The Byzantine Empire was around for over a thousand years, longer than any other empire the world had seen.

The Roman Empire lasted 500 years and built the greatest infrastructure the world had seen.

The British Empire lasted about 400 years and birthed the Industrial Revolution that reshaped the modern world.

And the Mongolian Empire lasted 150 years and they controlled more land than anyone in history.

And yet for every one of them, life for the everyday person barely moved from the start of the empire to the end.

Because their people weren't genuinely free. Serfdom, monarchy, colonial extraction, slavery...pick your poison. Control was the operating system.

And control stifles growth.

Freedom, on the other hand, enables people to flourish.

One study found that economic freedom (despite economic standing or wealth), led to increased happiness.

And another study found that the top 25% freest countries earn almost 7x more per person than the bottom 25%.

Freedom works.

But it's a hot mess along the way.

Civil war, world wars, the Great Depression, civil rights, corruption, politics that get downright ugly, and social upheaval that makes you want to move to Aruba.

If you were designing a civilization for stability, you would never design this one.

The US has been around for a sliver of history, yet we've out-innovated, out-created, and out-influenced arguably all prior empires combined.

Because freedom is the secret ingredient. 🤌

When you take the shackles off people, they flourish.

They take ownership, they fight for things they believe in, and they build things that didn't exist before.

They'll fight for themselves and for each other, no matter how much they disagree.

Because they'll rally around the most basic premise of humanity...freedom.

But...

It only works because of redemption.

"...endowed by their Creator" was the most important line in the Declaration of Independence.

When freedom is filtered through faith, grace, mercy, and the usually ugly process of unity working itself out, people will flourish.

Yes, it's volatile and downright uncomfortable to live through.

But when I look around at the life my kids will have that the rest of the world only dreams about, I'd say the mess is worth it.