By Sean Sullivan Lagniappe columnist

Independence Day recently happened and this holiday is becoming more and more a memory of times gone by than a celebration of the spirit of the United States. This great political experiment that gave its citizens the freedom to make their own way without the impediment of government or artificial social hierarchies has been eroded, sometimes by necessity, but mostly by apathy.

Americans’ civic apathy has to be at an all time high when celebrity worship dominates so much of our thought that very little grey matter is left our backward baseball hat capped heads to think about being a citizen and preserving the republic. Before you call me a Branch Davidian and go Waco on me, I don’t think the U.S. will fall tomorrow or that the government planned the 9/11 attacks or any of that crap, but I do feel the country needs to get its bloated ass to a political Jenny Craig pretty soon.

The first fat pocket we need to cut out is this global relativism doctrine where all countries and cultures are the same and ours is no better than any other country. If that is true why is our country the one that draws the best and brightest from around the planet? This “United Colors of Benetton” view of the world erodes feelings of nationalism stateside and leads to apathy in the citizenry.

This is not an indictment of other countries, it’s not their fault this is happening in the U.S. it is our weakness. I’m a guy who believes in bringing the rest of the world up to our standards, not bringing us down to theirs. I think visiting at least a handful of countries in the 2nd and 3rd world should be encouraged in all Americans, because nothing like feeding bribes to a “policeman” packing sub machine gun and a buzz, so you can get your luggage and passport back will make you happier when your plane lands in Atlanta. I got lucky and traveled a lot in my youth and realized it’s not a small world after all and that we have freedom others only dream of. I saw many beautiful places and experienced exotic and exciting cultures, but I also saw what it was like to live in a country that did not grant personal freedom as a birthright.

That freedom is shrinking every year, whether through civil liberty sacrifices in the war on terror or an ever-encroaching tax liability to keep the gravy train chugging away to Washington. Either way, when more people are asking for money from the government than there are people to pay that money or we loose our right to speak out against the government, then the Republic will start to stagger if not fall flat on its fat face.

Kennedy’s famous quote “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country” was a rousing moment in the American psyche. These days we might add the words; “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for yourself.” What Americans can do for themselves is exemplified by the total number of American billionaires being almost twice the number of billionaires on the rest of the planet.

What prompted me, along with this most nationalistic of holidays, to discuss the problems of the U.S. is the recent example of what the free market, free will and hard work can lead to, specifically Warren Buffet. Here is a man who because of the structure of the best country in the world and his savvy and hard work, became the second richest man in the world and gave the lion’s share of his wealth to the richest man in the world who is already busy giving lots of his own wealth away to charity.

The free will to help others because it is right and what you want to do not because of some government dictate of taxation and “re-allocation” of wealth is one of the great things about our country. The freedom to earn great wealth and give it away to whom you choose is a gift our country allows us everyday, whether we take her up on it or not.

So on this Independence Day be proud of your country and resign yourself to take full advantage of the gift of citizenship.

Sean Sullivan is Lagniappe lagniappe columnist. Contact him at ssullivan@lagniappemobile.com.

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