Back in July 1976, the American Bicentennial, I was 12 years old and at that point had heard quite a bit about what the country was celebrating for over a year. Like most kids of the era, we were first taught in public school (in my case, Mason County Central Elementary) about the revolutionary period in fifth grade, mostly romanticized overviews, but during this period it greased the gears in my head for looking into what the upcoming big deal was all about. By the time 1976's Independence Day had come and passed, I was quite learned on the American Revolution and quite appreciative of the efforts that became the genesis of America.
Now comes July 2026, with the much less friendly-sounding names of semiquincentennial, or sestercentennial, or quarter-millenial, leading to most calling it a 250th birthday. I'm now 62 years old, a bit more wizened and cynical, but still cognizant of the lessons learned around 1976 and still firmly grounded in the patriotism I felt then. The patriotism I felt back then manifests itself to this day in going back to school (if only at school board meeting), city halls, and town halls and expressing my views when applicable on the public body's failures or successes in fulfilling their duties to the people. Then faithfully journalizing those encounters, often rationalizing my perspective with the wisdom of the founding fathers who got everything started and kept it rolling with a Constitution almost as old as the country.
Thus, I have some credentials to be able to make a potentially-fair comparison and contrast of the two national birthdays, limited by the inability of 62-year-old me to completely remember the mindset of twelve-year-old me. It's an exercise that won't be too influenced by my overall political beliefs, as I have never wavered too far from my corelibertarianbeliefs, nor my inclination to generally favor Republican values over Democrat values when restricted to a binary choice. I invite others who have experienced both 'birthdays' to comment from their own perspectives, as I'm sure my views are not universal.
It should be noted that America's big birthdays have always been eventful. The 50th anniversary dropped on July 4, 1826, had massive celebrations but also the deaths on that day of founders Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, whose son John Quincy Adams was the president at the time. Ulysses S. Grant and Calvin Coolidge would see that the centennial and 150th went smoothly during otherwise prosperous times for America. Oddly enough, if we consider that JQA was a northern Whig, a party who would eventually make up the first Republicans, and add on Gerald Ford and Donald Trump, every 50th year anniversary of the country would have Republicans sitting in the White House directing the national celebrations.
That didn't seem to matter too much back in 1976, with President Ford saddled with stagflation and an unpopular pardon of his predecessor signaling that he was likely to lose that office. A cold war with the USSR, a communist juggernaut looking to expand its influence was always in the background. Nevertheless, during this time one could see signs of the bicentennial on the few TV channels they could view, on the coins in their pockets, on the stamps they saw on their mail, on the magazines and newspapers they purchased, on the lesson plans of our schools, always showed support of our shared heritage, even had your own ancestors been elsewhere during that colonial time (as mine were).
There was absolutely nothing partisan about the heavily nationalistic feelings of the time, nor was there much debate as to why America was a great country and that it had been for 200 years, despite some of the difficulties which had been mostly overcome because they had been determined to be against the overall sensibilities of American ideals. The bicentennial brought together a nation divided very recently by an ugly foreign war and a scandal that toppled a president, we were unified by a national pride that defied our differences in gender, party, race, status, etc.
Let's move to 2026 and note that I've changed from being an idealistic boy wonder to an idealistic citizen activist-journalist, but my core values are fairly solid for both. My own critics would fault me for unduly critiquing the policies and actions of public bodies and officials, I would fault them for not fully understanding the underlying corruption and hidden motives that leads to the degradation of our country's values in local politics. Here's what I observe.
Back in 2024 it was obvious that a significant portion of our electorate were moving away from celebrating our American heritage and going the opposite direction, it's a big reason why I could not back them. We see it manifested in the 2026 poll shown above where one political party remained stalwart in being proud of their country, the other dropping from 85% to 29% in a matter of 25 years of having their minds manipulated by institutions which indoctrinate people to question what America was founded upon and glorify ideals that have historically failed.
These have become the same people who do not see the irony in hoisting a "No Kings" sign in front of the courthouse to refer to the current president who won both the electoral and popular vote in 2024, but not raise those same signs in the 250th birthday celebration where dozens of patriots risked their lives to sign a "No Kings" declaration of the colonist's independence from King George III, nor in front of the White House earlier this year when England's king visited President Trump.
