On the Fourth of July, in our nation’s capital, the president ordered a celebration of this country’s 250th anniversary that ended with 850,000 fireworks and a presidential address that really honed in on all the ways the country was good to the president and the ways it could do better for the president.
It was the perfect way to celebrate America 2026.
With fake bombs and fake patriotism.
That’s where we are now. A period in this country’s history in which phony patriots interested only in self-enrichment and self-concern drape an American flag over their priorities and pronounce that everyone who fails to believe as they do aren’t as American as they are. Just look at their red, white and blue cowboy boots, by God!
To be a true American, according to the rightwing crowd, you must be a few things: Christian, straight, probably white, a Republican and a gun owner.
Otherwise, we must take this country back from you.
We’ve heard this in ads and rhetoric from our favorite Republicans for years now, and this election season, particularly in Alabama, has been a masterclass in bigotry and fear. While most Alabamians struggle mightily to pay their bills and find decent health care, their hopeful candidates on the red side of the ticket focused on the other things they should fear—all of those people who look, believe or love differently.
Because it is the Muslims we should fear, despite the fact that it is the Christians who seem hellbent on injecting their religion into our government.
It is the LGBTQ folks we should fear, even though last I checked it was the church leaders who keep getting busted sexually abusing children.
It is the Blacks/Hispanics/Haitians/generic minorities we must fear, despite the fact that good ol’ white Americans commit far more crimes.
And it is the Democrats we should fear gaining power, despite the fact that Republicans have controlled literally every aspect of Alabama’s government—with an unbreakable supermajority—for the past 16 years and not a single one of you working class Alabamians can seriously argue that anything has improved for you.
So, patriotism is the answer.
Drape a flag over it all and call it American.
A “Christian nation.” A “free country.” “Our land.”
All of it nothing more than defending stupidity and ignorance. Proclaiming something that never was simply because you so desperately need it to be so to justify your flawed views.
You see, I love America.
I think it’s the greatest country on earth. I think its founders were great men who did a bold thing—mostly for purposes of self-enrichment—and ended up, quite by accident, creating a system of governance that is far superior to anything else in the world.
This also, however, is why I am so continuously flabbergasted by the rightwing effort to destroy America. (And progressives’ reluctance to embrace American greatness.)
Our founders were not perfect men—not by any stretch of imagination. They were, largely, greedy rich men who were angered by paying taxes and the limitations on their abilities to earn as much money as possible. They owned other humans and fought like hell to ensure they continued owning other humans. And some of them were actually pretty terrible people in general.
But … they gave us the two things that few other nations possess—self-governance and the ability to improve.
The power rests with the people. We can continually move ourselves forward, learning from past mistakes and prejudices, righting our wrongs and making good on our promises. We can make slavery illegal, stamp out Jim Crow, give voting rights, address bigotry, misogyny and racism with appropriate acts and continue removing unjust burdens in our efforts to truly make all men equal in America.
We can.
But lately, we haven’t been.
We’ve actually outlawed equality. It was the E in DEI, in case you were wondering. We’ve stripped away some of the founders’ most important declarations—religious freedom, for example—and marched backwards on civil rights for minorities and women.
We have allowed the wealthy and privileged to gain an outsized influence on our government. And then we have watched that government cater to the wealthy and privileged.
Even worse: We have devalued the contributions of the immigrants and the melting pot nature of America that has sustained us for all of our 250 years.
Do y’all actually think America was the shining beacon on the hill because a bunch of white Christians live here? Because we had more money?
It was because we were governed by the people. And the majority of people, inherently, want to be good. They want to be loving. They want to be decent. They want to be accepting. They want to be giving. They want to be fair.
That’s America—a flawed, mishmash of people working to be better.
Which is why America isn’t working so well right now. But it’s also why I know that the America that I love—the one that moves forward and bends towards justice—will always prevail.
