As Americans celebrate Independence Day, appreciation for economic and political liberty arise. Historical events are recited about the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere, and the courageous men and women who have fought for our beautiful nation. The stories seldom told, however, are those of scientific freedom and discovery unique to the United States.
Medical Progress
As reported by the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail, the U.S. has some of the shortest wait times in the world for seeing a specialist and making an emergency room visit. Although this aspect could always be improved, most citizens are thankful to live in a country where the fight to survive is made possible by accessibility to healthcare.
According to the World Health Organization, at least half the earth's population lacks essential medical services. Such concerns are not only prevalent in developing regions, but also to advanced nations. As found by the Fraser Institute, between about 25,000 and 63,000 Canadian women may have died as a result of long waiting times for essential treatment.
Citizens in the U.K. face similar concerns, where the wait time to see a specialist is often four or more weeks. With serious illnesses, such as cancer, left without proper care, patients face worsening symptoms and potentially fatal conditions.
Americans have also paved the way for numerous medical discoveries. Recently, two ladies, one of which is from the U.S., received a patent for their description of the necessary components that enable the scientific breakthrough of the century, the gene editing tool CRISPR-Cas9, to be employed, as reported by Liberty Nation.
The system may allow some individuals who are suffering from cancer, HIV, inherited diseases, and other illnesses to obtain relief. Many now believe the women are top contenders for a Nobel Prize for their outstanding work.
In fact, Americans have won the most Nobel Prizes of any country with a total of 336 out of 923, or over one out of every three. That is not to say that these researchers made the discoveries on their own, but they were instead a product of centuries of hard work from those around the world.
Thankfully, the U.S. contains arguably the most liberated academic community, permitted to share findings with the press, communicate with peers, and partake in critical intellectual arguments with individuals holding opposing views. Such behaviors are vital to innovation.
Freedom
Government interference and censorship of academia hinders many countries. For instance, China is home to the world’s most sophisticated online censorship operation, known as the Great Firewall, as reported by Science, a peer-reviewed journal.
Sites such as Google Scholar, Dropbox, and numerous others that are vital to obtaining current literature and communicating with peers are either unavailable or take exceeding amounts of time to process. Thus, those in China are often discouraged from their pursuits as proper resources are unavailable. These obstacles are not only prevalent in Communist China, however.
Until 2017 in Canada, researchers were constrained from speaking about their findings to the press, according to Nature. Previously, many had to go through government approval before communicating with journalists. Officials had the power to constrict public access to discoveries they viewed as inappropriate and could hamper any findings in contrast to their ideological agendas.
In the U.S., scholars are mostly unobstructed in releasing information to the public. They may also openly communicate with each other, leading to a flourishing of enhancements.
Opportunity
Perhaps one of the aspects most responsible for our country’s excellence is the considerable focus on the importance of knowledge. Although currently far from perfect, the K-12 process provides all youth the chance to learn and grow.
As noted by Knights Overseas, a group at the University of Central Florida devoted to raising money for the education of disadvantaged kids, families from impoverished regions are often unable to afford to send their children to school. In fact, the president of the club migrated at an early age with her family from India to the U.S. to achieve improved financial and educational opportunities.
She is one of millions to do so. About 264 million children across the globe are unable to receive instruction due to social or economic limitations, with the number rising each year, says the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.
Malala Yousafzai
The U.S. also permits gender parity under which both boys and girls excel. In many other countries, however, females are restricted from the classroom. One prime example comes from Malala Yousafzai, the youngest ever Nobel Prize laureate, from Pakistan.
Since she was young, Malala advocated for the education of girls everywhere. After leaving campus for the day back in 2012, she was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman, as the terrorist group disapproved of her advocacy and had recently banned females from attending school. She is not alone, as numerous others have faced the same fate in oppressed areas across the earth.
In America, both men and women may pursue nearly any goal. Free speech and the ability to share views uncensored fosters significant intellectual growth, perfected and fought for by those in our beautiful nation. With our culture of respect and devotion to liberty, education, and scientific advancement, citizens are excited about the extraordinary progress to come.
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