What Makes America Great

To the Founders who wrote the Declaration of Independence, the phrase “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” had a very specific meaning. As men of great ideas and talents they understood it means the freedom to practice public virtue unconstrained- think of Benjamin Franklin and his focus on perfecting one of thirteen virtues such as temperance, frugality, humility, or justice.

The practice of public virtue and improving oneself was foundational to our country’s founding.

More conventionally we think of the Pursuit of Happiness as the freedom to chase financial success, and it was easier for the Founders to focus on public virtue when many of them came from money, but we’ve benefited from their great ideas.

If Justice is a virtue worthy of practice by an individual, then it’s worthy of putting into governing documents.

While running this past Sunday with friends, we started talking about what makes America great in context of the upcoming July Fourth holiday.

A group member who emigrated from England and became a US citizen remarked that his apparently incidental reason for wearing all black was more than a sartorial choice. It was mourning for the loss of thirteen colonies 250 years ago.

Cheekiness aside, he indicated that his adopted homeland has provided more opportunities than he could have ever had in his native country. He explained that entry to Cambridge and Oxford are very much dictated by where one is from rather than by merit, and that, in general, America is a meritocracy.

Others will reach for standard reasons why America is great: democratic elections, trial by jury, freedom of speech, and the right to bear arms, and I don’t deny all are important, but I’d like to highlight some areas where America is not just great but exceptional.

I was living in the University of Iowa Foreign Language House just after the fall of communism in the Soviet Union when Russians came and lived with us first semester every year. I befriended one named Vlad, and one day at lunch another House member started talking about Americans going to Russia to show them something about business.

I could tell Vlad was upset as the conversation progressed, and after the House member left, he simply stated, “That guy wouldn’t last five minutes in Russia.”

Russia didn’t- and still doesn’t have- what we have in America: the rule of law. Bureaucratic corruption means entrepreneurs must have the right connections, and Russia is both an oligarchy and a kleptocracy- money is hoarded at the top and official corruption is rampant.

In the June 27, 2026, Wall Street Journal there was an article about a topic unrelated to entrepreneurship but had a component of what we think of as a “rags to riches” story.

I read about Eric Obrokta, who at 40 was a supervisor at a company earning about $45,000 a year. He had an idea and co-founded a company that does warehouse set-ups, and today he is a multi-millionaire through great personal sacrifice.

While there is a certainly official bureaucracy and red tape in America, I suspect at every level of setting up warehouses in the US, Mr. Obrokta did not encounter corruption- extra money to the office worker for a building permit, extra money to the electrical worker connecting power, and every way grift happens in Russia.

Mr. Obrokta’s employee-to-owner story is not uncommon and should be celebrated, but we should understand that our rule of law supported his financial success.

In addition to the rule of law in America we have efficient, regulated capital markets that benefit everyone.

If an entrepreneur wants to grow a business, she can approach angel investors, venture capitalists, private equity, or a bank to obtain capital to grow a business. Of course she must have a believable concept, possibly profits, and demonstrable personal engagement, meaning her own money and sweat equity are on the line.

It doesn’t matter who she is or where she came from if the proposal is good enough.

Other countries have tried to emulate America’s free market system with limited success or with some success but not to the depth we have here. Especially in the ecosystem of Silicon Valley with connections to other entrepreneurs, support, education, and technology, there is a virtuous cycle that is hard to replicate in depth or breadth.

There is no reason to go anywhere else.

After an infusion of capital, working with investment bankers, our entrepreneur can start the Initial Public Offering (IPO) process to sell ownership of the company on a stock exchange, subject to rules of the exchange and the Securities and Exchange Commission among other regulators.

IPO documents follow accepted accounting practices, and investors can rely on them if they decide to purchase stock in the new company.

But this is what makes America exceptional: as a regular person, I can buy part ownership of GE Aerospace, Yum Brands, or any of thousands of stocks with the absolute expectation that on average, over the long-term, I’ll be rewarded with an appreciating stock price and, sometimes, dividends. Due to the efficiency of the market, the price I pay reflects all known information and is a reliable indicator of future earnings.

Not all companies that issue stock will succeed over the long term, but this risk is what gives the potential of outsize return, and I’m allowed to take the risk and participate in any upside.

Historically, one had to be in the aristocracy or a member of the upper class to be brought into business opportunities, and when the common people were brought in, all the money had been made, and every transaction after that was to find the greater fool.

That we can take a risk and rely on an efficient and regulated market in an economically strong country makes America great.

America is the home of financial innovation spread to the masses. While the origin of mutual funds started in Europe, the first index mutual fund was created by Wells Fargo and popularized by Vanguard. The Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) had its origins in Canada but was also popularized as an index fund by State Street in its well-known SPRD “Spider” fund.

Index mutual and exchange traded funds gave average Americans an efficient and inexpensive way to save for the future and have saved us collectively billions of dollars in fees- truly extraordinary.

All of this is not to say America is perfect. Thomas Jefferson thought and wrote about great ideas but was a slaveholder because he liked the lifestyle it provided.

Regulation could be better- rules that everyone agrees should change seem to take forever to change.

Entrepreneurs also start shady businesses that steal their investors’ money. Talk to those who invested in First Liberty Building and Loan in Newnan.

Financial innovation leads to unintended consequences such as the Great Recession.

But all these downsides are massively outweighed by the collective benefits we receive.

America’s greatness does not rest on slogans or nostalgia but on a set of institutions and cultural commitments that make human flourishing possible.

From the Founders’ belief that happiness meant the practice of public virtue, to the modern rule of law that protects entrepreneurs from corruption, to capital markets that allow ordinary people, not just elites, to build wealth, America has repeatedly expanded opportunity rather than hoard it. Our financial innovations, from index funds to ETFs, democratized investing and empowered millions to secure their futures.

None of this is perfect; our history contains contradictions, our markets sometimes fail, and our regulations can lag behind reality. But the balance still tilts overwhelmingly toward freedom, fairness, and possibility. America asks much of its citizens, education, vigilance, responsibility, but in return offers something rare in human history: a society where virtue and ambition can be practiced openly, where ideas can become enterprises, and where ordinary people can participate in prosperity. That is what makes America not just great, but exceptional.