Global Independence Day

As we celebrate July 4th, let us be reminded of all the nations around the globe who owe their freedom and independence to the United States.

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

As our country approaches its 250^th birthday, I would like to thank everyone again for supporting me ever since I published this article detailing the many reasons we have to be thankful to live in the United States. Even with our intractable and often toxic political polarization, I sincerely believe that most Americans, regardless of our political creed, continue to hold the same values that inspired the 56 men to embark on a leap into the unknown and sign the Declaration of Independence. After all, if the document can survive a dramatic heist by Nicolas Cage, what’s to worry about some differences of opinion? While it was certainly risky, and even believed to be suicidal back in 1776 to endorse a rebellion against one of the world’s prominent empires, the passage of time has made clear that our novel creation has surpassed Britain in every metric imaginable. Indeed, this rebellion has morphed into a nation who not only remains the world’s preeminent cultural, economic, and military power, but also the protector of dozens of nations across the globe— even our mother country.

Last year, I visited the National Museum of Military Vehicles in Dubois, Wyoming. While Dubois would be classified as a town “in the middle of nowhere” hours from any commercial airport, I would certainly recommend a visit to this museum. Dan Starks, the museum’s founder and chairman has been a devoted supporter of veterans’ causes and has spent his life collecting military hardware and memorabilia from America’s wars of the 20^th century, culminating in this fantastic museum. At the end of all the exhibits you see a wall honoring the 475 million humans whose liberation is owed entirely to the bravery and sacrifices of the US military. It is a powerful display, an image that really makes you proud to be an American. So, for this Independence Day, I would like to explain in detail what Mr. Starks’ wall means in practice.

I would like for everyone to try to imagine what the world would look like if the British empire had decisively defeated the republican (with a small R) armies in either the original American War of Independence or in the War of 1812, which I would consider America’s second war of independence. First of all, it is quite likely that Great Britain as we know it, despite its serious flaws, would not exist today. In the first half of the 20^th century, Britain became embroiled not once, but twice in catastrophic wars that each defined their respective generations. The World Wars saw 1.3 million British subjects killed, a near total collapse of British independence and statehood at the hands of German expansionism, and the irreversible loss of their once-envied global empire. It ought to be no surprise to anyone that total collapse was only averted both in 1917 and in 1941 when Uncle Sam rode to Britain’s rescue.

In one of the many ironies of history, the British better be relieved they lost the American wars of Independence, or else their own independence would likely not exist in any recognizable form.

Britain is of course far from the only country who owes its independence to the United States. If one ever travels to a Central or Eastern European capital, there is a good chance you will find a monument of some sort to an American President, including presidents you would never see honored in this way here at home. Legendary wall-demolisher Ronald Reagan is an especially popular choice, with statues of him in Warsaw, Budapest, and of course Berlin, unveiled on the 30^th anniversary of the demolition of the Berlin Wall. Though Poland is where Reagan’s legacy is truly present. Journeying further around the country, one can also visit Ronald Reagan Park in Gdansk and Ronald Reagan Square in Krakow. Beyond all the monuments to Reagan, Warsaw is also home to Woodrow Wilson Square, an homage to Wilson’s decisive support for an independent Polish state at the Versailles Conference of 1919. I guarantee you that there are few independent nations in the world with quite as much gratitude to American global leadership as Poland.

There is a reason why Poland remains one of the world’s most pro-American nations where any American tourist can expect an almost red carpet welcome. While they may be too proud to admit it, most Poles know deep down that their current independence from Soviet domination would not exist without the decisive intervention of the Reagan Administration. Reagan was likely aware that without Poland under Moscow’s control, the Soviet Union’s great power status was unsustainable. While other nations sat in fear of Soviet power, the Reagan Administration administered decisive support to Polish dissidents such as Lech Walesa. While obviously I know more about Poland than I do about any of the other countries in Eastern Europe, it is clear based on history that once Eastern Europe is included, the number of nations who owe their independence to directly to the United States grows well into the dozens.

This global gratitude for the United States even extends to living presidents whose reputations at home remain controversial at best. If one travels to Kosovo, for example, a disputed nation still claimed by Serbia, American visitors may be shocked to find Bill Clinton Boulevard and even a statue of the former president. While controversial here at home, Clinton’s 1999 bombing campaign that decisively ended the mass atrocities between Serbs and Albanians in the region and ultimately led to Kosovo’s de facto independence. Likewise, one can also visit, as this writer did back in 2018, a traffic circle near the US Embassy named for a Mr. Donald Trump in honor of his decision to relocate the American Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. Despite Trump’s unpopularity in many other countries, even Poland, Israelis still adore the incumbent president thanks to his decisive and repeated interventions in their favor. Like Britain, Poland, and Kosovo, Israelis are well aware that without the United States, Israel would certainly have ceased to exist decades ago.

Beyond Europe, the presence of tens of thousands of American troops in Japan, South Korea, and the oil-rich kingdoms on the Persian Gulf is a testament to the United States’ staying power as the protector of global independence. Regardless of propaganda from America’s adversaries, it is the massive power of the United States military, along with our diplomatic, economic, and cultural reach unprecedented for any nation in human history that allows foreign nations to exist in the face of hostile and threatening neighbors. This Independence Day, we all ought to remember that it’s not just America’s independence we celebrate, but the independence of Britain, Poland, Hungary, Kosovo, Israel, Japan, South Korea, and many other nations as well.