"Independence Day"

We Americans like to think of ourselves as a very independent people, but nothing could be further from the truth. All of our products, and basically everything we do in our modern life, comes from somewhere else. We pay money to buy someone else's product that we didn't make. We depend on the electric company for our light, and we depend on places like Wal-Mart and other superstores for our food and we depend on technology companies like Apple and Microsoft for our entertainment. The point is, there aren't that many Americans anymore who can honestly say, "Yes, I get up at three in the morning to milk the cows, and then grow my tomato plants."

We don't grow our own food, we don't make our own clothes, and we import a lot of electronics and other manufactured goods. So if we are fundamentally dependent on third parties to sustain our modern lives, are we really that independent in any meaningful sense? You tell me.