Today is 4th of July, the day we celebrate America’s independence from Britain. But this year is rather a special one. It is the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. That’s one fourths of a millennium. It’s rather impressive of how long America has lasted and grown to be world power. And they made several achievements, such as inventing the light bulb, building the transcontinental railroad, building the Panama Canal, starting the United Nations, and even landing a man on the Moon. It was also the same country that brought computers across the world and invented the Internet. It was founded on freedom and liberty. Now it’s the most powerful nation in the world.
A Brief History of the United States:
Very little did the founding fathers to our country know that America will eventually become world power, invent several inventions that changed the world forever, and expand to the other side of the continent.
After Christopher Columbus discovered land across the Atlantic Ocean and traded resources, many European countries started colonizing the land, one of them was England. While some of the English people moved west for more farming, others have left for religious freedom. But after the French and Indian War, the kingdom of England started abusing their powers over the colonies, demanding tax money to recover from the war. The colonists fought back and declared independence, creating a country called the United States of America. After creating the nation in 1776 and the Constitution 11 years later, the United States started to expand. They went past the Appalacian Mountains (which the Proclamation of 1763 prohibited), the Mississippi river, and the Rocky Mountains. More territories were seized to becoming land, and more states joined the Union over the years. Meanwhile, America has made a lot of progresses that improved daily lives.
Times have not always been great. A conflict over slavery, which has been in the colonies since the beginning, expanded in a nationwide war that torn the country apart. America has also destroyed the culture of the Native Americans, which have lived on the continent longer than the United States has, but wouldn’t welcome the immigrants from all over the world. There was also a stock market crash that started a 12-year economic depression, two world wars, a pandemic that killed millions of people, a pandemic that was mishandled and politicized, global concerns about nuclear fallouts, and a terrorist attack on US Soil that killed nearly 3,000 people. But America has survived all of that and has still remained to live up to this day.
As a land built on religious freedom and independence from a tyrannical monarchy, America established a constitution built on three different branches with a separation of powers. One branch made the laws, one branch holds the laws, and the other branch interprets the laws. They also created the Bill of Rights (which is made of 10 amendments) and many other amendments that followed (including good ones like the abolition of slavery and granting citizenship rights to anyone born or naturalized in the country, and bad ones like the ban on alcoholic beverages). But it also built its own culture years later, like how it became the land of cars, fast food, Hollywood, and professional sports.
Why America is the greatest nation in the world:
So what makes America better than other countries? Is it because there’s more freedom from the law? Let’s take a look at what America does better:
- It made significant number of progresses – as I said before, America was a major influencer among the world. After its independence from Britain, it has made a couple of progresses. Federalism, the shared power between the states and the federal government, was a unique idea brought by the United States. Another major progress was how much land it expanded across the country. Aside to buying the Louisiana territory from France and the Alaskan territory from Russia, there was a small battle consisting of 2,000 soldiers that lasted only 18 minutes. When America won that battle, they won a lot of area that consisted of 1/4 of the entire area of the Contiguous United States. This is in stark contrast of many kingdoms that fought for hundreds of years for a little piece of land. As I stated before, it also invented a lot of inventions, like the light bulb, the plow, the telephone, the air conditioner, the assembly line, the radio, the television, the computer, and the internet. It may not have been the first country to abolish slavery, but when it did, it not only ended it after a tough battle that nearly destroyed America, but it also granted citizenship rights to all people regardless of race and granted freed slaves the right to vote. Their involvement in World War I and World War II also helped the allied nations win the wars against the countries that started it and created an alliance that prevented world wars like this from happening.
- It has better food – if you have been watching videos and reading the news about what international tourists thought of American food during the 2026 World Cup, you can see that America does have better food. Sure their take on international cuisines isn’t authentic (think, Panda Express is American Chinese food, not real Chinese food), but it tastes better. They also got their own foods that people from all over the world like (especially the South, where Texas, Louisiana, and Florida come from). I could also say the same regarding other segments of US hospitality, like hotels, museums, and amusement parks, as well as the holiday celebrations (for instance, Halloween is a bigger deal in the United States than it is anywhere else).
