I spent about one year of my life in 1776. My time travel began on July 4 of 2020.

After listening to various voices on the left speak about blowing off the Fourth of July, tearing down statues of our Founding Fathers and sandblasting their names off schools and buildings, in effect canceling their very existence, I became quite alarmed. I have long believed that if our history is bad, we should condemn it and learn from it. If it is good, we should praise it and  build upon it. But we should never, ever cancel our shared American history.

From that belief and that year of my life came the book, “The 56 – Liberty Lessons from those who risked all to sign The Declaration of Independence.“

“History” itself has taught us over the centuries that those seeking to rewrite pasts of our past that they find objectionable are rarely, if ever, on the side of goodness and light. History, by its very definition, is unchangeable. All of its facts, joys and horrors should serve as guideposts for our future.

To be sure, the “victors” and totalitarians of the past who rewrote or reimagined history inspired the critical writings (and ever relevant warnings) of the likes of Victor Hugo, Ayn Rand and George Orwell — warnings that are mostly going unheeded today.

My childhood was one of massive dysfunction and poverty. By the time I was 17 years of age, I had been evicted from 34 homes. It was an existence that, counterintuitively, became a lasting blessing: with each eviction, I got to experience another part of America.

As a white child, I often lived in majority-Black housing projects in the inner cities. But I also ended up in the suburbs, in rural America and in farming towns. Each experience introduced me to the different communities that collectively made up the foundation of our nation.

Amid the continual turmoil of my childhood, one enduring memory from each of the new locations and communities I encountered stood out. No matter the political persuasion — gender, race, sexual orientation and faith — of the people I met, the Fourth of July was a day that united all in pride.

Not anymore.

All these years and decades later, I am not sure what the United States represents or what “unites” it. Today, it is much easier to envision the country we all inhabit as the “Siloed States of America” cratering from within via the toxic effects of hate, misinformation, and dark money.   

Part of my personal history was having the honor to witness true leaders, such as Sens. Bob Dole (R-Kan.), George McGovern (D-S.D.), and Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) debate together, laugh together and find consensus together.

Now, I am instead watching Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk get assassinated, knowing that hundreds of thousands of my fellow Americans loudly cheered that murder on or at least rationalized it. Moreover, multiple polls show an increasing number of Americans sanctioning the murder of political or business leaders they oppose.

Part of my personal history was working in the Pentagon with heroic men and women united in purpose, people who have sacrificed so much in service to our nation. I recently spoke with a special operations warrior who had been on multiple combat deployments. This man with two young children screamed into the abyss: “Are our leaders all part of the Uni-party? Do I tell my children I am risking my life for our values or for the personal power and profit of elites in and out of our nation?”

On the cusp of our country’s 250th anniversary, polls show an America increasingly, and quite possibly irrevocably, divided. A poll conducted by Fox News found that voters “remain attached to the country, even as a majority describe it in negative terms and many believe Americans are more divided by their values than united by them.” A poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 72 percent of Americans believe the U.S. is “heading in the wrong direction.”

Most shockingly, more than half of those under the age of 30 who responded to the survey said they believe “democracy isn’t essential to the country’s identity.” Let that sink in for a moment. More than half of those who will soon take control of the reins of our nation don’t believe democracy is essential. While chilling to me, there is no doubt that a U.S. under socialist or even communist governance is a growing aspiration for millions of our fellow citizens.

On the 250th anniversary of our republic, what is “united” about the United States of America?  The country I still love and the Founding Fathers I sought to defend in print are now despised by a large segment of our population.

As many wrestle with that growing reality, I wonder what the reaction of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams would be to the United States of 2026? Would their genius divine a path of promise to recapture their vision, or would their reasoned and pragmatic thinking determine that their noble dream had finally run its course? 

Happy Fourth of July.

Douglas MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official.

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