Burt's Eye View: 250 years and counting

By Burt Ross · Sun Jul 19 2026

Our great country has now survived and flourished for a quarter of a millennium. This experiment in democracy is well worth celebrating with the very “Pomp and Parade … and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other…” that John Adams presciently predicted centuries ago. The United States was created with a simple declaration signed by 56 courageous men who were willing to risk their lives for our independence, and then forged with the blood of patriots who fought for over eight years to achieve that independence. A ragtime army of volunteers finally defeated the professional imperial forces of England, and our country was born.

Great thinkers at the time gathered in Philadelphia and drew up our Constitution, which, with only 27 amendments, has endured the test of time. Guaranteeing the fundamental rights of speech, assembly, worship, and the press, this document, with its separation of powers among three equal branches of government, and its checks and balances, has been the model for those people around the world who aspire to freedom.

America grew dramatically after its founding when it encompassed only 430,000 square miles for its roughly 2.5 million inhabitants. Through treaty, purchase, and downright land grabs, the United States has expanded to just shy of 4 million square miles today for its estimated population of 340 million.

Of course, our country, like all countries, has had its share of trials and tribulations. A house divided cannot stand, and yet after the most vicious war between our states, somehow our union persevered. Accepted by our founding fathers as a compromise to keep the 13 states together, our original sin of slavery was finally abolished. It took another 100 years for Congress to help lower the significant barriers that many people of color faced when trying to vote — 45 years after women got the right to vote in 1920.

After the Civil War, America thrived. We led the industrial revolution, and opened our doors to tens of millions of immigrants who sought refuge in our promised land. The Statue of Liberty erected in 1886 stood as a beacon of hope and freedom for the world’s downtrodden.

In the 20th century, the United States became what it is today — the strongest military power and the greatest economic engine the world has ever seen. We twice saved the world from fascism, and then again from communism, which (with the help of strong alliances) we have kept at bay since the end of World War II. Although our strength has been misused on a number of occasions, historically much of the world has benefited significantly as a result of our leadership.

And so let us all celebrate wholeheartedly what we have achieved, and give abundant thanks to those who over the past 250 years have risked their lives, and even made the ultimate sacrifice, to give us our great country.

The irony is that just as we are celebrating this landmark birthday, our very democracy is being threatened as never before, and not by foreign forces. The integrity of our elections is falsely maligned as a pretence to promote ways to once again make it more difficult to vote and for votes to be counted. Our chief executive literally encouraged an insurrection when he lost reelection in 2020, and the insurrectionists who were tried and convicted were ultimately pardoned by the very person who was indicted for inciting the insurrection in the first place.

For the first time in our history, dictators around the world are being treated more kindly than our allies, and alliances built over generations are being destroyed. Our vice president even went to Hungary to campaign for Europe’s most tyrannical leader, who then lost in a landslide. In the mind of this administration, communism no longer seems to be our adversary, and we refuse to help a democratic Ukraine survive against communist Russia.

What was once a haven for refugees now has a “not welcome” sign. The Statue of Liberty’s light has been turned off. Even those immigrants who have been here for decades and never charged with a crime are indiscriminately being rounded up and sent out of the country.

Civil service protections are being trampled upon, and loyalty to the president, not merit, is now the key to serving in our government. Our Secretary of War (formerly Defense) was a weekend host on Fox News, and a convicted felon who served years in a federal prison now serves as our Ambassador to France.

The three branches of government no longer seem to be equal. The president rules by fiat, edict, and threat, often announced on his social media platform. Congress has abdicated its constitutional role to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and to declare war. The president arbitrarily and unconstitutionally imposed tariffs on countries around the world, and bombed seven different countries in just the past 18 months, all without Congressional approval, and he has consistently attacked independent agencies of the government including the Federal Reserve.

The Supreme Court has also been mostly subservient to the executive. By limiting national injunctions against the president’s actions, allowing sweeping immunity for the chief executive, thoroughly gutting the Civil Rights Act, and permitting unprecedented presidential action via shadow docket emergency rulings, the court has significantly enhanced the power of the executive branch.

Even though our experiment in democracy has endured 250 years, we always need to be vigilant, especially when it is under attack. Thomas Jefferson put it succinctly, “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.” Let us also heed the words of Abraham Lincoln: “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedom, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

And so let us celebrate this landmark birthday while at the same time also remaining vigilant. Let us hope our unique form of democracy survives another 250 years!

POSTSCRIPT: I like to think I never make a mistake when writing a column. Were it so. My friends Jimy and Scott Tallal, discerning readers of my column, pointed out that in my column "250 Years and Counting," I mistakenly referred to the colonial army as "ragtime" when I meant "ragtag." Scott wrote me the following text, "Is it true that, during the Revolutionary war, the Ragtime Army really dragged a piano to provide background music for each of their battles?"