As a child in school, I was proud when I learned about the accomplishments of my country and the actions that lead to its’ founding. I was overwhelmed when I read of the perfect storm of events that lead to the America I was blessed to grow up in! A crew sailing West to get East and discovering a vast unknown (To Europeans) wonderland, rich with opportunities.
Regular people, adventurers, criminals, debtors, “indentured servants” and more starting new lives in America. Many countries sending their best, and their worst, to this “New World” and those people melting together to form the greatest country of all time!
This America, that I was lucky enough to have been raised in is often called a “Melting Pot” because that’s what it became. Whether by design, or by fate, this land built by every kind of people there was, some born rich, some born poor, speaking different languages and seeking things ranging from religious freedom to great wealth. This hodge podge of men, women, freemen, slaves, indentured servants, criminals and elite. People who would not speak to each other in Europe were working side by side to found a new country in America.
Neil Diamond, a son of immigrants, and others have thankfully sung the praises of my country and the abundant opportunities it holds!
I was proud of Columbus and his crew who bravely discovered and charted parts of the “New World.” Their exploration was no less daring than those explorers who are currently staring death in the face by flying to the moon and (One day) beyond.
I was proud of the many other explorers and adventurers who braved all of the dangers inherent in going “Where no man has gone before.” (My acknowledgement to Star Trek).
I was amazed when I learned of the settlers and frontiersmen who ventured into uncharted territory knowing they could easily meet up with hostile natives, wild animals, extreme weather and other dangers. They were followed by families who followed close behind to farm or ranch in the new and dangerous land.
I was disappointed when I learned that many native Americans (called Indians because the first explorers mistakenly believed they had found a new route to India) were eventually removed from their homeland as a result of the “invading forces” from most of the countries in Europe. I also learned that our European ancestors were not the only threats the oft’ times nomadic Indians faced.
The original inhabitants faced dangers from the weather patterns in the “New World.” As we do now, they dealt with tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, extreme cold, extreme heat and everything else that mother nature throws at humanity. At times, they were required to deal with famine, disease, wild animals and all of the other dangers the wilderness presented.
A common problem with humans is that they often do not get along with other humans. Long before Columbus landed, and long before various European, then U.S. forces battled with Native Americans, the Native Americans were battling among themselves. This is something that those who throw rocks at the “White man” seldom mention.
Their risk of disease increased when the White visitors came because they, unintentionally, brought new illnesses that the Native American immune system had no defense against. I stress unintentionally because there are those “American haters,” who are often citizens, that list these diseases as additional offenses perpetrated by the White man against the noble red-man. A NOTE: The inverse was also true. Whites died as a result of diseases native to America that their immune systems were not able to fight.
Moving along to the Revolutionary War, we see true heroes. Every American participant in that conflict knew they were risking their life and their fortune. If they were fighting on the front line, or lending financial aid, they were committing treason, punishable by death and/or confiscation of all property.
They had grievances that they attempted to address in every diplomatic way available to them. Eventually, they agreed, war was their only alternative and they bravely and boldly declared our newfound country’s independence from the most powerful empire in the world, England.
A rag tag, underfunded, untrained collection of farmers, ranchers, shopkeepers, frontiersmen and more had chosen to fight for their freedom against the strongest nation known to man at the time. These rebels were in danger of dying at the hands of King James’ experienced, highly trained, well-armed, well fed and well-disciplined troops, the weather, starvation or disease. The odds were stacked against them. It was a bet no intelligent man would consider, but they were all in; wagering their lives.
Our brave soldiers found death from many causes in addition to British musket balls, Valley Forge is the best-known example with soldiers dying from exposure, starvation and disease but there were many more, equally amazing, sacrifices our first soldiers made to win our freedom from tyranny.
In this war, as in all wars, a percentage of the population was satisfied with the “status quo” and did not support the effort. Without the ability to tax, the “rebels” were forced to fend for themselves as far as acquiring supplies and recruits.
Unfortunately, the Revolutionary War was not our only conflict. There would be many more. Overall, we have fared well in battle with brave young people performing heroic acts, but, in my opinion, that is only one of the many ways to judge a country.
We can brag about Benjamin Franklin who, in addition to being one of our “founding fathers” is also credited for inventing the lightning rod, the Franklin stove, bifocal glasses, and the flexible urinary catheter. Another beacon was Alexander Graham Bell, who was born in Scottland, but started inventing after he settled in the Boston area and earned his citizenship; his greatest invention being the telephone (1876). Henry Ford invented the moving assembly line in 1913 which revolutionized manufacturing.
Reading this you might be thinking of some of the many names that can be added to my short list of American inventors, and I agree with you 100%. I am leaving many, many names off of my list. My point here is only to attempt to rekindle the pride in America that comes from all of the great things we have accomplished in our short history.
In addition to pioneers, soldiers and inventors we have many examples of entrepreneurs building successful businesses out of nothing but hard work and, in many cases, borrowed money.
According to “Investopedia,” Andrew Carnegie immigrated from Scotland. He was born into a lower class family, they settled in Pennsylvania where life improved and Andrew founded Carnegie Steel which became one of the largest companies in U.S. history. At the time of his death his estimated wealth was thought to be $350 million (Nearly 5.5 billion in 2021 dollars).
