David,
(My ancestors lived as British Citizens for some 130 years in the New World before becoming "Americans." Perhaps if the crown would have had the foresight to move the capital from "Old London" to some new location Washington might have a different name and this all indeed would have played out differently...)
There are tremendous lessons, still not fully appreciated in the COIN doctrine we continue to practice around the world, to be derived from the politics, pride and passion that led to the formation of America.
Yesterday we celebrated our Independence, today we get back to the dirty business of determining and shaping the outcomes of very similar quests for independence among a dozen nations and populaces, all unique yet all the same, struggling to find a future that they too can celebrate some day. Best we remember that people everywhere do not want to be America; they want to be like America, and that is a very different thing altogether. They want to share the opportunity to stand free as individuals from oppressive government at home, and free as a nation from excessive influence from abroad. Like us they will make mistakes and struggle for generations to get to what is right for them, and like us it will still be a messy work in progress forever. But it will be their mess, and that is an Independence worth celebrating.
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