Will 250 Years Mark the End of Our Democracy?

By Jessie Seigel / July 4, 2026

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed..."

Text of the unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united states of America

Today is the 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence. I value the ideals set out in that document. But given our current struggle to retrieve our democracy before Donald Trump and his cronies can complete their consolidation of dictatorial power, it is impossible to feel like celebrating with any cheer or lightness of heart.

My own celebration amounts to "not being in Washington, DC" for Trump's self-aggrandizing take-over of the day. And I only managed that because I suddenly needed to come to Michigan to see my brother through a complex hip replacement operation and into a rehabilitation center--which also leaves me, on this occasion, with only a few stray thoughts to contribute on the Fourth:

Apparently, a Gallup Poll has found that "national pride" is today splitting along party lines. Myself, I've never been proud to be an American--and I've also never been ashamed to be an American. I don't believe in pride. I do believe in principles. And among those are the pursuit of democratic ideals.

Nationalists operate on the premise "my country, right or wrong." They take false pride in their country by refusing to acknowledge its flaws and trying to exclude others from their club. They see the nation as exclusively their country, and no-one else's. Patriots, on the other hand, love their country. Part of that love is recognizing its flaws and criticizing in order to make it better. In the case of our country, it is the democratic ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution that go to the essence of what we as a nation should strive to be. The ideals expressed in those documents are precious to me.

Yesterday, while driving from one brother-related task to another, I heard some citizen interviewed on National Public Radio. She was expressing distress over our country's "division" and bemoaning that no-one wants to compromise. But the division we have now is necessary and appropriate. Compromise with autocracy, with racism, with xenophobia, with rampant corruption, with the trampling of every aspect of the rule of law--prizing so-called civility over principle and humanity--is what landed our democracy on its current destructive precipice. Anti-democratic forces do not now and never have been civil or negotiated compromise in good faith. They have traditionally wielded those terms as weapons, demanding that of their opposition while exhibiting none of it themselves.

To those sitting on a fence wringing their hands over division, I say: Pick a side, damn it. And if that side is for saving democracy, stand up. Speak up. And whatever else you do, this year, you damn well better VOTE. While you still can.

(This article was refined slightly on July 5th.)

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