Earlier this week, I wrote about Monday, the day of the week that starts the workweek. I wrote about the “blah” feeling that comes with having to go back to work for five days. Interestingly, though, contained within the yin of the Monday blues is the yang of inspiration with the reality that Friday is only four days away. Well, today is Friday, and I must admit that I feel better today than I did on Monday. In fact, even though the market reversed once again, I feel somewhat optimistic at the end of this week.
Part of that optimism is about my belief that the market tends to over react to news, such as the PIIGS issue. Just look at the movement of the euro this past week if you want an example. In May, the Euro zone was collapsing, the euro was, at best, headed for parity with the U.S. dollar, and, at worst, dead as a currency. My, oh my how the mighty predictors do fall.
In any case, I have another reason for my optimism, which is somewhat more esoteric, and that is that this Friday is the first day of a three-day weekend. Yes, an extra day off to relax is cool, but that is not what makes me optimistic about our future. No, what spurs my optimism is the reason for the holiday. This weekend folks all over the U.S. will break out the barbeque and beer to celebrate the Fourth of July, the commemorative day for the birth of our nation.
As a nation, we have had numerous dark moments. Even today, the ugly nature of how we are dealing with the problems we face as a nation might lead one to think us less than stellar. The reality, though, is that despite the shrill voices that speak to constitutional breakdown, the opposite is true, and this is what makes me optimistic.
Scholars and idiots both openly argue about constitutional interpretation. This amendment means that or that right means this. So be it. In America, we can do this, whereas in some countries folks cannot openly debate the structure of their government. But this freedom, or any of our freedoms for that matter, although undeniably important, is not the reason for my optimism. True, my optimism about our economic future springs from the freedom we enjoy, but, more importantly, it is that which our freedom inspires which is more important than what the founders meant by this or that wording in the constitution.
For me, the most important aspect of this three-day weekend is to remember that all of this, us, our nation, happened because a bunch of liberal radicals decided to risk everything for an idea, an experiment in governing that has, ultimately, changed the world. This band of ideologists resisted the Faustian bargain and said to the devil himself (King George), “Take our souls, if you can.” These “far-out” thinkers were willing to risk all their bounties in the Promised Land for what they thought could be an even better world, a truly democratic world in which every man (person) had the right to pursue his or her dreams without the constraints of tyranny. And in this idea, not the words of the constitution itself, resides the spirit of who we are as a nation. You see, it is the idea that has brought us both our riches and our failures. It is the “can do” spirit of our founders, those radical thinkers that put this experiment in place, that we should celebrate because this is what will lead us from our current darkness to light once again. This time now is the fourth economic turning in our history, and, if the past is prologue to the future (and I believe it is) than we will make this turning better than the one before, which was better than the one before that, and so on. The indomitable American Spirit will innovatively lead us forward, despite those who, once again, predict doom. So, when you fire up the “barbie,” throw on the steaks, crack open a fresh one, and start relaxing, remember this – we got this far not because of the words on paper but because of what those words created in our collective psyche. Americans are not defeatists. Whatever the problem, ultimately, we will conquer it. You see, it is the spirit of freedom that we, and other free nations as well, enjoy that will move them and us together into the future.
Happy Fourth of July,
Trade in the day; invest in your life …
