America Is Still a ‘Land of Wonders’

I ’ve been as transfixed as anyone in America by the hordes of foreign soccer fans coming here and marveling at the grandiosity of our institutions — even our gas stations — and the generous character of the American people themselves. Yes, free refills are a loss leader; but they are also a form of hospitality that is so characteristic of our country. Of course, these sports fanatics aren’t the first observers to notice what makes America distinct. They are part of a long line of foreign admirers.

“America is a land of wonders, in which everything is in constant motion and every change seems an improvement,” wrote Alexis de Tocqueville. “No natural boundary seems to be set to the efforts of man; and in his eyes what is not yet done is only what he has not attempted to do.”

Our strength is in our freedom. As our sixth president, John Quincy Adams, put it in his annual message to Congress in 1825:

While dwelling with pleasing satisfaction upon the superior excellence of our political institutions, let us not be unmindful that liberty is power; that the nation blessed with the largest portion of liberty must in proportion to its numbers be the most powerful nation upon earth.

Adams’s words are undoubtedly true in that America elicits from its own people extraordinary and voluntary efforts of institution-building and enterprise. It’s not just our laws, but something in the culture that bids people to build, to try, to fail, to experiment, and then build again even better and higher than before. Say what you will about American ambition and excess, but its businesses are, by and large, investing in solutions to real problems. The pharmaceutical industry’s breakthrough on obesity drugs is going to save lives the world over. Elon Musk is the world’s first trillionaire. Musk’s company SpaceX, by dramatically lowering costs to travel to space, is connecting the world’s most remote corners to the internet and the global economy. His work will also improve weather monitoring across the globe, saving lives from extreme events.

The generosity that European tourists have noticed has long been recognized by European institutions that depend on American moolah. As one example among many, the Cathedral of Notre Dame received 90 percent of its first reconstruction funds from generous Americans. The Vatican’s annual fundraiser — Peter’s Pence — receives roughly 30 percent of its financial intake from America, despite the fact that only 5 percent of the world’s Catholics live here. America’s public and private funding of cancer research makes up more than 50 percent of the global total. All this is to say that the world would be a much poorer place without American innovation, wealth-building, and generosity.

The World Cup soccer fans who have leavened our 250th birthday also remind us of the glory of American play and leisure. Our sports stadiums are so welcoming — so well-designed to move you from one place to another — precisely because they are cutthroat commercial enterprises. No one would fork over twelve dollars for a generic American beer unless they were already in a pretty good mood. We can also serve beer at our big sports matches; other countries dare not, for fear of inspiring violence. We’re the land of plentiful shooting ranges, which are safe. And jet ski rentals on the lake, which are less safe.

I can sometimes understand the resentment we get. We seem to have all the cool toys. Our foreign policy decisions, which can affect the lives of hundreds of millions of people far away from us, are made in cloistered rooms by men who often lack foresight. We take up the most cultural space, to the point where many European nations now feel like they are importing not just our movies and music, but our social problems as well. They can feel as if their own history is blotted out by the Hollywood version of ours. And there are some things foreign countries do better. I’m convinced that there is something in American bread and American cheese that is not, strictly speaking, food. French bread and French cheese, on the other hand, are divine. Send more of it here.

But I can’t help it. I love this country, and it is worth celebrating. Bring on the baseball games, the cookouts, and the fireworks this coming weekend. Let America advance deep into this World Cup. Keep showing us videos of jet skis doing jumps while Lynyrd Skynyrd plays in the background. Show us all the foreign athletes who come here and want to be announced with American hip-hop. We’re big, loud, and crazy. I suppose I wouldn’t have it any other way.