One of the great ironies of our time is that the resurgence of socialism and the anti-American cynicism evident during our semiquincentennial are, paradoxically, a by-product of the extraordinary blessings of living in the United States.

So many of these people who have enjoyed exceptional freedom, prosperity, and security for so long have lost their perspective.  They mistake imperfection for failure and incommodity for oppression.  Having known only America, they assume the freedoms they experience daily are the natural condition of mankind rather than history’s rarest achievement.

So, when confronted by condemnations of this country, the proper response shouldn’t be anger, but rather a question: Compared to what?

Compared to the countries from which millions have fled in search of freedom and opportunity?  Compared to societies where speech is restricted, elections manipulated, courts are subordinate to political power, and where economic success is more a matter of connections than merit?  Compared to places where people left behind only to risk life and limb to come to this country while a handful of elites threaten to leave – but never do?

Human beings are imperfect; therefore, every society created by human beings will also be imperfect.  There has never been a place on earth free of injustice, inequality, prejudice, corruption, or political dysfunction.  Such places exist only in the imagination.  The relevant question is not whether America has faults—it plainly does.  The relevant question is how America compares with every other nation on earth in acknowledging and correcting its faults.

For 250 years, people from every corner of the globe have answered that question by crossing oceans, deserts, and borders—often risking everything—to come here.  They did not come because America was perfect.  They came because, despite its imperfections, America offered something unique in human history: the freedom to speak, worship, work, dream, fail, recover, and build a better life for themselves and their children.

It began on July 4, 1776.

What happened in Philadelphia was not merely the birth of a nation.  It was the political expression of perhaps the most revolutionary idea ever conceived: that individual rights do not come from kings, parliaments, presidents, or governments. They come from our Creator, and governments exist to protect those rights rather than dispense them.

The Declaration of Independence did not create a perfect nation, nor has America consistently lived up to its own ideals.  But it fundamentally altered the course of human history.  It transformed subjects into citizens and gave moral and political legitimacy to the revolutionary proposition that government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed – and the consequences have been profound.

The United States comprises just over four percent of the world’s population but generates more than one-quarter of global economic output.  More than a million foreign students attend American colleges and universities, many of which rank among the finest on earth.  Americans donate hundreds of billions of dollars annually to charitable causes, and for decades the United States has been the world’s leading provider of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

The United States is the world’s engine of innovation.  American companies attract roughly half of all global venture capital investment and have produced technological breakthroughs that transformed modern life.  From aviation and microchips to the internet and advanced medicine, American innovation continues to improve the lives of billions around the globe.  These things don’t happen by accident!

But perhaps America’s most remarkable attribute is one that its critics take for granted: its extraordinary capacity for self-correction.  We fought a civil war to end slavery.  We dismantled legal segregation.  We expanded civil rights and voting rights.  We openly debate our shortcomings, protest injustice, and continually strive toward a more perfect union.

Indeed, the very fact that Americans can publicly denounce their country, accuse it of systemic racism and other prejudices, then advocate to replace its economic and political systems without fear of imprisonment is itself evidence of freedoms that most of the world has never known.

America is not beyond criticism.  Patriotism does not require pretending our problems do not exist.  Self-criticism and self-evaluation are among the reasons America has endured.

But criticism untethered from comparison and the record of history degenerates into fashionable cynicism.  It’s now become chic and an exercise in condemning reality because it fails to resemble the imaginary utopia that has never existed and never will.

The reality is that America’s harshest critics are spoiled by history.  They inherited unprecedented freedom, prosperity, and opportunity and concluded that these blessings simply occur naturally.  They enjoy rights and privileges that billions of people throughout history could scarcely imagine and then dismiss the country that made those blessings possible as uniquely flawed or fundamentally broken.

America is not heaven on earth.  It is something rarer: a flawed nation of flawed people that has produced the most extraordinary degree of freedom, prosperity, innovation, generosity, and human flourishing ever seen on planet earth.

Perhaps the strongest evidence of America’s greatness is that despite its flaws and imperfections, millions are willing to risk everything just for the chance to become Americans.   And for 250 years, people from every corner of the globe have answered the question, “Compared to what?” with their feet.

And best of all, the experiment continues…