Initial Thoughts on the Semiquincentennial

America in 2026

Photo by Lesli Whitecotton on Unsplash

---

Wednesday would have been my grandfather’s 103rd birthday (my mother’s father). I never knew him. He died a decade before I was born. I’ve mentioned him in my writings before - he worked in politics, campaigning for Republicans, lobbying for Republican priorities, etc. When he died prematurely, one of his friends gave some sort of eulogy on the floor of Congress. He and my grandmother were at Eisenhower’s inauguration, and Nixon’s, and presumably Reagan’s and Ford’s. My mother still has notes from presidents thanking him for various projects he’d worked on. Including a note from Carter. Because my grandfather may have been a Republican, but more than that he was an American. He was an American first, before he was a Republican. He served in the Battle of the Bulge and in Korea as well, where there weren’t any Republicans or Democrats. Just Americans.

My mother used to tell stories about the parties they would host for Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July. Those were my grandfather’s two favorite holidays. He loved to invite people in Washington who couldn’t go home to celebrate with their families. This being the ‘70s, travel across the country wasn’t something people did every week (as legislators do today). He loved to invite visiting foreigners, too, to share with them our traditions. He was also excited to bring new people into politics (even those who disagreed with him) and he liked to bring Americans from across the country to Washington, because he was proud of our political system.

It has often struck me this year, as we approach our semiquincentennial, that the patriotic fervor which ought to accompany this anniversary seems somewhat muted. In 1976, America had a lot to worry about. There were some signs that we might even be in decline. We had bugged out of Vietnam. We had been through Watergate. The economy was struggling. Crime was rampant and rising. The Soviet Union loomed powerfully. But my mother says that in D.C. at least, the bicentennial sparked a swelling of patriotism. For the first time in years, people were glad to be Americans. Democrats and Republicans. (A small group of radical socialists protested the bicentennial, but nobody paid them much attention.) Even punk rockers were glad to be Americans (Joey Ramone may have had left-wing politics, but Johnny Ramone was proud to be a conservative Republican).

Perhaps it’s early, but we don’t appear to be seeing that today. Part of it is Trump. President Ford, from what I’ve heard, performed aptly in his role presiding over the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration, and he put together a good celebration that even his media critics praised. Needless to say, Trump is mostly managing to be polarizing in his handling of the 250th anniversary, and he wants to make it about himself (being a narcissist), and his gauche taste will no doubt put a damper on some people’s enthusiasm.

But it isn’t just Trump. I hear from some Trump supporters who love America. But I hear from a lot of Trump supporters (and folks on the New Right, which is related, but which is not the same)¹ who are pretty down on America. And, of course, almost every Democrat I know is down on America, and this is reflected in polling on these questions. The reason they usually give is Trump, but they may also say something about 1619, or about the Native Americans, or even about abortion.

Meanwhile, I am dismayed to report that many on what remains of the non-Trump, Reaganite right are increasingly down on America, too. Certainly, the Never Trumpers who became Democrats are (the Bulwark crowd), but I’m not really talking about them. I mean my fellow travelers on the Trump-skeptical conservative right. To be sure, many of them do still love America. But some are increasingly dour, and even unpatriotic.

This makes me sad. I love this country. I have always loved this country. Even when I’m upset at this country, I love this country. I’m a sucker for Afroman’s red, white, and blue suit with the stars and stripes shades. I love that kind of thing. It gives me no pleasure to say this, but: if one election is enough to make someone stop loving their country, they didn’t love it in the first place. Love binds you in a way that you can’t just decide to shake loose. Even the things which embarrass me about this country at least make me smile ruefully. It isn’t so much that they belong to me as it is that I belong to them.

It is worth remembering what we are celebrating this July. We are celebrating the Declaration of Independence. I, for one, wish that we celebrated the Constitution with even greater fervor than we do the Declaration, but both are eminently worthy of celebration. It is, as I wrote recently in a different context, the American Founding which makes America the “last, best hope for mankind,” as Lincoln said. America isn’t just an idea. We are a people and a culture, too. But the people and the culture are shaped by that idea, and it is the idea which makes us distinct among nations. I love the American people and I love American culture. But I also love the American Founding, and it is the Founding we are celebrating on the semiquincentennial. Not the occupant of the Oval Office. Not partisan politics. I’m sure I’ll be writing more about this topic as we approach July 4th. I wonder what my grandfather would think if he were alive today. I think he’d be sad in some ways. But I think he’d still love America. I don’t think he would have given up on America.

To some extent, this is a generational phenomenon and an elite phenomenon. Older Americans - on left and right - are much more proud to be Americans than young people. Working-class Americans - of all races - nearly universally say, “America” when asked what the greatest country on Earth is (not some dumb answer like, “I believe all countries are equally great” or “I don’t believe in the concept of greatness”). Some of them might add, “Of course. What are you asking me for?”

I don’t think this is the end of the story. I don’t think America will end in 2026. We’ve been through dark days before. I think that within my lifetime, we will see a new rebirth of patriotism and American flourishing. But I don’t think that happens without hard work by those of us who do still love America, who believe that there is still something worth preserving.

1. I have friends who are into the intellectual side of the New Right who didn’t even vote for Trump.