- Education and Healthcare – on one hand, America is behind all developed nations regarding these two. Given the management and costs of healthcare and the poor test scores among education, America is in last place on this. At the same time, they also have better quality on some of the stuff in this field. Sure that they are behind on many health issues, when people do go to the hospital, the treatment is much better. For starters, they got the best cancer hospitals in the world. 30-day mortality rates after a heart attack or stroke are lower in America than in other countries. 5-year cancer survival rates for stage 4 cancers are higher in America than in other countries. And for as long as you’re insured or have the money, you can get treatment done quickly. Some people get scans and surgeries on the same day. In countries with universal healthcare, they would have to wait months to get treatment after the scans. If there’s any reason why we’re behind on healthcare, it’s because of lifestyle choices and economic inequality. As for the schools, there are many colleges within national borders that people from all over the world travel to. Some schools are better than other schools on certain fields.
- States and their identities – even though the United States is far from the only country that divides their nation into different states or provinces (I’m trying to learn more about Canada’s, Mexico’s, and Brazil’s states), the states don’t stand out as well compared to the country as a whole as the US states do. For instance, Louisiana may only have one New Orleans, but the influence New Orleans has was copied by other cities like Shreveport and Lake Charles. They like Cajun food and Mardi Gras too, it’s just not as ornate as New Orleans’. California has a cultural divide between Northern and Southern California. You may be in California no matter where you are in the state, but if you’re in the Bay Area, it does not feel like the same state as Los Angeles is. Nevada may only have one Las Vegas, but casinos are like everywhere in the state. And let’s not forget about Texas, which is patriotic towards their state and has a unique culture.
Problems with today’s America:
At the same time, we have to face the sad reality with what the United States has become. If you want to show true patriotism, you’ll have to acknowledge the flaws and accept criticism. Blind loyalty isn’t true loyalty.
First, let’s go over its standing compared to the rest of the developed world. As said before, it is behind the rest of the developed world (if not, the whole world), when it comes to education and healthcare. Healthcare debt has skyrocketed, insurance companies are getting greedy, and too many people couldn’t afford healthcare in America. Education has declined given the lack of funding and the restrictions on teaching of some subjects. America is also behind on train speeds, paid parental leave, paid vacation days, and incarceration. Not only that, but we still use the imperial measurement system, use the 12-hour clock and the month/day/year format, elect presidents through the electoral college and representatives through gerrymandering, and use the death penalty. How can you be the greatest in the world when you’re behind others.
Next, America has a long history of racism, given that we enslaved African Americans and kept them down with Jim Crow Laws and voting restrictions that exploit racial inequity, stole land from the Native Americans and destroyed their culture, did not welcome immigrants into our country and tried to deport them, and rounded up Japanese people and placed them in internment camps because of the Pearl Harbor bombing. But we have overlooked that when considering America to be the best because even though we learned that we wrong about all that, America still has done good with their successes and development. But after the election of Donald Trump and everything that followed, it is hard to overlook all that when considering if America is the best country in the world. We had a drive-in attack at Charlottesville, multiple protests against COVID lockdowns, attacks on the George Floyd protests, an attack on the US Capitol to overturn the 2020 Election, Kyle Rittenhouse’s acquittal, the overturning of Roe v. Wade, a viral video of someone shooting Bud Light cans in response to their endorsement of a transgender woman, the use of Canary Mission (a doxxing website) as attacks on protestors, ICE raids, and the shooting of a natural-born white American citizen done by an ICE agent. All of this has given people not to support the United States or to celebrate 4th of July. Even before Trump’s election, some people hate America because of the mass shootings, the police killings of African Americans in custody, the people being bothered by Obama’s presidency and his social progresses, the people being bothered by national anthem protests, and the War in Iraq. To be honest, Trump is not a good person, let alone, a good president. He has abused his power as president, made almost everything unaffordable, made outrageous comments that are beyond the point of sanity (like when he said that Rob Reiner died of “Trump Derangement Syndrome” or that some Democratic Congressmen should be executed for encouraging ICE officers not to enforce orders), encouraged persecution or outright persecuted transgender people, and started many ICE raids that rounded up people of Latino origin and pro-Palestinian activists. But part of the reason why America has become like this is a long, natural process of college becoming a requirement rather than a bonus, college getting too expensive, generational values, and job shortages.
