Our America: Liberty Still Demands Limited Government

America celebrates its 250th anniversary on July 4, 2026.

Think about that for a moment.

Empires have risen and fallen. Kingdoms have disappeared. Revolutions have consumed nations from within. We have been attacked countless times, both at home and abroad, dozens of times. Yet for a quarter of a millennium, the United States has endured—not because we are perfect, but because our Founders built a system that recognized a timeless truth:

Human nature never changes.

People are capable of extraordinary generosity, courage, innovation, and sacrifice. They are also capable of evil, greed, corruption, manipulation, and the pursuit of power. The Founders understood both realities, which is why they didn't write a Constitution for angels. They wrote one for imperfect people.

That distinction matters.

Today, many debates center on capitalism versus socialism/communism, free markets versus government planning and control, or individual liberty versus collective responsibility. I believe those debates often miss the larger point.

The real question isn't which system sounds more compassionate.

The real question is this:

Which system best protects freedom while recognizing the realities of human nature?

My answer remains the same.

The American experiment.

The Constitution Was Never About Trusting Government

The Constitution is often described as a blueprint for government.

I see it differently.

It is primarily a document that limits government. Why? Because government is made up of imperfect humans.

Every separation of powers, every check and balance, every protected liberty reflects one fundamental belief: concentrated power is dangerous, and CANNOT be controlled by THE PEOPLE!

That wasn't because the Founders distrusted one political party over another.

Political parties didn't even exist when the Constitution was written.

They distrusted human nature.

They understood that power, once accumulated, rarely surrenders itself voluntarily. Anyone in favor of term limits?

You have to ask the fundamental question: how do politicians acquire great amounts of wealth while in office at the salary they "earn." My humble opinion? It's impossible.

That is why rights are not granted by government.

They are recognized by government.

Government exists to secure those rights—not to redefine them according to the political winds of each generation.

If we, as a nation, decide the Constitution no longer reflects who we are or where we want to go, there is a right way to change it. Our Founders gave us that process. It's called a Constitutional Amendment. They made it difficult on purpose because they understood that freedom should never be altered by the opinions of a few or the passions of the moment. If we're going to change the foundation of America, the American people—not judges, bureaucrats, or politicians acting alone—should make that decision.

The rule of law only works when we agree that no individual, no court, and no political movement stands above it.

Capitalism Is Not Built on Greed

One of the greatest misconceptions about capitalism is that it rewards greed.

Greed is not unique to capitalism.

Greed is a human condition.

History is filled with greedy kings, dictators, bureaucrats, generals, clergy, and politicians who never participated in a free market.

The real question isn't whether greed exists.

It always has and it always will.

The better question is:

Which system limits the damage that greed can cause?

Capitalism spreads decision-making across millions of people instead of concentrating it in a single authority. Every day, consumers decide what they value with their dollars. Entrepreneurs compete to earn that trust and that business.

No single person possesses complete control.

Markets are imperfect.

People fail. Businesses fail. Ideas fail.

But failure is one of capitalism's greatest strengths because it forces correction.

When government becomes the primary decision-maker in an economy, the incentives change. Success is often measured by political influence, dishonesty and greed rather than customer satisfaction.

When political power and economic power begin to concentrate in the same places, resources don’t always flow to where the most value is being created. They flow toward where influence, greed, and corruption exist.

History has shown this pattern repeatedly. Once those two forms of power merge, individual liberty becomes harder to protect, not easier.

That’s why I believe leadership should be earned before authority is expanded.

And one trend concerns me deeply.

Some of the strongest advocates for expanding government's role in our lives have spent little time experiencing the realities of creating private-sector value. Living off the ATM of mommy and daddy gives you zero understanding of how the economic system of this country operates.

This is not a criticism of intelligence, nor of the advantages that may accompany being born into more affluent circumstances.

It isn't a criticism of intentions.

It is a question of experience.

There is a profound difference between studying economics and carrying the responsibility of sustaining an enterprise.

Have you built a business?

Have you risked your own capital?

Have you signed the front of a paycheck knowing families depended on your decisions?

Have you faced bankruptcy, inflation, regulations, lawsuits, market competition, or economic downturns?

Those experiences teach lessons that cannot be fully understood in a classroom or through political activism.

Before someone asks the American people to entrust them with greater authority over our economy, I believe they should first demonstrate that they can create value without government authority.

Responsibility should precede power.

That principle has guided effective leadership for centuries.

It should guide public leadership as well.

Freedom carries risk.

One of the most common criticisms of capitalism is inequality of outcomes.

That criticism is accurate.

Outcomes are unequal.

Because people are unequal in talent, ambition, discipline, circumstance, and opportunity.

Capitalism was never designed to produce equal outcomes.

It was designed to protect equal opportunity under equal law.

Those are fundamentally different commitments.

The pursuit of equal outcomes (socialism/communism) inevitably requires someone to determine who has too much, who deserves more, and how resources should be redistributed.

That "someone" is government. Do we trust those 535 members of Congress to know us well enough to determine what we need?

Every expansion of governmental authority should prompt a simple question:

What liberty must citizens surrender in exchange? Government regulation inevitably involves individuals giving up or limiting certain rights to some degree.

Freedom always carries risk.

But history repeatedly demonstrates that concentrated government power carries risks of its own—risks that are often far more difficult to reverse.

America's Greatest Strength

America's greatest achievement is not that we eliminated injustice. We didn't.

It is not that we eliminated corruption. We haven't.

Our greatest achievement is that our constitutional system contains mechanisms to correct our course without abandoning liberty itself.

We have expanded civil rights.

We have abolished slavery.

We have strengthened equal protection under the law.

We have amended the Constitution when necessary. Not by abandoning our founding principles, but by striving to apply them more faithfully.

That is the genius of the American experiment.

As we celebrate America's 250th anniversary, I don't ask whether our nation is perfect.

No nation ever has been.

Instead, I ask whether we still believe what our Founders believed:

That rights belong to the people—not governments.

That laws should restrain power.

That liberty requires responsibility.

That opportunity is worth protecting.

That self-government demands self-discipline.

That free people, despite their imperfections, are still better equipped to direct their own lives than any centralized authority.

Those principles built the most enduring constitutional republic in history.

They deserve more than our admiration.

They deserve our defense.

Our future will not be determined by whether America becomes wealthier or more technologically advanced.

It will be determined by whether we remember the simple truth that gave birth to this nation:

Freedom survives only when power remains limited, responsibility remains personal, and the rule of law remains above every person, every party, and every government.

That is the American experiment.

It is still the greatest one the world has ever known.