Frederic Tudor is a success story I was not aware of until I looked up American Entrepreneurs. I discovered, From the “Hillsdale College” website, that, in 1806, Tudor decided to sell ice. He took it from New England, where it was plentiful, to sell it in the Southern states, where it was dear. To preserve the ice, he packed it in sawdust, a very effective insulator, he got for free from sawmills. where it was plentiful and unwanted. Tudor’s idea was to combine two things that were inexpensive, ice and sawdust, and make them valuable by moving them. By 1820 he was shipping 2,000 tons of ice a year to buyers as far away as Calcutta, getting as much as 25 cents a pound.
Another example of the American spirit leading to success (More than once) is Henry Flagler. Flagler was making an enormous sum of money selling salt in the 1860’s. He lost his fortune and was forced to borrow money from his father-in-law to survive. He continued to work and persevere until, eventually, he invested in and owned 1/6th of Standard Oil. He made millions of dollars as a result and invested that to “Create” the modern state of Florida.
Many of the successful businessmen from the early days of America are household names, Carnegie, Rockefeller, Ford… others, like Mr. Tudor and Mr. Flagler are not, but the fact I’m pointing out is that America was truly a land of opportunity, back in the day.
Is that still the case? There are those that say it is not. I hope they are wrong.
Some point to the youth of today, pampered, raised in air-conditioned houses, multiple TV’s, gaming systems, many of them are seen as disrespectful and arrogant. People ask how today’s youth would fare if war, or hard times, came upon us. Some point to a lack of religion, citing new polls that indicate a lower percentage of Americans claim to believe in God or follow an organized religion. These people question if it is possible for any country to survive without God. Honestly, that is a concern of mine also.
Others note that modern U.S. students are taught about more of the faults with America than the reasons to be patriotic and, for that reason, are less likely to want to protect their country. Who would fight for a country they believe is bad or unworthy? I acknowledge that our faults, as a country, must be recognized and dealt with. I also insist that America has many more accomplishments than failures and it is unfair and dangerous for schools to present the negative disproportionately.
A concern about political corruption and lies comes into the picture. People point to both parties as offenders. Few of those citizens polled have the idealistic view of America that most had at one time. Who can be expected to risk their lives for a country they suspect is corrupt, inept or even evil?
We have modern day successes, but many are vilified in the press. They are portrayed as evil. Regardless of your political persuasion, have you heard anything good about Donald Trump lately? Again, in my opinion, reporting “facts” disproportionately is the same as lying.
Haven’t we all heard politicians lie that they will, “Finally make the rich pay their fair share of taxes?” They are surely aware, or should be, that the top earners in the U.S. pay the brunt of the taxes.
The PEW Research center reports that the top quintile of the population (Those making $130,001 or more yearly) paid $3,23 trillion in taxes compared to the bottom quintile (Those earning less than $25,000) who paid 142 billion, this was reported in April of 2023.
Aimee Picchi reporting for CBS News on April 17th, 2023, reported that The U.S. tax system is progressive, meaning those earning more money pay a higher percentage than those earning less. She adds that, because of tax benefits and transfers, such as taxpayer-funded programs like Medicaid and public housing assistance, the lowest-earning Americans actually receive more from the government than they pay in income taxes. Aimee goes on to say that the “top slice” of taxpayers is represented by 900,000 households that earn one million dollars or more a year, this tier was projected to pay 772 billion dollars in federal income taxes for 2022- 39% of all federal income taxes. The article adds that, by comparison, there are 29 million U.S. households with annual income between $50,000 and $75,000. “That group is expected to provide the federal government with about $44 billion in taxes, or 2.2% of the total pie, the analysis found.” The CBS Article noted that, “The average federal income tax rate was 13.6% in 2020, according to a January analysis from the Tax Foundation. But the top 1% of earners paid an average rate of about 26% while the bottom half of taxpayers had an overall rate of 3.1%.”
With this information, I urge you to question any politician who panders to you with this, “Rich people must pay their fair share.”
What is their fair share?
The Tax Foundation statistics show that the top 1% of U.S. earners paid 40.1% of taxes collected while the bottom 50% of earners paid 2.9% in 2018. When the study is expanded to include the top 5% it shows that that group paid 60.3% of the taxes that year.
When 5% of the wage earners are paying 60% of the taxes, in my opinion, they are paying their fair share! For information, in case you didn’t pick it up from my bio, I am NOT in that group. I aspired to be while I was working but, as most of us did, I fell short by quite a bit.
New York, Illinois, Hawaii and California are among the ten most highly taxed states according to wisevoter.com and are the top four states listed for population loss per worldpopulationreview.com from 2020 to 2021. I don’t believe that is a coincidence, do you?
I live in one of those states and if it were financially possible to bring my family with me, I would move out in a minute! The people who are able to move out, are doing just that.
A problem our politicians aren’t addressing is that many of the people who are leaving have the financial capability to leave the country, and a few of them have done so; many more may follow if things don’t change drastically.
I believe we are still the best hope of all the other choices as far as nations to set up residence in. But, in my opinion, the gap is narrowing.
There is so much more that can be said on this topic, but this post is too long already.
I hope you enjoyed this blog. Please comment on what you liked or didn’t like or what you agreed or disagreed with.
Thanks for spending some time with me, I appreciate it.
Phil