President Trump has promised a “huge” celebration next year to commemorate America’s 250th birthday.
We’re talking massive fireworks, a Flag Day military parade in Washington and the creation of a “National Garden of American Heroes” consisting of life-size statues portraying great Americans from all walks of life – from Harriet Tubman to Frank Capra, the Wright Brothers, Susan B. Anthony and Miles Davis.
The truly eclectic selections include “scientists and inventors, entrepreneurs, civil rights leaders, missionaries and religious leaders,” along with “those who fought for the abolition of slavery” and “opponents of national socialism or international socialism.”
The list of hundreds can be found in an executive order Mr. Trump issued at the end of his first term, on Jan. 18, 2021.
Critics have already done their best to rain on the 2026 parade. They’re calling for a mixed observance, with America beating itself up for ever having slavery and for ongoing racism.
“What I and most professional historians would object to is ‘unapologetic’ history, patriotic or otherwise,” said James Grossman, outgoing executive director of the American Historical Association. “To apologize for the harms we have done to others is gracious, generous, and a good learning experience for all of us.”
As the Washington Times reported, “Mr. Grossman urged the White House to treat America 250 like a secular version of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement that invites people ‘to reflect on our sins, to repent [and] to seek forgiveness.’”
Reflection can be a very healthy thing, as can seeking forgiveness. But not in every context.
Think about the last time you celebrated someone’s birthday.
After the candles were blown out, was there an obligatory struggle session about the person’s faults? Was the joy of the event “balanced” by having everyone point out the person’s long-ago mistakes or current flaws?
That’s what the critics want for America’s 250th anniversary celebration. These folks falsely contend that slavery was unique to America and that racism still permeates all American institutions.
That’s the message of the New York Times’s “1619 Project,” a woke reworking of history that claims the nation began when the first slaves arrived in America, not in 1776 with the unveiling of the Declaration of Independence.
Teachers wielding “The 1619 Project” along with Marxist fake historian Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States” are giving children and collegians a warped concept of America as a Great Satan that must be taken down for the good of humanity.
They’re a sister act to militant Islamists who hate America for our liberty and for supporting Israel, the “Little Satan.”
However, much of the world apparently disagrees with them. Given the choice, billions of people around the world would move to America.
Cynics might respond, “Of course they would. America has money. They want some, too.”
Sure, they do. Everyone wants to be able to provide for themselves and their families. But America’s unique attraction runs far deeper.
The Statue of Liberty, a gift from France that opened to the public in 1886, stands in New York Harbor with a torch and a tablet engraved with “July 4, 1776.” At her feet is a broken chain and shackle, symbolizing the freeing of the slaves after the Civil War.
The country’s unprecedented prosperity and technological achievements stem from a commitment to liberty, to the idea that we should be as free as possible to live out our beliefs and keep what we’ve earned. The Constitution is all about making sure that the government doesn’t trample on either property rights or the right of conscience.
If you take away either, the other can’t be protected. If the state owns everything, as in a communist country, it owns you.
Ownership of other human beings violates the ultimate property right – to ourselves. Slavery can bring out the worst in the “owners,” spawning a myriad of horrors. It’s also one thing to give your life over freely to God, and quite another when the government – or individuals – plays God.
One way to look at slavery is that it is 100 percent taxation. It’s why every tax increase moves us closer to slavery.
The American Revolution was fought over more than taxation; the British crown insisted on trampling the colonists’ rights under British Common Law. One of the most hated practices was quartering soldiers in homes against the homeowners’ will.
After winning the war, the colonists created a federal system with a three-branched national government and powers that were “reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.” The whole thing has worked remarkably well to advance human liberty to where we are now.
When we celebrate America’s 250th birthday next year, we must not forget that there are many people who really don’t want our self-governing republic to survive.
Ronald Reagan famously said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”
We should also remember to thank God and America’s veterans for allowing us to live in the greatest country in history.
As for the naysayers, they can put a sock in it. At least until the party’s over.
This column was first published at the Washington Times.