250

Happy Birthday, U.S.A.

I had planned a big blog post to celebrate America's 250th Independence Day, but I just wasn't feeling it. I'm depressed, more depressed than I have been in a while, and it isn't the kind of depression my meds can alleviate.

For most of my life, I took our country--our way of life--for granted. I was taught in school that the United States of America was the greatest and wealthiest nation in the world. We were the aspiration of most of the world. The people who didn't want to live here at least wanted to be like us. We were the nation other nations called on when they needed support in times of war, famine, and pestilence. We were the sober, sane, and protective big brother, the beacon of freedom, the model of international success. The "Great American Melting Pot." A nation of immigrants, where our founding fathers had given us a blueprint in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights that, for the most part, clearly outlined our path to enduring success as a nation.

There have been some major bumps in the road. We escaped an empire to become an empire, escaped subjugation to become a different (and more heinous) subjugator by way of "manifest destiny" and enslavement. The prejudices we escaped became the prejudices we embraced.

But for the most part, I still took the U.S.A. for granted. Freedom of speech, freedom to have your own religion (or none at all), separation of church and state, due process of law--all of the "rights" I had grown up being told were just part of living in the BEST NATION ON EARTH. I had white privilege (though I didn't think of it that way--before high school, I figured everyone lived that same way I did). A comfortable home, food enough, two parents with jobs, clothes on my back. In high school, I started to notice things I hadn't before, realized I had it better than a lot of people. But I was still self-centered enough to ignore most of what I couldn't see from my doorstep.

Over time, I woke up, became WOKE. Expanded my horizons. Recognized the inequities. I was comforted by any step our government took to fix those inequities around race, gender, and identity.

I didn't realize that that was only half the story, that a part of the U.S.A. was secretly seething under the weight of what they considered an affront to their life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Most of these people were the same as all Americans, but somehow they had decided that their life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness was somehow lessened by THE OTHER. Other races, other lifestyles, other genders, other religions. Everyone suffers adversity at times, but some people can't find a specific source for that adversity and choose to blame entire groups instead of doing the work it takes to overcome. They focus on immigration, "the gays," "the blacks," Somalis, Jews, Democrats, liberals, socialists, women. Any group they can attach a label to and convince others that their hate is everyone's hate--or if not, it should be, or else.

Enter the greatest threat to our democracy, our republic, the rule of law, our nation: Donald J Trump. A failed businessman, charlatan, liar, cheat, and pedophile. A convicted felon. A TV "reality show" host who (to quote his cult-members) "tells it like it is." He doesn't tell it like it is--he tells it like they want to hear it. And they lap it up, somehow convinced that, if it weren't for THE OTHER, they could somehow parlay their low-wage jobs and drug addictions into Biltmore mansions and Rolls Royces.

Meanwhile, Trump spends his time and our money replacing the nation's true history with a white-washed (pun intended) version that he and his cult find more palatable to their sensibilities, while simultaneously destroying The People's House, the national rule of law, and the U.S.A.'s standing in the world.

In his own life, my friend is working to remove "I hate..." from his vocabulary, replacing it with "it's not for me." I applaud that, and I'm trying to do the same. But, in this case, not only is Trump not for me, I hate him.

I love my country, but right now, with its current "leadership," I don't like it very much. I look forward to the day when the current regime is gone, when the nation can return to the hard work of providing life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all, not just the privileged few. It will be different--the hate that was hidden is in plain sight now, and it will be a long recovery. But this is the United States of America, and we the people--all of us--will prevail. Mahalo.

© 2026 Brian G Parker