America is the greatest country on earth.

That is an irrefutable fact that is undeniable. We are the richest country, and the most powerful in the world. However, even with those, there are various other reasons we are the greatest country, despite what naysayers might say. So, let me explain why America is really the greatest country on earth.

For one, think of all the inventions that you use in your daily life. You wake up, and turn on the lightbulb, which was invented by an American, Thomas Edison. You immediately turn on your smartphone, which was based on the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell, and the modern smartphone by Steve Jobs. Look outside the window, and you will see the car in your driveway, which, although not originally invented in the US, had it’s modern design from here, and was commercialized by the assembly line, which would be expanded to other products and entered the world into the modern economy. Looking up, one might see planes, which were invented by the Wright Brothers. These are just a few of the many inventions that were created by Americans and American ingenuity. And the effects of these many inventions are clear to see. These inventions, and many more, advanced humanity, and bettered the world. Today, we use many of these inventions in our daily lives, to the point that we can’t imagine a world without them, but, at one point, they didn’t exist. However, due to American ingenuity, ordinary people one day decided to change the world and create these inventions. It has always been a quality of Americans that they encouraged people to learn on their own, to teach themselves, starting back with the Founding Fathers, who were self educated men who learned about the ideas of the Enlightenment, and began drawing up the plans to create a Republic on their own.

Alright, but one might point out that solely because people from the United States created a bunch of things, that does not mean they are the greatest country on earth. Japan created a bunch of things also, but they, despite being a great country, are not the greatest country on Earth. However, we are much more powerful than Japan, being the most powerful country in the world, and, until recently, the only superpower in the world. We can influence nations around the world, and treat the world however we feel. However, despite having most of the world’s power, we don’t use it to exploit other nations or take their resources, or (Usually) invade other nations, threaten the world with nuclear war, unlike other nations, such as Russia or China, which constantly threaten their neighbors. However, when we do intervene, although it is not always a good thing, usually it is to defend freedom in nations, or to prevent the spread of anti-democratic ideologies across the world, such as communism or fascism. Meanwhile, we are also the richest country in the world, and one of the richest in terms of GDP Per capita, with around $94,000. There are only a few nations ahead, but those are mostly small nations that have very few people, like Monaco and Liechtenstein, and thus have more money per capita because there are less people to begin with. However, the US has around 350 million people, but we are so rich that all the money could be divided equally, and we would still be richer than other nations across the world that always claim to be “More Civilized”.

Even more exceptional is the fact that, when America gained independence, we only had 2.5 million people, were isolated from the rest of the world, a whole ocean away from the richer nations of Europe, where it seemed at the time where the history of the world would be written, and consisted of a mostly empty territory. However, through sheer grit and determination, we expanded across the continent, charting our way, until we eventually reached the Pacific Ocean. America is a nation built on explorers and nation builders who constantly set out to expand their frontier, to never give up, and to keep searching. We reached from sea to shining sea, and started moving west. Meanwhile, people from all over the world saw how America was an example of something much better than in their home countries, so they came here and continued to build our nation. Millions of people came, with nothing but the clothes on their back, determined to build a better life in America, and pursue the American Dream, where, even with nothing, one can work hard and be successful, and they succeeded. Eventually, when we explored the whole world, we set out for the stars, planting our flag on the moon. In 1991, when the Soviet Union dissolved, the United States was the only superpower, and it showed that the American way of democracy and republicanism had prevailed, as all other ideologies had collapsed, and, in the case of communism, collapsed on their own. We had created the most powerful nation in the world in only 200 years, a blink of an eye in the grand scheme of the history of the world. We had built this great nation completely from nothing but an idea, an idea to create a nation based on the ideals of freedom where the people rule, all on our own.

However, even with all that, with all the innovations we have created, all the contributions the United States has made to the world, and just having the most power, that is not the reason why America is the greatest country on earth. The reason why America is the greatest country in the world is because we proved something. We proved for the first time that a country can be united by something other than ethnicity, or more importantly, by the rule of a king, which was uncommon for the nations of Europe. This was the first time that a set of people in a nation were united through common ideals, such as freedom, liberty, and democracy, and our nation is still united to this day, 250 years on. The United States was an inspiration for nations all throughout the world, and to peoples who were looking for freedom could look at the United States as an example. We were a nation forged from nothing, and, almost completely alone, defeated the most powerful empire in the world. Only 13 years after the US Declaration of Independence, France, long held under the grip of autocratic kings, revolted as part of an attempt to create a free nation, where all are equal, like America. Many more nations followed our example in history. However, despite this, many naysayers in other countries, such as those in Europe, thought that the American experiment would fail, that the American republic would collapse, that they would be only a small footnote in the history of the world. They were wrong, as the United States not only kept its republican government, but expanded and became the most powerful nation in the world. Today, the most common government in the world is the republic, much more than autocratic, totalitarian regimes, because of the ideals of the United States. People back in Revolutionary times thought that democracy could never work, but they are absolutely wrong. Over the past 250 years, the results have shown, and the best form of government is the republic, where the people rule and are represented, as they have produced the most prosperous and most powerful nations in the world. This is in contrast to ideologies like Communism, which failed so miserably that the people, on their own, rose up and caused its collapse. However, the democracy that has been in the United States that inspired those throughout the world has never failed, and has been continuing and thriving for 250 years. That is our creation, and we have inspired democracy and freedom around the world, and served as a beacon of hope to the world, a symbol of what could be over what they actually have. Our nation came from nothing, but, despite adversity, we built the most powerful and prosperous country in the world all on our own.

And this is why America is the greatest country on earth.

Happy 4th of July, and Happy 250th!