Independence for Whom America?
What America Are You Really Celebrating This July 4th?
“To love America is not to idolize it, but to insist it lives up to its promises.”
Every year on the Fourth of July, millions gather to celebrate America with barbecues, fireworks, flags, and parades. The holiday conjures images of unity, patriotism, and shared national pride. But beneath the explosions of red, white, and blue, a quiet question grows louder in 2025: What exactly are we celebrating, and who benefits from the illusion of unity?
Because America is not just one thing. It never has been. It is a living contradiction, founded on liberty but rooted in slavery, aspiring toward justice while often serving injustice, projecting strength while masking deep internal fractures. This year, as we watch our democratic institutions erode, as truth itself becomes a political battleground, it is fair to ask: are we still celebrating the United States of America, or are we now just clinging to the symbols of freedom while sliding into a darker reality?
The Aspirational Republic
In 1776, the Declaration of Independence marked the birth of a new political experiment, a constitutional republic where power was meant to flow from the people upward, not from rulers downward. For all its shortcomings, it represented a bold leap in political thought. America was never perfect, but it was audacious. Its Constitution enshrined checks and balances, separation of powers, and protections for individual rights, even if those rights were initially denied to many.
The story of America has always been a struggle to close the gap between those founding ideals and lived reality. Abolition, suffrage, civil rights, marriage equality, labor rights, disability rights, and more, each generation has had to fight for more inclusion, more justice, and more accountability. That tension is the soul of the American story.
The republic at its best is a place of public debate, compromise, and participation. The promise has always been that each generation can inherit a more perfect union, but only if we work for it. Democracy demands attention. Apathy opens the door to tyranny.
The Erosion of Democracy
Today, those foundational principles are under siege. The signs of democratic backsliding are not subtle. Freedom House has downgraded America's democratic standing, citing attacks on free and fair elections, disinformation campaigns, and deepening polarization. The Economist's Democracy Index now classifies the United States as a "flawed democracy."
Voting rights are being systematically restricted in multiple states through gerrymandering, voter roll purges, and new laws aimed at limiting access to the ballot. The Supreme Court, once viewed as an impartial guardian of the Constitution, has become a partisan tool. Legislation that once protected civil liberties is being stripped away under the guise of religious freedom or public morality.
Disinformation has become its own economy. Cable news networks, social media influencers, and foreign bots churn out toxic content designed to divide and enrage. Many Americans are now living in alternate realities, disconnected from facts and immune to persuasion.
What we are seeing is not simply political disagreement, but an orchestrated effort to dismantle the very machinery of representative government. A minority is wielding disproportionate power to entrench itself, rejecting compromise, and demonizing dissent.
The Rise of Authoritarian Nationalism
Wrapped in patriotic rhetoric is a creeping authoritarianism. Book bans, loyalty pledges, forced nationalism in classrooms, and the criminalization of protest are not hallmarks of a confident democracy. They are symptoms of fear and control.
Christian nationalism is on the rise, attempting to merge government and religion in ways the Founders explicitly warned against. Rights for women, LGBTQ+ Americans, immigrants, and marginalized groups are under constant assault. Meanwhile, misinformation spreads freely, encouraged by bad-faith actors who benefit from chaos.
The normalization of political violence is another chilling development. From armed intimidation at polling places to attacks on lawmakers and public officials, the threat is not hypothetical. January 6 was not an anomaly. It was a test balloon.
This is not the America we claim to be. It is the shadow version, the America that celebrates power over principle, punishment over protection, and obedience over freedom.
Patriotism vs. Nationalism
We must separate patriotism from nationalism. True patriotism involves accountability. It demands that we ask hard questions, that we recognize injustice, and that we strive to make the country better. Nationalism, on the other hand, is a blind allegiance to symbols and myths, a refusal to admit wrong, and a tool for silencing opposition.
The people waving flags while banning books and rewriting history are not patriots. They are nationalists, and their movement is antithetical to the spirit of July 4th. To love America is not to idolize it, but to insist it lives up to its promises.
A patriot is someone who is willing to criticize their country precisely because they care about its future. That is a radical act in a time when conformity is rewarded and silence is safe.
A Time for Choosing
We are at a crossroads. The coming elections are not just political contests; they are existential tests. Will we continue on a path of democratic decline, or will we course-correct? Will we elevate leaders who defend truth, justice, and pluralism, or reward those who traffic in grievance, division, and lies?
This holiday is a moment to reflect, not retreat. It is a moment to remember that democracy is not self-sustaining. It requires participation, vigilance, and moral courage.
The question is not whether America is perfect. It never was. The question is whether we will continue to bend toward justice or break under the weight of authoritarian ambition.
You cannot celebrate freedom if you support policies that criminalize compassion. You cannot claim liberty while stripping it from others. And you cannot call yourself a patriot if you are more loyal to a party or a person than to the people and principles the country was founded to serve.
The Meaning of Independence
True independence means the ability to think critically, to challenge authority when necessary, and to protect the rights of others as fiercely as our own. It means building a nation where freedom is not a slogan, but a lived experience for all.
This July 4th, resist the temptation to celebrate uncritically. Instead, commit to the America that could be. Stand up for the republic, not the empire. Light fireworks with your family, but also light the fire of justice in your community. Speak out, show up, and refuse to normalize the slide into authoritarianism.
Because if we do not ask these questions now, one day we may wake up and realize we were not celebrating freedom at all, we were mourning its passing.
Further Reading:
On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder
How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? by Frederick Douglass