A CALL TO EXCE0TIONALISM

    Odd, I suppose, to address whole nations with a seldom read article. Assuming the readership here, including myself, will still qualify as seldom.But this is my intent today, though if you don't qualify as a country I would still invite you to listen, with your eyes, to my points. Once again, while consuming a meal my mind was overwhelmed trying to understand all the steps, all the people, all the companies involved in bringing me the chance to enjoy my stack of pancakes with a sausage patty. For instance;

    THE WHEAT: the wheat is used in making the pancake batter. Some form of flour that is.

God created wheat:

Man learned how to grow it more and more efficiently so as to make it available to all.

    :irrigation

    :weed control

    :combines

    :tractors

    :genetics

Over time we developed ways of bring it to the masses.

    :trucks

    :trains

    :elevators w/dryers to help preserve it

    :mills and other processing facilities

    :stores (owners, stockers, checkers etc.)

Now, above is a partial treatment, due to time restraints, of just one aspect of my meal. But it you expand this partial list to include the designers, engineers, manufacturers, assemblers, truck drivers, store owners, stockers, checkers, quality control, fuel for harvesting and transporting, and a stove and pan to cook the pancakes in it's incredible. And if you expand this discussion to include the milk and butter, syrup, ketchup, (yes, ketchup), etc. it's absolutely mind boggling.

    These processes are part of what I call collaborative miracles. A partnership between God and man. I believe our country, because of it's Constitution protecting our individual freedoms, has become the most fertile ground for these collaborations to take place. I also believe we are moving away from a government which will allow for the continuation of these processes. These processes unfold over time as people engage in commerce with each other. As someone with a service or product contracts with someone needing that service or product to provide such for an agreed upon item of value. Money or an exchange of other services for instance. This is where the rubber meets the road in defining freedom. Freedom and free market capitalism go together. With a civil society intact, and yes we are loosing that by the day, these interactions result in great advantage for the country as a whole. If there is a catch it is this; we need to understand our createdness. We need to understand that we are all made in God's image and that we have intrinsic value. Without this understanding it all unravels.

    So, Venezuela, Cuba, Nigeria, Russia, listen up. If you want to be exceptional you don't need to become American, you need to become a champion of individual rights and free markets and a respecter of all who live in your country's borders. In time your citizens will make your country truly exceptional. Who knows, maybe at some point you could show us the way back from our current path towards Oligarchy.

Thanks, and have a great day. (That is, if you want too)