In a couple of weeks, millions of self-proclaimed patriots will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The celebration will be epic, and I can’t imagine a more American scene than prolific fireworks, emergency rooms full of people with missing fingers, and outrage at high medical bills from our for-profit healthcare system. Not to mention the cage match taking place on the White House lawn, with tickets going for the low, low price of our collective dignity. While MAGA pushes back on the idea that Trump is a king or an emperor or a dictator, it is interesting that the capital city of the nation is hosting a gladiator match for Trump’s amusement. At the very least, we should be glad that Trump is celebrating Pride month in his own way, by having a bunch of half-naked, greased-up beefcakes wrestling in his backyard.
This July 4, millions of people will loudly proclaim that the United States is the greatest country on Earth, one absolutely brimming with freedom and democracy. The evidence for our supposed greatness is lacking, as are our freedom and democracy, yet if one were to point this out, they would be labeled a traitor and un-American.
The politicians in charge of our democracy are doing everything they can to stop us from participating in it by voting, and oftentimes succeeding. Donald Trump’s executive order from March 31 requires states to submit detailed lists of voters who utilize mail-in ballots, and those states that do not comply could see the delivery of mail-in ballots blocked. Since more than 48 million people voted by mail in the 2024 presidential election, the stakes are high. With 23 Democrat-led states and Washington, D.C., already suing, the entire voting system could be upended by the November midterms.
While it is a blatant attempt at a federal takeover of the elections, Trump explains away his power grab by repeatedly claiming that he is merely providing security over our elections and upholding the sanctity of our democracy. The constant lies about rampant voter fraud have backed Trump into a corner, so much so that when pressed by Kristen Welker on Meet the Press to provide evidence of his claims of voter fraud in California, he walked out. Trump’s response when pressed for evidence was, “All I have to do is look, and I listen.” After Welker responded correctly, “That’s not evidence,” Trump threw a tantrum and stormed off. One of the frequent arguments against having a woman president is that they are “too emotional,” and Trump constantly provides vital context to that very misogynistic statement.
Since Donald Trump’s first term, he has governed on the principle of “taking back America,” whatever that means. MAGA has been instructed to reclaim patriotism, and they assume it was theirs to begin with. But what are they reclaiming, and what is Trump promising to take America back to? The era of the robber barons, it would seem. There is a mythology surrounding the rise of the United States, and every Fourth of July, that mythology is resurrected. The words of the founding fathers are regarded with reverence by many, while the reality of their deeds is ignored. British author and abolitionist Thomas Day, writing in response to the publication of the Declaration of Independence, said, “If there be an object truly ridiculous in nature, it is an American patriot, signing resolutions of independency with one hand, and with the other brandishing a whip over his affrighted slaves.”
Sailing across the ocean to a strange, new world to escape tyranny, only to impose tyranny in that new world, is our history. The 1776 revolution was a bourgeois revolution. Our history is soaked in the blood, sweat, and tears of true patriots who fought not only for their own freedom but for the freedom of others. True patriots sought to expand freedom, not limit it, and the ones who fought were usually called radicals, dangerous, un-American, socialist, communist, criminals, etc. Then, when enough time has passed, those people are put in textbooks, and everyone pretends they were on board the whole time. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was hated during his life, and now, with enough time between his life and ours, we revere him.
To point to the dark pages in the chapters of our nation’s history is to be labeled un-American for your supposed betrayal. Criticism is not betrayal, of course, and the true betrayal would be to sugarcoat what our nation’s sordid leaders have done to oppress people (and continue to do so), or to ignore their misdeeds altogether. Criticism is patriotism, as is dissent, and the sooner we learn this, the better. There is no path forward as long as we refuse not only to acknowledge our past, but to reckon with it.
As we celebrate our nation’s Declaration of Independence and the democracy that came with it, we would be wise to remember that our history is full of people who did everything they could to ensure that large parts of the population could not participate in our democracy. Wealthy white landowners, terrified of ordinary people having too much power, did what they could to ensure they held onto that power. They continue to do so to this day. Women couldn’t vote, enslaved people were property, and the indigenous people were systematically exterminated. To ignore all of this would be a disservice to our history and a slap in the face to those who fought against the ruling classes for the rights we enjoy today.
The United States is now a manifested fever dream of what a child thinks a country should look like. If someone had gone back in time to 2015 and told me that Donald Trump would have wrestling matches and dirt bikes doing flips on the lawn of the White House, I would have believed them, for this is what the far-right has continued to push to make America: a parody of itself.
As with all op-eds published by People’s World, the views expressed here are those of the author.
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