From London to Mississippi: Why I Love America

I’m a long way from home.

Home is England. 

That’s where I grew up and where I spent much of my professional career.

That career was politics. 

I was a member of the British Parliament for twelve years.

My preoccupation, you might say, was—and remains—freedom. I love the word and all that it conveys. It was this preoccupation with freedom that led me to become a founding member of the Brexit movement, the campaign to get Britain out of the European Union.

I didn’t like the idea of a bunch of bureaucrats in Brussels telling me, a free Englishman, how I should live my life.

After we won that campaign, I decided to leave the House of Commons and move four thousand miles to the United States—to Mississippi, to be precise.

Why? 

Because I believe the new battle for freedom is in America.

If it’s lost here—and that danger is real—it will soon be lost everywhere. 

Maybe it takes an “outsider” to appreciate this reality, to appreciate how exceptional America is, and how important it is to the world. 

So let this outsider remind you of a few things you might have forgotten or maybe never learned.

One: America was conceived in liberty.

In 1776, Americans weren’t merely fed up with being bossed about by a British king, George III. Plenty of other nations have come into existence in rebellion against authoritarian overlords.

What was different about America was that it was the first country founded on an idea—namely, that all human beings are created equal and should be free to pursue their own best interests, and that these rights are given to us by God and therefore can’t be taken away by man. 

Two: The United States has the best system of government ever designed. 

The Founders fused this idea of liberty with Athenian and Roman ideas of good government. Inspired by Cicero and others, they set up a system in which power is divided between three governmental branches: the executive, legislative and judicial. They did this to limit the power of government—to keep it as small as possible. 

Visiting Washington DC, one is struck by the evidence of America’s lineal descent from Athens and Rome. Classical columns and domes dominate the architecture from the Capitol building to the White House to the Supreme Court.

There’s another ancient city whose influence is just as profound—not architecturally but philosophically: Jerusalem. 

The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are steeped in Biblical principles, first among them being the inherent worth of the individual, the notion that every one of us is a unique creation made “in the image of God.” 

This individualism is the primary reason Americans have been so innovative and entrepreneurial.

Three: Americans are the world’s great inventors.

Is there any other country that has shown greater ingenuity than the United States? 

Think of various everyday objects around you: lightbulbs and laptops, refrigerators and computer chips, email and GPS. These are all American inventions. Even dental floss and toothpaste came from the United States.

From the advent of the first airplane to the smartphone, it has been American ingenuity that has consistently led the way.

What is it that makes Americans so inventive?  Are the laws of physics different here than in Europe or Asia?  Is there something in the air, or the water, perhaps? Of course not.

Innovation happens when individuals are free to think new thoughts and find new solutions. 

Four: America has been the greatest force for good in the world.

The United States is the first great power in history to use its strength not only to protect its own freedom but to liberate others.

America saved the world three times in the 20th century, twice by defeating Germany and its allies, and the third time by defeating Soviet communism in the Cold War. 

As former Secretary of State General Colin Powell so eloquently put it, “The only land we ever asked for was enough land to bury our dead…That is the kind of nation we are.”

Of course, America fought its bloodiest war against itself: the Civil War. It was fought to preserve its union and to liberate four million slaves.

Sadly, America’s glorious legacy is under attack. Despite the overwhelming historical evidence, those on the left want us to believe the worst about America. They want us to believe America is exceptional only for its wickedness.

They have it exactly backwards. Do you want a preview of the world without America? Take a look at Afghanistan following the sudden withdrawal of US forces in 2021.

The barbarism there—the total absence of freedom—is a microcosm of what comes after America. Consider that the next time you blame America for the world’s ills. 

I didn’t just move from the UK to the United States, I moved to the American South. And I did so quite intentionally.

I believe that the South is the key to America’s future.

With its low taxes, reverence for limited government, and traditional values, the South is flourishing. That’s not an accident. It’s here where the Founders’ spirit still lives.

It’s here where the new battle for freedom begins.

I’m Douglas Carswell, president of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, for Prager University.