USA

Will America’s 250th anniversary mark the end of our nation’s noble dream?

I spent about a year of my life in 1776. My time travel started on July 4, 2020.

After listening to the various sounds on the left, talk about blow up 4th of July, Tear down statues of our Founding Fathers and sandblast their names outside schools and buildings, actually cancel I was quite alarmed by their presence. I have long believed that if our history is bad, we should condemn it and learn from it. If it is good, we should praise it and build on it. But we should never cancel our common American history.

From this belief and that year of my life, the following book was born: “56 – Lessons in Freedom from those who risked everything to sign the Declaration of Independence.“

“History” itself has taught us over the centuries that those who try to rewrite the past of our past that they find objectionable rarely stand on the side of goodness and light. History is, by definition, immutable. All its truths, joys and horrors should serve as guides for our future.

Of course, the “victors” and totalitarians of the past who rewrote or re-imagined history have inspired critical writings (and always warnings on the subject) by the likes of Victor Hugo, Ayn Rand, and George Orwell; These warnings are mostly ignored today.

My childhood was filled with great dysfunction and poverty. By the time I was 17, I had been evicted from 34 homes. It was an existence that counterintuitively became an enduring blessing: With each release, I got to experience another part of America.

As a white kid, I lived in mostly Black housing projects in inner cities. But I also found myself in the suburbs, rural America, and farming towns. Each experience introduced me to the diverse communities that collectively form the foundation of our nation.

Amidst the constant turmoil of my childhood, one lasting memory stood out from each new place and community I encountered. Regardless of the political views of the people I met (gender, race, sexual orientation, and creed), the 4th of July was a day that united everyone with pride.

Not anymore.

All these years and decades later, I’m not sure what the United States stands for or what “unifies” it. Today, it is much easier to envision the country we all live in as the “Siloed States of America” collapsing from within through the toxic effects of hate, misinformation, and dirty money.

Part of my personal history, Sens. It was having the honor of witnessing true leaders like Bob Dole (R-Kan.), George McGovern (DS.D.), and Daniel Patrick Moynihan (DY) debate together, laugh together, and agree together.

Now, in his place is Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA. was assassinatedknowing that hundreds of thousands of my fellow Americans loudly applauded this murder, or at least rationalized it. Moreover, multiple survey It shows that the number of Americans is increasing sanctions the killing of political or business leaders they oppose.

Part of my personal history was working at the Pentagon, where heroic men and women who sacrificed so much in service to our nation came together for a cause. I recently spoke with a special operations warrior who has served multiple combat missions. This man with two young children shouted into the abyss: “Are our leaders all part of the One Party? Do I tell my children that I risked my life for our values or for the personal power and interests of elites within and outside our nation?”

On the cusp of our country’s 250th anniversary, polls show that America is increasingly, and possibly irrevocably, divided. Poll by Fox News i found this voters “remain loyal to the country even though majorities describe it in negative terms and many believe Americans are more divided by their values than united by them.” A poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research i found this 72 percent of Americans I believe the US is “heading in the wrong direction.”

Most surprisingly, more than half of respondents under 30 said they believed:Democracy is not necessary for the identity of the country.“Let that sink in for a moment. More than half of those who will soon take the reins of our nation do not believe democracy is necessary. Chilling as it may seem to me, there is no doubt that a United States under socialist or even communist rule is a growing desire for millions of our citizens.

What is wrong with the “unity” of the United States on the 250th anniversary of our Republic? The country I still love and the Founding Fathers I have tried to defend in writing are now despised by a large segment of our population.

As many people grapple with this growing reality, I wonder what the reaction of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams would be to the United States of 2026. Would their genius discover a promising path to recapture their vision, or would their logical and pragmatic thinking determine that their noble dreams had finally achieved their goal?

Happy Fourth of July.

Douglas MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official.

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