Our Founders specifically designed our political system to maximize economic liberty, protect private property and establish a context for economic flourishing. Economic liberty was universally seen as the foundation for individual political liberty. Thinkers from John Locke to Adam Smith informed and reinforced this fundamental American idea. In fact, America is exceptional among nations in how its Constitution protects and promotes economic liberty.

The U.S. Constitution specifically protected private property, encouraged free trade, restored public credit and protected American interests abroad. In essence it established the “rules of the game” for our free market system, insisting on the rule of law, protecting contractual obligations, devising a sound currency, and encouraging economic competition.

Just a few specifics: Article 1, Section 10 protects private contracts. Private property is protected from government “taking” without just compensation (Fifth Amendment). The Constitution established a stable currency through a number of measures. Finally, the Constitution encouraged innovation by empowering Congress “To promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries“(Article I, Section 8). From 1850 to 1860, patents for inventions exploded from 1,000 to almost 4,500. Among these were key inventions in transportation and communication – the steam engine, the railroad and the telegraph – which provided powerful catalysts for Western expansion and the unparalleled economic growth of the 19th Century.

And in what might have been the most important — and revolutionary — act of his political career, Thomas Jefferson in 1785 insisted that all new U.S. territory be surveyed in the Public Land Survey System (PLSS). In other words, parcels of private property had to be identifiable and protected. When the United States opened the Northwest Territory (1787) and later, lands stretching to the Pacific Ocean, settlers knew their property was surveyed and secure.

America’s exceptional economic growth and enduring economic power flowed directly from these provisions for economic liberty. In the decade between 1880 and 1890 – during our nation’s infancy – the United States overtook Great Britain as the world’s leading economic power. And we’ve never looked back.

We live today in a very different America, with a highly over-regulated economic system – high taxes, disincentives to entrepreneurialism, endless bureaucratic red tape, and a stranglehold on small businesses.

I’m not sure what the 2016 Platform will say, but insisting on “maximum economic freedom” would be a breath of fresh air.

Our educational system, from grade school through college, has completely failed to provide an accurate account of American history. If any history is taught, it is most often focused on our failings, shortcomings and flaws. As a result, we have raised several generations of Americans who have no understanding of why they live in the most free, most just, most safe and most prosperous nation in the history of the world. There is little appreciation of the sacrifices made, little understanding of the biblical worldview at the core of our form of government, and little respect for the values and virtues necessary for freedom to be maintained.

Many have seen this depressing video interviewing Americans at the beach about the meaning of Independence Day: http://www.thepoliticalinsider.com/independence-day-morons-dont-watch/ It would be funny if it were not so sad.

Not just our educational system has failed. Some of our national political leaders seem to be in complete opposition to the notion that there is anything in American history that is exceptional or worth celebrating.

Their perspective is now being reflected even in the museums and monuments that should be tributes to American triumphs.
Yesterday in San Diego we paid a patriotic visit to the USS Midway Museum. While much of the Museum was stirring and inspirational, I was stunned at the moral relativism reflected in the film about the battle of Midway — for which this now decommissioned aircraft carrier was named. While tribute is given to the valor of the sailors involved in the battle, there is nowhere in the film any explanation of why we were fighting World War II. A visitor exposed to this film could conclude only that Japan wanted to defeat us, and we wanted to defeat Japan, and we were fighting because both nations were uncivilized.

Recently I met with a Christian pastor from Syria who is a patriotic American – except that our country makes it impossible for him to become a citizen or even earn permanent status. Meanwhile he ministers to the refugee community, and watches the ease with which people from cultures that violently suppress Christianity and democracy receive permanent status and even citizenship. His question for me: “Why do Americans denigrate their founders? In most countries and cultures, where there is much less to appreciate, people revere and honor their ancestors and founders – why in America do you undermine and attack your own history?”

We can reverse this. At Arizona Christian University we are committed to restoring an understanding of the biblical worldview and Christian influence that guided our founding and that undergird our republic. We teach classes in American exceptionalism, and we ground American history in a realistic look at our flaws combined with an appreciation for the great and virtuous aspirations at the core of the American idea.

Earlier this summer I finished reading The History of the American People, British historian Paul Johnson’s epic account of the history of our people. Right now I am reading Ron Chernow’s excellent biography of Alexander Hamilton that sparked Lin Manuel Miranda’s brilliant musical, which Tracy and I were blessed to see on Broadway in January.

Both books accurately reflect the trials, flaws and scandals of American history, but also clearly depict the positive role of Christianity and the brilliant and self-sacrificial conduct of so many Americans throughout history – “heroes proved in liberating strife, who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life!”

Happy birthday America. Let’s study history, remember who we are, regain our confidence and recommit ourselves to being positive, productive and unselfish contributors to a world that benefits from the leadership of a strong and virtuous America.

As part of our Hurricane Katrina five-year anniversary coverage at The Dallas Morning News, we revisited several of the people we had photographed after the storm hit in 2005.
Staff photographers Tom Fox and Irwin Thompson did the photography and video for the package Faces of Katrina, which included several photos from our 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography.
DMN staff writer Leigh Munsil wrote the following introduction for the photo package, which will be published in the Saturday edition of The Dallas Morning News, on the eve of the date the Hurricane hit five years ago. Many thanks to Leigh and her team, along with DMN senior research librarian Angelica Cortez, for helping us track down the people in these photographs.