The July Fourth weekend isn’t quite over yet, so if you haven’t done so already, you still have time to ponder what America managed to do on its own, without benefit of a blueprint.    As Barack Obama put it Wednesday during his visit to Colorado Springs: “I’m sure there will be a moment or two, when the fireworks grow quiet or the parade has gone by, when the enormity of the American accomplishment will sink in, along with a deep pride in your place in the story of the United States of America. I hope you take that moment to think about what you can do to shape the future of this country we love.”    John McCain, who owns indelible credentials as an American hero, put it this way a few days ago: “This blessed country remains a place of limitless horizons, a country where ideals, where a love of liberty and self-reliance still check the excesses of both government and man.”    As individuals, our founders certainly had their flaws and, like leaders today, they could be guilty of petty bickering.    But the larger point is that the group that signed the Declaration of Independence consisted of courageous visionaries. They defied a king. If things had gone differently, all of the signatories could have been hanged for their trouble.    We should always aspire to have as much guts and vision as they had.    It’s true we have our warts, and our open system puts them on display for the world to see. We have our disagreements, we have problems and challenges. Americans might laugh too loud and we don’t know our wine, as some of our European friends are fond of pointing out.    That’s OK.    We have the ability to laugh at ourselves. Besides, our true friends remember it was a bunch of guys who laughed too loud and didn’t know their wine who landed at Omaha Beach.    All nations have their own proud stories about how they began. But at the risk of sounding jingoistic, America’s story of defeating the most powerful army in the world and launching the noblest governmental experiment in the history of the planet is hard to match.    The revolutionary concept was to exalt the rights of the individual. Resisting the erosion of those rights has been a national challenge ever since, and there have been some setbacks.    Women couldn’t vote for well over a century. We put Japanese-Americans in camps during World War II.    Yet the Second Amendment was loudly reaffirmed the other day – a fitting prelude to Fourth of July festivities. Our highest court said a municipal government had gone too far. The same court also ruled the federal government went too far in infringing on the rights of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.    The two cases had little connection, other than in each one, the rights of the individual triumphed.    As always, plenty of people disagreed with one ruling or the other. Maybe, though, we can all celebrate that we have a court for such rulings, as well as the right to complain about the court’s rulings in public.    The American story, the “enormity of the American accomplishment,” is more than worthy of blowing up some fireworks, eating some watermelon and grilling some ribs.    And as the two presidential hopefuls agree, we ought to pause and reflect on the American miracle. Even on July 6.     Contact Noreen at 636-0363 or noreen@gazette.com. He appears every other Friday on KOAA’s Comcast Channel 9 at 4 p.m.