Congratulations America for throwing off those tyrannical Queen-loving Brits so you can have a better life....

But I wonder exactly, what is this better life everyone always talks about? No offense fellow Americans, but I think the Brits have it pretty good, and so do the Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders for that matter. They never threw a fit against the Brits. They were peacefully surrendered to their own demise at some point. Good for them. No one died and they have their independence... (Mostly. I heard a rumor that these countries still have some allegiance to the Queen of England, but by tradition only).

So from the stand point of today, and from the stand point of a person who is only sort of American, I question whether the fight for independence was really necessary. From the stand point of the past and how England was getting along with the States it probably was (from an American perspective anyway. I heard that Brits still think of us as "those ungrateful colonialists"). But today?.... are we so much better off than England? The broad streak of patriotism in all Americans would shout, YES! But, without being all emotional, can you explain to my why?

You see, it strikes me as ironic that we talk about the fight for independence as some grand war that preserved the American way of life. Sure, it gave us our freedom from England and freedom to pursue our own style of government.... but I'd consider something like WWII a far greater fight to preserve our way of life. WWII was a desperate fight, one which, if we had lost, would have jeopardized everything about us. Millions would have been killed, everything about our way of life would have been obliterated.. That's a war worth shooting fireworks off for! Yay! We didn’t become Nazis!

Sorry if this offends you. My mom will probably disown me after she reads this.