As we mark, acknowledge, and celebrate 249 years since the birth of the United States, it is right to recall that the Founding Fathers, those venerated figures we have turned into mythological beings, worshiped on currency and in the halls of education and power, wanted a white ethnostate. They opposed democracy, believed that Black people were inferior by nature, and held that only free white people should be citizens of the United States. The American Enlightenment didn’t betray liberty; it simply redefined it. They easily made peace with slavery because it was lucrative. Indigenous sovereignty was ignored when there was profitable land to be had. They were deathly afraid of inclusion. These were the flawed architects of this nation. They were not complicated men any more than those we encounter today. We have let time and romanticism bloom and cloud reality.
The plans they drafted, whether by design or neglect, still underpin the nation’s framework. Voter suppression, mass incarceration, economic disparity, and systemic exclusion aren’t anomalies; they’re inherited features of the original design. The distance between their intentions and our aspirations has always been wide, but engaged citizens have pushed to narrow that divide with determination, vision, and sacrifice.
Do not let the founders’ repugnant behavior take away from your pride in the creation of this great nation. To be an informed citizen and patriot, we must acknowledge the numerous ways we have—and continue to—fall short of our seemingly limitless potential. Remember, each generation since our founding has made extraordinary efforts to rectify, evolve, and improve the design of this awkward experiment. Sometimes these change orders have been begrudgingly adopted and pushed, pulled, or dragged us forward. At other times, the spiritual ancestors of the architects have resurfaced with their dogged and antiquated views, disregarding the shift in materials, the rising cost of resources, and the will of the people who keep them in power. Thus it has been, thus it will be, until more aspire toward a better future than despair at the prospects.
This has, and will again, take many uncomfortable and surprising forms. The answers and resolutions will not emerge from the screen of a movie, nor the pages of a book. The new heroes of a better America are those who are currently fearful yet determined, reticent yet resolved. They will not be found in capitals or behind a dais; they are in neighborhoods, factories, and fields. They are slurping matchas, walking dogs, raising awareness, and families. They are lone wolves with purpose and community leaders with passion. They are not yet visible, but for anyone with a soul, they are already felt.
The reckoning, truth, and reconciliation of a new America are not found in cowards who cheer exclusion, exploitation, and dehumanization. It is found in those who can honorably and vehemently disagree with the founding direction of this nation and hold a passionate love for it when it’s hurting. It is growing in the hearts, minds, and actions of those who resist regression and fight in all ways, big and small, for the promise of the American spirit we carry in our hearts and have yet to fully realize.
This is what evolved patriotism looks like: not blind reverence, but courageous accountability; not rewriting the past, but refusing to be constrained by it. To disagree with how this nation began is not to despise it; it is to love it enough to demand its potential be fulfilled.
That is what makes for a worthwhile tomorrow.