OPINION:
America’s 250th anniversary should be a celebration that unifies the nation. But at a time when networks, newspapers, scholarly publications and digital media are dominated by the political left, finding a patriotic perspective will prove far more challenging than the days of our bicentennial, a half century ago.
At a moment like this, one could write about how this nation has advanced the cause of freedom and democracy across the globe. We could revel in the indisputable fact that in 250 years, this nation has provided more opportunity and advancement for more people from more places than any other civilization in history.
It is also always worth reminding ourselves that this great experiment in self-governance — which had never before been attempted on such a scale — was daring and brilliant and set new standards for human flourishing against all odds.
For the generations who only know America as a superpower, there was a time when we were dismissed and underestimated. An upstart and fragile nation that was held together by little more than a flag. The fragility of freedom still looms over this nation, despite all its successes and power.
It is this last point that deserves our attention now, more than ever.
The rising left wants Americans to remember only our transgressions. It is evident in their class warfare messaging, and racial and gender combat language. This culture of grievance is a new kind of enslavement and one of the greatest threats America faces.
It’s working. Today according to a recent poll, only 29% of Democrats are very or somewhat proud of this country. According to researchers Richard D. Kahlenberg and Lief Lin a three-year study of articles published in American Quarterly, a premier academic journal found that 80% of the articles published between 2022 and 2024 were critical of America — and none was positive.
That level of manufactured antipathy is tragic, but the left’s revisionist and pathologically grim views of America also provide our roadmap for the next 250 years.
To continue to be a nation that is strong, free and grounded on the Judeo-Christian values that undergirded its founding, we must be willing to move on from the darker moments of our past.
For instance, no sane person will argue that slavery wasn’t once a great national (indeed, global) sin perpetrated against humanity by conquering armies, merchants and governments. Today in America and most other places, it is no more.
Black Americans who were not trapped by the government welfare plantation have made significant strides toward parity on economic and educational opportunities with whites, particularly in the nation’s suburban communities. As a group, Black Americans have increased their agency, optimism and imagination even more than whites in the past century, according to Dr. Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania.
The history we’ve been taught about slavery, however, is deliberately selective and ignores basic facts including the complicity of African in selling their own people, the prevalence of white slavery and the role that white Christians played in finally ending the ancient practice in the civilized world.
Living in a pluralistic society where all people are created equal and endowed by their creator with unalienable rights, was and is not an easy proposition for a human community.
Travel the world and you’ll see. Tolerance and diversity are hallmarks of America like nowhere else on Earth.
The signs that once read “Irish need not apply” do not define the American experience for those who immigrated from Ireland. Italians —the victims of the largest mass lynching in American history and once discriminated against by U.S. immigration officials, who believed them to be genetically inferior — have long ago shed resentment for that treatment.
Japanese Americans who were forced into internment camps by President Franklin D. Roosevelt have moved on to become wildly successful.
All of us must let go of the sins of generations past to fully embrace the greatness of what we’ve accomplished together and ride that momentum into the future. If we hold each successive generation responsible for these transgressions, we will never move forward.
We must give ourselves the grace to protect and strengthen this nation in our next 250 years. Grace for each other as we work toward a more perfect union. Grace for those who oppose our way of life so that we can soberly defend our values.
Grace to understand that all of us have stories, struggles, hopes and fears — regardless of ethnicity, skin color or economic status. Grace to be a channel of mercy and love to those around us. Grace to realize that what we have together in these United States of America is truly special.
Marxists and socialists are so keen to divide us and dwell on injustice because such attitudes keep us from grace and dull not only genuine empowerment but our individual agency as well.
They want us angry, and we should thank them for being so obvious.
For the rest of us, we need to learn from our history but also be willing to let go of it.
We must move on from the darkest times of the past 250 to help forge the next 250. Understanding and appreciating America for the best of its attributes, its people and its aspirations is the only way to continue to be the shining city on the hill.
Happy 250th America.
• Tom Basile is the host of “America Right Now” on Newsmax TV.
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