Trump himself has been fairly successful in the 250th celebrations taking part over the last year in various events to commemorate the occasion, despite inheriting a bureaucracy that seemed reluctant to do so-- which is why this time the celebration hasn't inundated the populace as it had in 1976. There actually is a lot more material available now, but you can't just passively find it, especially if your only engagement online and on TV are the numerous places where America is not seen in a favorable light.
And while the USSR has dissolved since 1976 leading to the end of the cold war, communism has had a revival on our own mainland, as has become evident since 2024 with the insurgency of those ideals being well received by that same party with little pride in their country. I saw in real time a speech delivered by Mayor Mamdani of New York on July 3, who won his position by espousing communist ideals under the veil of Democratic Socialism.
For the indoctrinated, this may seem like a reasonable communication about Independence Day, but it looks more like a hostage video from my viewpoint, with the emotionless hostages in the background and Mamdani trying to suggest that what he is saying is consistent with common morality and American idealism rather than him seeking some political capital. One can compare and contrast that with President Trump's later comments that night made in the heart of America at Mount Rushmore lasting about the same amount of time and commencing with a fireworks show, with cheering and improvisation throughout the speech:
He would say: "Communism is a mortal threat to American liberty.", a statement that would not be disputed back in the days of 1976, nor was there any historical precedent ever that would refute the claim. Today, there is a significant portion of us who would hear the Call of the Lorelei in the New York's mayor's words, and they may come to learn some day that they were led to their doom in the Hudson River. Most of those same people would automatically reject any words uttered by our duly elected president, even if they were irrefutable, such is the limitation of their reasoning.
The challenges we face in 2026 are closer than what we had in 1976, the doubts of our proud heritage are growing among a segment of the population, but rather than abandon what we did in this grand experiment of nation-building, we should embrace our American heritage and American culture, and not accept anything that would lead us away from our liberties and freedoms, and our expectations in government offices for them to be accountable and transparent in assuring those rights of the people listed in our Constitution and fought for in our Revolutionary War.
A Personal Review of Two National Birthdays
by XLFD
Jul 6
Back in July 1976, the American Bicentennial, I was 12 years old and at that point had heard quite a bit about what the country was celebrating for over a year. Like most kids of the era, we were first taught in public school (in my case, Mason County Central Elementary) about the revolutionary period in fifth grade, mostly romanticized overviews, but during this period it greased the gears in my head for looking into what the upcoming big deal was all about. By the time 1976's Independence Day had come and passed, I was quite learned on the American Revolution and quite appreciative of the efforts that became the genesis of America.
Now comes July 2026, with the much less friendly-sounding names of semiquincentennial, or sestercentennial, or quarter-millenial, leading to most calling it a 250th birthday. I'm now 62 years old, a bit more wizened and cynical, but still cognizant of the lessons learned around 1976 and still firmly grounded in the patriotism I felt then. The patriotism I felt back then manifests itself to this day in going back to school (if only at school board meeting), city halls, and town halls and expressing my views when applicable on the public body's failures or successes in fulfilling their duties to the people. Then faithfully journalizing those encounters, often rationalizing my perspective with the wisdom of the founding fathers who got everything started and kept it rolling with a Constitution almost as old as the country.
Thus, I have some credentials to be able to make a potentially-fair comparison and contrast of the two national birthdays, limited by the inability of 62-year-old me to completely remember the mindset of twelve-year-old me. It's an exercise that won't be too influenced by my overall political beliefs, as I have never wavered too far from my core libertarian beliefs, nor my inclination to generally favor Republican values over Democrat values when restricted to a binary choice. I invite others who have experienced both 'birthdays' to comment from their own perspectives, as I'm sure my views are not universal.
It should be noted that America's big birthdays have always been eventful. The 50th anniversary dropped on July 4, 1826, had massive celebrations but also the deaths on that day of founders Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, whose son John Quincy Adams was the president at the time. Ulysses S. Grant and Calvin Coolidge would see that the centennial and 150th went smoothly during otherwise prosperous times for America. Oddly enough, if we consider that JQA was a northern Whig, a party who would eventually make up the first Republicans, and add on Gerald Ford and Donald Trump, every 50th year anniversary of the country would have Republicans sitting in the White House directing the national celebrations.
