This Fourth of July, America begins a yr of celebration and reflection as we put together for subsequent yr’s semiquincentennial — 250 years since our Founding Fathers courageously declared independence from Britain.
Milestones present a chance to replicate on the importance of a second inside an extended storyline. But, for many People, July 4th is never a milestone. Extra usually, it’s a transient acknowledgement and — honestly, for many — a time off to grill and watch fireworks.
However on this Fourth of July, how ought to we take into consideration this milestone, the final 249 years, and the 250 to come back?
We should always take into consideration our democracy with nice hope and dedication. On the similar time, we should always acknowledge that our democracy is dealing with important challenges — protests, political violence, exterior threats and heightened polarization.
American democracy is outstanding, fragile and resilient — elements that compel each American to recommit to strengthening it. Our Founders forged a imaginative and prescient for a nation, pushed by democratic rules, not monarchy. A nation during which the facility was within the palms of the individuals, not an unaccountable tyrant. A nation during which rights had been to be protected, not topic to the whim of an unelected chief. Our founding defied all understanding of presidency.
And — within the superb paradox that’s america — the very visionaries who shaped our democratic nation violated them in essentially the most profound methods by way of slavery and disenfranchisement.
The exceptionalism of our nation lies within the lofty imaginative and prescient of our Structure and the Invoice of Rights, in addition to the lengthy wrestle to make sure that all People may fulfill the promise of those founding paperwork. The ethical rules and self-correcting mechanisms of our democracy have develop into the beacon and timeless instruments of wrestle for all People and an inspiration for the world.
What is outstanding is our journey, grounded in democratic rules and the unending wrestle to stay as much as these rules.
As we see from nations worldwide, democracy and freedom will be taken from their individuals by these, elected or unelected, who select to violate democratic rules and consolidate energy for private acquire. At the moment, American democracy faces threats, international and home, that search to weaken our nation.
As President Ronald Reagan famously mentioned, “Freedom is a fragile factor, and it’s by no means a couple of technology away from extinction. It’s not ours by the use of inheritance; it have to be fought for and defended consistently by every technology, for it comes solely as soon as to a individuals. And people in world historical past who’ve identified freedom after which misplaced it have by no means identified it once more.”
Our democracy is resilient. Democracy requires the persistent, principled vigilance of brave patriots. Our Founding Fathers threw off the yoke of colonial rule and cast a brand new democratic nation, a shining metropolis on the hill. The rules of our nation and the braveness of our patriots have enabled our nation to flourish.
Allow us to make this July 4th a milestone in recommitting to strengthening American democracy.
Nicole Bibbins Sedaca is the Kelly and David Pfeil Fellow on the George W. Bush Institute.
