alike are free to worship freely here, whether Christian or otherwise. By contrast, 45 million Christians were martyred for their faith in countries around the world in the 20th century alone, a trend which sadly continues this century as well. The persecuted flock to the United States of America as a beacon of hope and freedom.
- Speaking of immigrants, the U.S. is the most welcoming country in the world, allowing in a million new legal immigrants annually. Millions more enter illegally. By contrast, countries like Pakistan, India, China, Bangladesh, and Sudan have the most net negative migration.
- The U.S. abolished slavery, an effort that required a Civil War and the deaths of some 700,000 soldiers, more casualties than all of our other wars combined.
- Even more, we passed civil rights and voting rights legislation to end race-based discrimination.
- The U.S. expanded liberty by passing the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote.
- Helped rebuild Europe after the devastation of World War II. The U.S. Marshall Plan injected $13 Billion ($180 Billion in today’s dollars) into the effort.
- Won the space race and put a man on the moon! Thanks to non-governmental entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, we’re leading the way to colonize the Moon and Mars.
- Invented the internet.
- Invented the transistor.
- Developed a cure for Polio.
- Built the Panama Canal.
- Wrote the greatest song in history, “Over the Rainbow.” (Certainly a subjective claim, but still true!)
- Exports more food and energy than any country in the world.
- Protects free speech.
- Produces prosperity, with the highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the world. Many on the political Left decry America’s growing number of billionaires, and call for confiscation of their wealth (pursuit of happiness). But the U.S. is so prosperous, that the BOTTOM income quintile (poorest 20% of Americans) still earns an average of $48,700 a year, when you include means-tested transfer payments, such as welfare, SNAP, and Medicaid, as does the Congressional Budget Office.
- In other words, our social safety net has virtually eliminated poverty. The POOREST Americans enjoy annual incomes comparable to the mean incomes of entire nations such as Japan and South Korea.
What a country!
Could we take a breath and simply exclaim, “Glory, glory hallelujah!”? We hit the jackpot being born into this great nation!
Recently, the 44th president of the United States had a sour take on our Founding Fathers:
“In forming our union, the founders fell terribly short of the Declaration’s promise, leaving slavery intact, allowing states to restrict the franchise to white men who owned property.”
Indeed they did. But in their wisdom, they designed an ingenious system of government that built upon the Declaration of Independence’s Creed of God-given rights to Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness.
The system recognizes the imperfectability of man, building safeguards into the Constitution, consisting of checks and balances and division of power.
Maggie DeWitte speaks at the Capitol
Pulse Executive Director, Maggie DeWitte, proclaimed the greatness of this nation in her address in front of the Iowa Capitol last October (above). She shared an important observation on the philosophical and political underpinnings of America:
“It [the Declaration of Independence] acknowledges that the workings of the world are subject to a timeless force known as Natural Law.
Even more, it majestically proclaims the dignity of the common man.
This dignity is infused within each of us NOT by man, but by our Creator who gifts us with immutable rights.
This divine dignity doesn’t mysteriously kick in at the age of reason.
Nor when we can walk and talk … or even when we take our first breath.
Amen … human dignity begins at the split second in which we are conceived.”
The party of the 44th president of the United States fought like hell to preserve slavery, just as they fight like hell today to preserve and expand abortion.
America can never fully realize its full potential until it “secures the blessings of liberty for our posterity” (the unborn), as our Constitution demands.
DeWitte extends her hand at the end of her speech in a call for unity:
“Abortion is a direct assault on what made … and what makes America great.
On this auspicious occasion when a mighty country rightly celebrates the noblest of all American documents, I reach my hand out to all of our prodigal sons and daughters:
JOIN us in standing up for the little guy.
JOIN us in restoring the rights of our unborn brothers and sisters.
JOIN us in building a future that respects human life from conception to natural death.
THIS … THIS is our call.
THIS … THIS is our duty.
THIS is the United States of America!”
