Marv Levy, the Hall of Fame coach of the “Super Bowl” Bills, is famous for saying to his team, “Where would you rather be than right here, right now?”

For Americans in 2024, Marv Levy’s question applies to us.

We are the most free democratic, prosperous, diverse, influential nation on Earth.

We are the only nation created as an idea that “All men are created equal” as Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain.

The Preamble to the United States Constitution states: “We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice…and secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity….”

Happily our country, striving to become a “more perfect Union” has expanded “All men are created equal” to include women and people of color, not just white males as in Jefferson’s time.

Happily our country, with fits and starts along the way, has worked hard, and continues to work hard, to create that more perfect Union.

The United States was created as an idea and that idea lives and grows as a most noble idea. We believe that all people are created equal. Not just white people, not just men, not just Christians, but all people.

The Constitution’s, “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” in 1787, grew into President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” State of the Union speech on January 6, 1941.

As the Nazi war raged in Europe, FDR told Congress the United States stood for “four essential human freedoms;” Freedom of speech and expression, Freedom of every person to worship God in his own way, Freedom from want and Freedom from fear.

In 2024 the United States still lives by the ideas of Jefferson and FDR.

Russia, Iran, China and North Korea abhor these American principles.

The rulers of those four nations all denounce freedom of expression. They murder or imprison those who dissent against their authoritarian or dictatorial governments.

America is strongest when its people remember who we are. In World War II we proudly realized and embraced that we were truly the “Arsenal of Democracy.” Today, 80 years later, we are at our best when we remain committed to being the “Arsenal of Democracy” around the world, from South Korea to Ukraine.

From President Truman, to Eisenhower, to Kennedy, to Carter, to Reagan, to George H.W. Bush and beyond, the American people stayed committed to promoting the ideas of American democracy.

We opposed Communism as an affront to individual freedoms. The premise that the State was superior to the individual was contrary to what the United States stood for.

The idea that the State would own all means of production was in complete opposition to the protections of private enterprise enshrined in the United States Constitution.

In 1944, near the end of World War II, our Congress passed the “G.I. Bill of Rights” that profoundly expanded the universe of Americans who could afford to go to college. Before World War II, college was pretty much reserved for upper income American families. Thanks to the G.I. Bill of Rights, the 12,000,000 Americans who served in the military in WWII had the doors to colleges and universities flung wide open.

Locally, Jamestown Community College was born in 1950 as the first community college in New York State. The City of Jamestown stepped forward to sponsor the community college after the old County Board of Supervisors apparently saw college educated residents of Chautauqua County as a threat to the labor supply for the factory owners of that era.

America’s embrace of college for every person with the capacity and desire to get a college degree has made America a leader in virtually every field of economic life in the 21st century.

America’s colleges and universities are the envy of the world. Their very existence bodes well for the American economy for generations to come.

The resilience of the American economy is impressive. The financial collapse of 2008-2009 was the worst since the Great Depression of the early 1930s. The Stock Market collapsed to 6,500 (down 54% in just 5 months). Here in January 2024, it just hit 38,000, an increase of 585% in just 15 years!

Just since March 2020 America was confronted with the first Pandemic since World War 1 in 1918. Our economy was slammed. Unemployment exploded and inflation reared its ugly head. In January 2024, for most Americans, the Covid Pandemic has faded as an economic concern. Inflation is retreating toward 2% and unemployment remains below 4%

America is a great and unique country in the history of the world. Let us be proud of our country for what it is and for its continuing aspiration to always becoming a “more perfect Union.”

Fred Larson is a graduate of Jamestown High School, Princeton University and Yale Law School. He is a retired Jamestown City Court judge and a current Chautauqua County legislator.