06/14/2026
America’s 250th birthday is more than fireworks, flags, and a day off work. To me, July 4th is also the birthday of American self-government.
The words in the Declaration of Independence have always stood out to me: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…”
That phrase is often discussed today through the lens of race, and that discussion is part of our history, but I also believe those words reached even deeper into the society Colonial America. They challenged the old idea that some people were born to rule, while others were born to be ruled. All men are created equal.
In Colonial America, the playing field was not level. Political power was often tied to property, wealth, family status, gender, race, and legal privilege. The modern belief that “any American can grow up to be president” was not how the world worked for most people at that time. There was no established "middle class" then. Most of the nation was agricultural and uneducated where the dream of a better future meant a new pair of shoes in the next year or two.
The Declaration did not make America perfect overnight. It did not immediately give every person equal rights, equal opportunity, or an equal voice. But it planted a principle powerful enough to outgrow the limits of the generation that wrote it. Government does not get its authority from kings, titles, wealth, or family names. Government gets its just power from the consent of the governed.
That is the American promise.
So as we celebrate 250 years, I hope we remember that Independence Day is not only about breaking away from Great Britain. It is about the beginning of a new idea: that ordinary citizens have both the right and the responsibility to govern themselves. That means paying attention. It means learning how our government works. It means speaking up respectfully, voting, showing up, asking questions, and holding public officials accountable without losing sight of the common good. The Common Good.
America’s 250th birthday should remind us that self-government is not something we inherited once and get to keep automatically. It is something each generation must understand, protect, and practice.
Happy 250th birthday, America and the American principles of self-government.
And happy birthday to the idea that “We the People” are not spectators in government — we are the source of its authority.
