OPINION:
On July 4, America will be 249 years old. Our friends abroad should join patriots at home in celebrating the miracle that is the United States of America.
In the course of history, a quarter of a millennium may seem like the blink of an eye, but think of what we have accomplished in that brief span of time.
We fought and defeated what was then the greatest empire on earth to win our independence. We adopted a constitution that is a model of self-government.
We fought Mexico in 1846 and gained a half-million square miles of land in the process. This followed the acquisition of the Northwest Territory and the Louisiana Purchase. By the middle of the 19th century, what started as 13 colonies clinging to the Eastern Seaboard stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
We fought a civil war to settle the issue of slavery and save the union.
In World War II, we saved humanity from the horrors of Nazism and Japanese imperialism. We stopped the advance of communism in Europe, Asia and the Americas, though we are still fighting a cold war against China and Russia.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, we have fought rogue regimes and terrorist states in the Middle East.
We just saved the world from a nuclear war. You’re welcome, world.
We survived the Great Depression, numerous recessions, fires, floods, hurricanes, blizzards and the Biden presidency.
We were the world’s first constitutional republic. We set an example for emerging nations in limited government and the protection of human rights.
We led the world into the industrial age. Inventions such as the electric motor, light bulb, airplane, telephone, microchip and personal computer, not to mention lifesaving drugs, which shaped modernity, flowed from America’s laboratories and workshops.
We showed humanity that free markets are the key to prosperity.
With the presidency of Donald J. Trump, we have taken back control of our borders, rejected cultural Marxism, turned our backs on the anti-industrial green agenda and created a military capable of miracles such as Operation Midnight Hammer.
We are not the world’s police, though we are occasionally called on to be its fire brigade.
Still, America’s enemies are legion. Internationally, they include totalitarians and authoritarians who hate the idea of popular government and civil liberties, ideologues who want to force their toxic isms on humanity, environmental luddites who seek to repeal the industrial revolution and globalists who think they can undermine our sovereignty.
On the homefront, a war against America has raged for more than half a century.
Marxism got a foothold in academia in the 1930s. Revolution hit the streets with the urban riots of the 1960s and anti-Vietnam protests later in the decade. The Democratic Party was transformed from the party of big government and welfarism to an anti-American coalition at war with everything that makes us unique.
At times, it seems that everyone is whining about something: private gun ownership, free expression on the internet, capitalism, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, climate change, pandemics and not enough public spending for whatever.
Academia, public education, legacy media and liberal churches are inveterately anti-American. They use their forums for tax-funded indoctrination and agitation.
The flags of Mexico, “Palestine” and Iran fly in our streets, while the American flag is burned.
At every level, law enforcement is besieged. Judges think they can make the law. Members of Congress and governors think they’re president. Jasmine Crockett thinks she’s God.
These are unique challenges. Still, the patient is robust and the prognosis excellent.
The Democratic Party has never been more unpopular. Among the general public, the party’s favorability rating is 29%. Its once-solid constituencies are melting away, including blue-collar workers and young Black and Hispanic men.
The Democrats are so bereft of leadership that they just nominated a radical Muslim socialist for mayor of New York.
A recent upsurge of patriotism among the young is reflected in increased military recruitment.
The forces of darkness may rule the streets of some cities, but the flame of patriotism burns bright in the hearts of most Americans, especially those who use their hands and minds to build, rather than carry protest signs and assault police and federal agents.
America has always been a project in the making, with challenges and obstacles on the road forward.
Yet considering where we are and how far we have come in 249 years, our nation’s birthday should fill us with optimism and hope for the future.
• Don Feder is a columnist with The Washington Times.
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