The Blessings of Freedom

I’m borrowing some of the top things that are great about being an American from different blogs on the topic. I have to say that I agree with all of the ones below. I hope you all remember on this Fourth of July that this country was started because a few brave people--both men and women--had enough of paying taxes for things they weren’t getting, to the point that they were willing to commit treason and declare war on their own country. A few men who didn’t really get along all that well were pretty much led by Ben Franklin to rebel against England in this New World, which had only been discovered by the Vikings, the Chinese, the Spanish, and South Americans, as their own. This makes American great. Here’s a list of some of the other things that make America completely awesome:

Opportunity, the Interstate Highway System, the Sears Tower, Tom Jefferson, the Wal-Mart employees in Joplin, Missouri who saved lives; Lewis and Clark and Sacagawea (and Ordway and York, for that matter), ESPN, FedEx, Steve Jobs, Whole Foods, General George Patton, Microsoft Word, the Ford F-150, Detroit, Mary Ludwig Hayes (who moved her husband‘s fainted body out of the way long enough to take over his cannon and blast the detritus out of the British for awhile), the Kindle, duct tape, the Bill of Rights, the Wall Street Bull, Colin Powell, Bill and Melinda Gates, GEICO, the Mississippi River, Ben and Jerry’s, self-adhesive stamps, Warren Buffett, Abigail Adams, Steve Nash, American Pie (the epic song), GPS, Jay-Z, Louisville Slugger bats, Oscar Mayer hot dogs, music festivals, George Washington, Hank Aaron, Gatorade, The Great Gatsby, Sandusky, Ohio; Times Square, Tina Fey, Clif Bars, Molly Pitcher, Diet Coke, Thomas Edison, Gmail, the Grand Canyon, men and women serving in the armed forces, Clint Eastwood, E-Z Pass, Jonathan Franzen, Windex, Michelle Obama, Morton Salt, Jeff Bridges, Nike, Thomas Paine, diners, corndogs, Tom Hanks, Old Spice, Disney World, Philly cheese steaks, blogging, Coppertone sunblock, drive-in movies, Sesame Street, Brian Williams, Mark Zuckerberg, Stephen Spielberg, Girl Scout Cookies, Subway, Jeopardy!, the Pulitzer Prize, National Lampoon’s Vacation, baseball, Mount Rushmore, Ben Franklin, rock ‘n’ roll, iPods, iPads, barbecue, the Ford Mustang, slam dunks, Broadway, Google, Mark Twain, iced drinks (when will the rest of the world figure this out?), delivery pizza, The Rolling Stones, M&M’s, Thanksgiving, American football, The Simpsons, Patagonia, Archie Comics, jazz, Trader Joe’s, March Madness, Harley Davidson, Slip ‘n’ Slides, Yosemite National Park, Oreos, Edward R. Murrow, Bugs Bunny, Etch-a-Sketch, flip flops, Willie Nelson, eBay, blueberries, county fairs, Charles Barkley, school mascots, veterans, Stan Lee, steakhouses, George Washington Carver, salt water taffy, roller coasters, HBO, the light bulb, bagels, religious freedom, Chipotle, spring break, cowboys, Charlie Brown, peanut butter, Uncle Sam, bubble gum, corn flakes, Valley Forge, Superman, Chow mein, pizza pie, Virgina Ham, toothpaste, Rocky Top, trophies, and Cal Ripken, Jr.

What can you add to this list? Please comment and let us know! And Happy Fourth of July!