That didn't seem to matter too much back in 1976, with President Ford saddled with stagflation and an unpopular pardon of his predecessor signaling that he was likely to lose that office. A cold war with the USSR, a communist juggernaut looking to expand its influence was always in the background. Nevertheless, during this time one could see signs of the bicentennial on the few TV channels they could view, on the coins in their pockets, on the stamps they saw on their mail, on the magazines and newspapers they purchased, on the lesson plans of our schools, always showed support of our shared heritage, even had your own ancestors been elsewhere during that colonial time (as mine were).
There was absolutely nothing partisan about the heavily nationalistic feelings of the time, nor was there much debate as to why America was a great country and that it had been for 200 years, despite some of the difficulties which had been mostly overcome because they had been determined to be against the overall sensibilities of American ideals. The bicentennial brought together a nation divided very recently by an ugly foreign war and a scandal that toppled a president, we were unified by a national pride that defied our differences in gender, party, race, status, etc.
Let's move to 2026 and note that I've changed from being an idealistic boy wonder to an idealistic citizen activist-journalist, but my core values are fairly solid for both. My own critics would fault me for unduly critiquing the policies and actions of public bodies and officials, I would fault them for not fully understanding the underlying corruption and hidden motives that leads to the degradation of our country's values in local politics. Here's what I observe.
Back in 2024 it was obvious that a significant portion of our electorate were moving away from celebrating our American heritage and going the opposite direction, it's a big reason why I could not back them. We see it manifested in the 2026 poll shown above where one political party remained stalwart in being proud of their country, the other dropping from 85% to 29% in a matter of 25 years of having their minds manipulated by institutions which indoctrinate people to question what America was founded upon and glorify ideals that have historically failed.
These have become the same people who do not see the irony in hoisting a "No Kings" sign in front of the courthouse to refer to the current president who won both the electoral and popular vote in 2024, but not raise those same signs in the 250th birthday celebration where dozens of patriots risked their lives to sign a "No Kings" declaration of the colonist's independence from King George III, nor in front of the White House earlier this year when England's king visited President Trump.
Trump himself has been fairly successful in the 250th celebrations taking part over the last year in various events to commemorate the occasion, despite inheriting a bureaucracy that seemed reluctant to do so-- which is why this time the celebration hasn't inundated the populace as it had in 1976. There actually is a lot more material available now, but you can't just passively find it, especially if your only engagement online and on TV are the numerous places where America is not seen in a favorable light.
And while the USSR has dissolved since 1976 leading to the end of the cold war, communism has had a revival on our own mainland, as has become evident since 2024 with the insurgency of those ideals being well received by that same party with little pride in their country. I saw in real time a speech delivered by Mayor Mamdani of New York on July 3, who won his position by espousing communist ideals under the veil of Democratic Socialism.
For the indoctrinated, this may seem like a reasonable communication about Independence Day, but it looks more like a hostage video from my viewpoint, with the emotionless hostages in the background and Mamdani trying to suggest that what he is saying is consistent with common morality and American idealism rather than him seeking some political capital. One can compare and contrast that with President Trump's later comments that night made in the heart of America at Mount Rushmore lasting about the same amount of time and commencing with a fireworks show, with cheering and improvisation throughout the speech:
He would say: "Communism is a mortal threat to American liberty.", a statement that would not be disputed back in the days of 1976, nor was there any historical precedent ever that would refute the claim. Today, there is a significant portion of us who would hear the Call of the Lorelei in the New York's mayor's words, and they may come to learn some day that they were led to their doom in the Hudson River. Most of those same people would automatically reject any words uttered by our duly elected president, even if they were irrefutable, such is the limitation of their reasoning.
The challenges we face in 2026 are closer than what we had in 1976, the doubts of our proud heritage are growing among a segment of the population, but rather than abandon what we did in this grand experiment of nation-building, we should embrace our American heritage and American culture, and not accept anything that would lead us away from our liberties and freedoms, and our expectations in government offices for them to be accountable and transparent in assuring those rights of the people listed in our Constitution and fought for in our Revolutionary War.