Imagine if our country never came into being, like George Bailey in the movie "It's a Wonderful Life." Consider the effect this would have on the history of the world in the 233 years since this nation was formed. It has become popular to blame the United States for many of today's problems, but a brief look at the facts indicates the world is a better place because of the good we've done.

As a pre-boomer, I grew up learning about American history and consider myself a patriot. It seems, however, that trailing generations have been taught less and less about this nation's short, but glorious, history. Instead, there is a trend to teach apologetic history, focusing where we made mistakes, rather than viewing the wonderful accomplishments of our people and the progress we've made as a result of individual efforts to constantly refine and improve the standard of living here and to help those in need around the world.

Our nation came into being because the early settlers migrated here for freedom and were willing to fight and die for what the Declaration of Independence stated. Not all those living in the colonies were willing to take this risk or were loyal to the King of England, but enough did and this resulted in the grand experiment known as democracy.

Some may wish to point to slavery as a cancer on the body of freedom, but there were always dissenters and this later turned into the abolition movement culminating in the Civil War, where so many people lost their lives fighting for the freedom of others.

In other places we helped fight German imperialism in WWI and later, again in Europe, to defeat the Nazis while we battled the Japanese in the Pacific. We flew the Berlin airlift following the war in order to repel the Soviets from overrunning Germany in their efforts to gain power in a post-war Europe. We defended South Korea from a communist take over and later tried to do the same in Vietnam; the former resulted in a stand-off until this day with the latter ending in this country's first major military defeat.

Since pulling out from Southeast Asia, our armed forces have been deployed to hot spots such as Kuwait and the first gulf War, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. These efforts have brought criticism from other countries and many factions within the United States, calling the more recent actions nation building. Others believe our intervention thwarted attempts at ethnic and religious cleansing and gave democracy a chance to flourish.

Whether on the battlefields or the boardrooms of commerce, we have made this world safer for more people, fed more people, gave more people the chance to earn a living, and continue to support education worldwide. We could not have done these things had they not first been achieved here at home. As our democracy continues to evolve for the betterment of all US citizens, we'll be prepared to share it with others. Few countries exhibit a desire to do this and none have the wherewithal to make it happen. So, although we're not perfect, our kind of freedom has set the standard for the world. This would not have happened if the USA did not exist.