It's so easy to celebrate our "freedoms" with song singing, national holidays, and the obligatory pledging of allegiance to the flag. Don't get me wrong; I'm happy to say the United States remains one of the freest places in the world to this day. Indeed, the United States has accomplished many great things as a nation. I'm happy to be an American who proudly celebrates my service in the United States Marine Corps. That said, we can and need to do much better.

I can't say with certainty what our founding fathers would think about the United States leading the world in incarceration rates, serving as the world's police force, or maintaining a welfare and regulatory state so immense that we now exceed $20 trillion in debt and ever growing. Cutting federal spending in any area now seems a task akin to trying to square the circle. I'm not sure our founding fathers would be singing along with us. To be fair, we surely have issues to resolve.