Most of us will never grasp how good we actually have it in the United States. We wake up in a country where we can speak, worship, work, and vote without fear. Generations of Americans put on a uniform and accepted the risk that comes with defending these freedoms we take for granted every single day. On Veterans Day, gratitude is the least we owe them.
Democrats just won a clear series of races nationwide and took control of Congress in what we’re all calling a blue tsunami. For years, many in the Democratic Party warned that Republicans posed an existential threat to democracy…yet when the votes were counted, their candidates prevailed. We thankfully still live in a country where power shifts through ballots and not force. People who spent years claiming the system was failing should be thankful it delivered exactly the outcome they sought.
This is still the greatest country in the world—easy to overlook when candidates run on platforms that treat conservative values like free markets and limited government as threats to individual freedom. Some campaigned openly as socialists or aligned with groups that romanticize systems that have produced economic downturns almost everywhere they’ve been tried. They can afford to do so precisely because they live in a prosperous, open society that previous generations built and veterans helped protect.
My generation, Gen Z, is coming of age in this environment. We didn’t create the current political climate, but we will live with its consequences longer than anyone else…and hope alone won’t keep our Western freedoms. Whether our laws and culture continue to favor individual liberty and economic opportunity will depend in part on what we choose to defend.
Veterans did their part, but those of us not in uniform can still make ourselves useful. Calling or writing to your state legislator, amplifying content on social media, or just keeping yourself informed on issues affecting your community are simple ways to do your part and keep our constitutional republic functioning.
Remember the quote from President Reagan:
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
Our generation is rife with leaders who hate what the United States stands for, and President Reagan’s line of thought has never been more relevant than it is right now. Are you doing enough to ensure this generation’s freedom survives to see the next?
