Scott Howard writes for National Review Online about the importance of American independence in world history.
These men did not work alone, however. Their actions drew upon a civilizational tradition that began thousands of years before any Englishman had set foot in the New World. The events that have followed since the Founding are part of a symphony that has played out over thousands of years on the world’s largest stage. …
… In his 1968 essay “Western Civilization: the Problem of Political Freedom,” Frank Meyer articulated a beautiful sentiment that, in my opinion, captures the composition of our majestic symphony quite nicely. Short in length and broad in scope, Meyer’s treatise on the roots of Western civilization finds the West’s genesis in ancient Greece and Israel. In contrast to the “cosmological civilizations” that preceded them, the ancient Greeks and Israelites grasped a truth about the human condition that had eluded their predecessors. In Meyer’s estimation — one I am inclined to believe — this truth was the recognition that “man has always been, as Aristotle long ago saw, part animal, part spiritual.” …
… Further along in the essay, Meyer addresses the problem of Utopian thinking. As flawed creatures, we are, when faced with this cosmic truth, pulled toward establishing the transcendence we see here on earth. Our cosmological roots gnaw at us. This deep desire for heaven on earth draws a thread through the history of Western civilization in Europe, from the Holy Roman Empire up to the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century. Living with the knowledge that man is torn between the material and the transcendent is no small ask; establishing a government that recognizes that tension is near impossible. …
… “The establishment of a free constitution is the great achievement of America in the drama of Western civilization. The struggle for its preservation against Utopian corrosion is the continuing history of the United States since its foundation, a struggle which continues to this day and which is not yet decided.”
America’s greatness derives from this foundational truth.