Happy 4th of July

The biggest problem we Americans face is that our dreams are no longer as big as the comfortable existences we already enjoy.

Considering all the problems we see on the news every day, that's a pretty bold statement, but think about it.

From man's earliest known history, and we're talking several thousand years back, until the 1700s, most individuals in the world lived lives of quiet desperation, unsure where they might find their next meal.

"Give us this day our daily bread." You've probably prayed these words, and while we certainly now explore the metaphysical implications, for most of history having enough bread to fill empty stomachs daily was an answered prayer. Now most of us must control our bread and expensive snack intake to avoid getting too fat.

On July 4, 1776, thirteen loosely federated colonies declared independence from the greatest military power in the world, and the rest, as they say, is history. An exceptional nation was born, a nation where every child could grow up to be whatever he wanted to be. America threw off the class system that relegated able humans to live in subservience to the aristocracy as they had throughout history. A compromise allowed slavery to continue a few more decades in the United States, as it did throughout the world and had since earliest recorded history, but the seeds of freedom had been sown.

Almost simultaneously in 1776, Adam Smith released his landmark book, "The Wealth of Nations," in which he further developed his concept of the "Invisible Hand" of free commerce that results in people, pursuing their own self interests freely, inadvertently helping others and increasing the prosperity of their communities. Had slave owners truly understood the Invisible Hand, they would have abolished slavery without waging war against President Lincoln and the Union.

The very American concept of "making money" by providing valuable goods and services to others for a profit allowed our ancestors to develop the free and prosperous country we inherited.
Others around the world saw America as a shining light on a hill, an inspiration to liberate their own countrymen, and of course many people came to find their fortune and future in the land of the free and the home of the brave. They still come today. We don't have walls to lock our citizens in.

For those of us fortunate enough to have been born in America, we should regularly thank God for motivating our founding fathers to create this Exceptional Nation and embrace our personal freedom. That freedom makes it possible for every American to chart his own course and create the life of his dreams. In so doing, the Invisible Hand makes the world a better place.

Waiting for the government to solve our problems is a fool's goal, and it leads only to a life of self-imposed slavery. Make your personal life work now.

What would you do if you knew you could not fail? Where would you go if you could go anywhere? Your future, as an American, is whatever you make it. I hope you decide part of your future involves taking a cruise or some other dream vacation, and booking it through me. I'm always happy to give the Invisible Hand a high five! "Better service leads to better trips."