From Bicentennial to Sestercentennial

We’re now a little over two weeks until the 250th anniversary of our nation’s birth and the celebration seems muted. Instead of the fanfare and year-long lead-up to the 200th anniversary, this year seems like just another Fourth of July. It makes me sad for our country and wistful for the country of my youth.

In 1976, I was thirteen years old. The country spent a year preparing for the Bicentennial. Red, white, and blue was everywhere. Elton John’s song “Philadelphia Freedom” blared from speakers at almost every event. People painted cars, houses, and anything else they could find in the image of the American flag. We had coins specially minted to mark the occasion and commemorative license plates.

On television, Schoolhouse Rock gave us a year of civics lessons. They taught us about how a bill becomes law. They introduced the original “No Kings” episode. And they celebrated the Melting Pot that makes our country great.

In Wadesboro, where I grew up, many men grew beards. I’m not sure what that signified since most of the Founding Fathers were clean-shaven, but it was a thing. People also painted every fire hydrant in town to look like a person. Some were made to look like Revolutionary-era soldiers and others were firefighters, policemen, soldiers, or sailors. Again, I’m not exactly sure of the connection to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but they were interesting.

The Bicentennial celebration came on the heels of a remarkably contentious time in the country and people were looking for a way to come together. The Civil Rights Movement had moved our country forward and after a decade of violence and assassinations, the country accepted a new social structure that included African Americans. The Vietnam War was over. Nixon and Watergate were gone from the political stage. The year 1976 seemed to be about redemption and remembering what our country was about, even if the scars of the 1960s and early 1970s would stay with us longer than anyone imagined. It felt like a time of hope and renewal.

There’s been no lead-up to the 250th celebration. Instead, there’s been acrimony. Donald Trump has made our country angry and he’s made the celebration about him. He’s giving some sort of speech that only his cult following will watch. Those on the left side of the spectrum will find it offensive. Those on the right will pretend that he’s brilliant. We no longer have a unified picture of our country to celebrate.

The 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence won’t get the recognition it deserves. Lincoln considered the Declaration the foundational document of our country, more significant than the Constitution. The Declaration didn’t just separate us from England: it laid out a vision of a new kind of country. As Lincoln said at Gettysburg, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

And maybe that’s why we aren’t celebrating our 250th Independence Day the way we should. Trump and MAGA don’t agree with Lincoln’s expansive vision of America. They believe in a narrow place and want to protect a certain way of life for a particular people — those who look and believe like them. It’s a belittling view of a country that has offered so much to so many.

Lincoln concluded his speech by saying, “…[T]his nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” That’s the battle we have in front of us today — to protect democracy from despots. The stakes are so high. I hope we can celebrate again.