OPINION: Happy 250th, America

This is a moment to celebrate.

It's the 250th birthday of America. To be clear, what we're honoring, by pegging the birth of the country to July 4, 1776, is the Declaration of Independence.

We're not saying it's when we won a war, or when we ratified a set of laws, or when the hockey team won the gold medal, or, I dunno, when a king drew a sword out of a rock. The birthday of the country that we're celebrating is the birth of an idea: The idea that all of us are created equal. The notion that we all have the same basic rights.

That was the central idea in the Declaration of Independence, a radical idea 250 years ago. In a way it's still a radical idea today. It demands a great deal of us, and it always will. It's a guiding light; we probably won't ever really get there, but it's the striving that matters.

Historians have said that moment - when we pledged ourselves to that idea - was one of only a couple of moments in history where human beings exceeded what could reasonably be expected of them.

In fact, nobody has put forth a better idea since then. There have been several attempts - including the -isms of the 20th Century - but those ended in catastrophe. The truth is that the thugs and dictators ever since don't go around saying that they're thugs and dictators - they try to claim that they're democrats, too. (That is, "democrats" with a small "d.") They're not putting forth a different idea.

America hasn't always conducted itself perfectly. But it has always eventually tested itself against that founding principle, and that's what has kept us moving forward in the right direction.

We had a war with ourselves. The right side won - the side that stood by the idea in the Declaration of Independence. We fought the Nazis. We overcame the communists. We struggled internally with ourselves, and the right side has kept winning. Not every single battle along the way - but overall. To paraphrase Martin Luther King Jr., the arc of history bends toward justice.

So when we see the fireworks this year, when we raise a glass or raise a fist, or sing "Proud to Be An American," that's as it should be. We should be proud.

Not because we're perfect. Not because we're powerful.

But because we established ourselves on, and we re-dedicate ourselves to, the right idea.

Happy birthday, America. Well done.

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This story was originally published July 1, 2026 at 12:03 PM.