On this great day when we celebrate America, its freedoms and way of life, please enjoy (and as you are moved share with the hashtag #SpiritofAmerica) this list of thirty of why this is the greatest country in the history of the world:
#30. Gettysburg. Guadalcanal. Bunker Hill. Heroes lived here.
#29. Contract Rights. Judges. Juries of One’s Peers. Redress for grievances - practiced here.
#28. Yosemite. The Grand Canyon. Yellowstone. Natural Wonders - in abundance here.
#27. The Interstates. State Highways. County Parkways. The Open Road - Great to be on it here.
#26. Uber. AirBnB. Lending Club. The Economy – Shared Here.
#24. The Bill of Rights. The Supreme Court. The Rule of Law. Justice served here.
#23. The Stock Market. Home Ownership. Low Inflation. Assets built here.
#22. Driverless Cars (and Electric too!). Wearable Devices (the iWatch!). The Internet of Things. Tomorrow’s Technologies – Imagined Here.
#21. Diamandis. Kurzweil. Saffo. The future - abundant here.
#20. Hollywood. Disney. Broadway. Entertainment happens here.
#19. The World Series, The Super Bowl, The Masters. Sports are spectacle here.
#18. Jesus. Moses. Mohammed. The Buddha. Religion gets along here.
#17. Gates. Jobs. Page. Zuckerberg. BIG stuff - invented here.
#16. Murphy. Martin. Seinfeld. Rock. Life is a laugh here.
#15. Madonna. Mariah. Whitney. Elvis. Michael. Frank. Songs are sung here.
#14. Faulkner. Hemmingway. Roth. Franzen. Stories are told here.
#13. Kaiser. Pfizer. Genentech. Merck. Healing happens here.
#12. Boeing. Caterpiillar. Deere. UPS. FedEx. Stuff gets built here and gets there.
#11. Amazon. eBay. Ecommerce - transacted here.
#10. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. Networks - connected here.
#9. Google. Yahoo. Bing. Information - organized and accessible here.
#8. Kleiner. Sequoia. Mayfield. Ideas - backed here.
#7. The Inc. 500. The Fast Company 50. Entrepreneurs - inspired here.
#6. Alaska. Montana. Wyoming. Space - open here.
#5. Chicago. Boston. San Francisco. NYC. Cities pulse here.
#4. Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt walked the Earth here.
#3. The first guy in charge here voluntarily gave up power, when he could easily have been named ruler for life. Character stands here.
#2. The current guy in charge was born to an immigrant father and a teenage mother who was so poor that she received government assistance in raising her only child. Possibility abounds here.
#1. The Greatest Generation was born here, fought and won there. And then they came home, put their heads down, and built a new America. Civil rights, cities, suburbs, highways, schools, and more.
So on this day especially, we say THANK YOU!