What makes the United States different from other countries founded and populated by British settlers? Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, for instance.
We Americans purchased our freedom with the blood of patriots and tyrants. The others tamely accepted whatever scraps of freedom the British were willing to bestow on them.
The Battle of New Orleans, in 1959, was a No. 1 hit song when I was a boy. We still remembered, back then. Remembered the War of 1812, Chapter Two of our fight for freedom against the British Empire. 2014 was the 200th anniversary of that battle.
Do we still remember what we had to do to win our freedom? Our place in the world?
I think this year’s election will answer that question. One way or another.
“The Battle of New Orleans” was fought two weeks after the war was over. It took that long for the news to reach New Orleans two hundred years ago.
Anyway, I like the song and sing it once in a while. “Sink the Bismarck” was also sung by Johnny Horton. One time I decided to see if the facts he sang about the Bismarck and its sinking were true. Yes, he got the story correct in his song. He sang many such songs, and for the most part, you learned a bit about history while enjoying his songs.
Yes, the war was officially over–but the armies at New Orleans didn’t know it.
What would have happened, had the British won that battle?
A very astute observation, Lee.
I don’t think I’ve ever encountered it before.
For the most part, the more you have to pay for something, the more you value it.
I remember the Hungarian refugees of 1956, many of whom fled to my county. They appreciated America!
That’s a big part of the problem. Many people alive today don’t have any experience which would prepare them to understand that liberty can be imperiled. Contrast that to the WW II veterans who saw for themselves how bad things can get.
King David would not offer to God anything that cost him nothing. He paid the full price for Araunah’s threshing floor, the oxen and all threshing instruments. If it cost David nothing, it would mean nothing to God. Sometimes, that which we have to work for, labor and spend much time with, is more valuable than that which was just given to us.
When we are given gifts, we know that the gift giver spent some time picking out the gift, spent money and thought on that gift. Thus, it cost them something. When we pray, love God, by our labor, of giving of our time, and efforts to those around us, that is worth a lot to the Lord. We love God, because He first loved us and gave His Son for us.
Our freedom cost many their lives. Many who signed the Declaration of Independence were wealthy, and yet, they pledged their lives, and fortunes, and their sacred honor, when they did so. And it cost most who did so, everything, all their wealth, their families, their health, and their lives. For most today, their freedom cost them nothing, thus, it’s not worth a whole lot to them. If they only knew and understood the price, they might think differently.
What made for American Exceptionalism was our form of government, and that our rights come from God not the government. The Declaration decreed it, and the Constitution established it with chains on the Federal government. Federalism was our government structure until greedy men for power and wealth started chipping away at those chains. Now they have made an idol of Democracy, a form of government our founding fathers despised.
Plutarch didn’t think much of it, either. “Democracy” has been bilge for several thousand years.
You are quite right. There’s much more to our government than what I was taught in Civics classes.