We have also gone against the wishes of our founding fathers. George Washington warned against extreme polarization, foreign influences on domestic policy, and a high national debt. This is exactly what today’s America has. Our national debt has exceeded $30 trillion, both the Democrats and Republicans are divided within and beyond, and we let other countries influence elections, business decisions, and how people behave in public. George Washington also suggested being friendlier towards immigrants and opposed creating a special friendship with another country. This is the opposite of what Donald Trump wanted. He, as America’s president, has a strong friendship with Israel, and he tried doing everything to fight against immigration, such as ICE raids and overruling birthright citizenship. This is not to mention, we have a much larger government with a king-like president, elected a twice-impeached, convicted felon who tried to overthrow the government as president, defied the Constitution in favor of ideological tribalism (with the MAGA tribe ruling above all), and a more dangerous Judicial Branch. If the founding fathers find this out, they will be rolling over their graves.
I would also like to mention that Americans have taken freedom too seriously that it’s doing more harm than good. The first amendment doesn’t grant you the right to say anything you want anywhere you want at any time without consequence. It only says that you have the right to free speech without getting in trouble with the law. But people these days have invoked it to publicly air their hateful rhetoric and to defend rude behavior. Granted, I do not support the people who try to inhibit free speech in support of their emotional needs. The people living in “safe spaces” on college campuses and online have a false sense of safety, given that they formed this to hide from language they don’t want to hear, not hide from actual safety threats. Social justice warriors aren’t looking after marginalized groups when censoring average everyday words and phrases to minimize offensiveness; they’re looking after themselves. But the freedom of speech doesn’t mean you can act like a jerk. The second amendment gives you the right to own guns, not to shoot. A complete ban on firearm possession will violate the second amendment, but background checks, bans on some guns, and restrictions on gun ownership won’t violate the second amendment. Opponents of gun control have been accusing gun control of violating the second amendment and supporting communism, even though they were to prevent psychopaths and hate-filled people from easy access of gun possession, not to have control over the country. As for capitalism, it’s true that capitalism helped NATO win the Cold War and that communism has done a lot of damage. While capitalism encourages growth, production, and creation, a truly functional economy has some restrictions, and not just basic ones like reduction of pollution and bans on racial discrimination. You’ll need redistribution of wealth to get the economy running. Even Adam Smith, the founder of capitalism, wanted redistribution of wealth. The Reagan tax cuts, the reason why Ronald Reagan was popular was because he acknowledged the error. Donald Trump didn’t do that. If you want to know the truth about freedom, there’s a clear difference between true freedom and absolute freedom. True freedom isn’t just the right to do what you want, but also the right to life, safety, liberty, and comfort. Absolute freedom isn’t even freedom at all. It’s license, which is the right to do anything you want anywhere at any time. Those who invoke “freedom” to say or do what they want aren’t even looking for freedom, but rather anarchy. That’s what’s wrong with today’s America. Too many people have taken freedom so seriously that they want license instead of freedom.
It’s pretty sad to see that this is what America has become 250 years later. We have become a land ruled by MAGA lunatics who defied the founding fathers’ vision, who took freedom too seriously, and refused to improve the quality of life.
Conclusion:
So America is now 250 years old. If we can resolve the problems while preserving the strengths, we can have America live another 250 years from now. Happy 250th Anniversary!
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