Trinity - Bill Whittle

ejectejecteject.com ^ | July 4, 2003 | Bill Whittle

[ThinkDifferent]

Today, on her 227th birthday, the United States stands astride the world as the most economically, militarily and culturally powerful force history has yet revealed.

Why?

Well, one reason is because here in America, a practically broke 19 year old kid can be the President of a Corporation, that’s why. Of course some of these fail. Most of them fail, spectacularly fail, flaming wreckage, oh-the-humanity failures. I’ve had many of these, personally. More will no doubt come. It’s easy to succeed in a country that lets you fail this often and this easily.

The ingredients for greatness, goodness, success, happiness and prosperity are not hard to find, and yet so much of the world is a political and economic disaster.

Again: why?

Because folks, it ain’t the ingredients. It’s the recipe.

So we’re off on a little all-American road trip, this time to figure out why our economy, when sick, is stronger than anyone else’s, when healthy. To see if we can figure out how 300 million strangers, all the troublemakers and upstarts from every nation in the world can come to one vast continent, be given more freedom than any people before or since, and manage to become the most prosperous, powerful, tightly-knit nation in history. And how come we invent everything, too? Must be something in the water out there.

We’re gonna go find out. Let’s just hop in the car and see if we can’t chase down that American Dream. You know the one: Think of a better way. Take a chance. Start a business. Put in the extra time. Work hard. Buy a house. Live a better life than your parents and a poorer one than your kids. And do it all in a place where you can be free and happy and safe.

America is a success machine. Yes, it’s easy to fail in America. It is also the easiest place in the world to succeed, to do the big things -- become wealthy or famous -- or just carve out a comfortable little patch of ground to spend an afternoon barbequing or watch your teenage kid drive off in their brand new used car.

It’s a siren song for many people, this idea of freedom, this dream of making your own life according to a script you wrote in your head. But it’s not for everybody. It requires some courage, at times. It demands hard work. It can challenge your bland security. It’s not cheap, this American Dream – nor should it be. And it lives and breathes optimism. Without that you’re sunk.

So y’all hop in the back and I’ll roll down the top. It’s a gorgeous day, we’ve got the Beach Boys on the stereo turned up to 11 and we’re hitting the road looking for the three things that make America hum. And no crybabies! We don’t have the time or the energy to waste on mean-spirited, bitter complainers – people who are so filled with gloom and doom that It’ll never work is stitched into the slack elastic of their unchanged underwear.

Whiners. Defeatists. Pessimists. Losers. Big “L” on their forehead. Can you think of another word for gloomy, reality-challenged crybaby that begins with the letter “L”?

I can.

[ThinkDifferent]

A great Independence Day present from Bill Whittle. As usual, long but absolutely worth the read.

[ThinkDifferent]

ping

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Please include me on any ping list for articles from Bill Whittle!

[Calpernia]

Bill Whittle ping.

[Tauzero]

Oooh -- "safety hammock" -- GREAT LINE!

[Lando Lincoln]

Thanks for the ping - and, here's the ping out to all Bill Whittle fans. I've been watching for this!!!!

[Sparta]

Thanks for the post ThinkDifferent. Thanks for the ping Lando.

[Lando Lincoln]

What can be said about this guy's writing!? This is just simply great stuff.

[MHGinTN]

Thanx for the ping ... printing it all for bedtime reading.

[Lando Lincoln]

Greetings MJY.....thought you might enjoy this. Very long, but well worth the read.

[MJY1288]

Thanks for the ping, I always enjoy articles written by people who refuse to be negative. Bill Whittle is a talented writer and when he publishes his book I'll be one of the first to buy it. :-)

Thanks again for the ping

MJY

[petuniasevan]

Excellent piece.

Bill Whittle BTTT!

[MeekOneGOP]

Happy Birthday, USA !!

[BraveMan]

I’m doing something else, too. I’m giving up what’s left of my free time, because the fact of the matter is, I’m writing a goddam book, and all you rich folks nodding a few paragraphs back – well, you get those checkbooks ready.

Debit card in hand, waiting for the book's release. I'll do my small part helping you chase the American dream, Mr. Whittle. Not because of some shopworn notion of charity though. Rather, from the value you will have created out of thin air . . .

IMHO, articles by Bill Whittle should be required reading in the Public Schools of America.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Another great essay from Bill Whittle...reminds me of the words of another great American optimist.

"The American Dream is a song of hope that rings through night winter air. Vivid, tender music that warms our hearts when the least among us aspire to the greatest things -- to venture a daring enterprises; to unearth new beauty in music, literature, and art; to discover a new universe inside a tiny silicon chip or a single human cell." -- Ronald Wilson Reagan

[Luis Gonzalez]

You all have GOT to read this!

[MHGinTN]

Love that picture, Luis! You've made my day, hermanos.

[Bizzy Bugz]

Thanks Luis. Wonderful article. Have alerted many friends.

[snippy_about_it]

Thank you Luis.

[Miss Marple]

I love this guy's writing. Thanks for the ping!