We’re in the month of July, named after Julius Caesar, a Roman leader who lived two thousand years ago. The American founding fathers, obsessed with Roman ideals of self-government, drew inspiration from figures like Cincinnatus, Cicero, and Caesar himself to forge a nation built on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness / property.
They largely succeeded.
Frank Godwin, Philadelphia Patriotic Scene, 1917 (gouache on board)
Today, in 2026, ordinary people enjoy an abundance that would make any Roman emperor green with envy.
Think about it: even your phone is carrying a supercomputer more powerful than the one that took us to the moon. Whether you’re a kid in high school or a billionaire like Jeff Bezos, you have access to technology that gives you the leverage of thousands of engineers from the past.
As Marc Andreessen wrote in his Techno-Optimist Manifesto, we are living through an explosion of abundance made possible by technology and human ingenuity.
This abundance shows up in the most beautiful ways.
Oddur Thorisson often talks about setting the table with abundance — not just for show, but as a celebration of generosity, beauty, and the good life.
The real miracle isn’t just the technology in our pockets, the produce on our table, or our social media feed.
The miracle is this:
Abundance is available to every person in ways that would have been unimaginable to the most powerful people in history. We have instant access to knowledge, global communication, and opportunities that no king, queen, or Caesar could have dreamt of.
This abundance is the direct result of the bold experiment in self-government that the American founding fathers launched over two centuries ago. Their vision of liberty and self-rule created the conditions necessary for human creativity and innovation to flourish like never before.
So on this 250th Anniversary of the United States of America, let’s not just celebrate freedom.
Let’s celebrate the extraordinary abundance that flows from it. Every time we pick up our phone, drive a car, or enjoy clean water from a tap, we’re living proof that the Founders’ Roman-inspired experiment worked far beyond their wildest dreams.
May we continue to guard the liberty that makes all this possible, and may we use our unprecedented abundance to build lives of meaning, generosity, and purpose.
Happy Abundance Day.
George Washington idolized the Roman general Cincinnatus as the ultimate example of military virtue and selfless retirement from power.Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were heavily influenced by Greek and Roman philosophers, but intellectually, they idolized Enlightenment thinkers like Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, and John Locke.John Adams drew inspiration from a mix of classical figures and the teachings of Jesus, valuing moral virtue above all else in leadership.