July 4, 2026

By Arthur H. Gunther III

thecolumnrule.com

Look behind you.

Why are you here on this Fourth of July 2026, 250 years since the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia?

Look behind you. There, living in the repository of history are Native Americans, slaves, immigrant ancestors who worked their way up, sacrificed and built the nation and our families, veterans, child laborers, women and others who have been without rights, achieving industrialists and other business people who improved quality of life but others of greed not willing to pay it forward; and, yes, the enlightened among leaders as well as the losers.

You are here because they were there in the American Experiment, one adopted with hope but also with trepidation 250 years ago.They made history that was good, sometimes very good, and bad, sometimes very bad. The experiment continued, and you are here.

Now look in front of you and envision toddlers, pre-teens, teens and high school and college graduates who will take the reins of the flawed but at times improved America. We are to hand them the baton, charging them with continuing the founders’ march, the American Experiment. But only if, as Benjamin Franklin warned, we “can keep” the democratic republic. As he put it in a 1787 letter, “only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.”

Virtue is the moral fabric of a people, a nation. In our 250 years, we have sown strength into the fabric through changes pushed in part by empathy and humanity in our unique experiment but also torn the fabric asunder, as in slavery, the Civil War, child labor and the denial of rights for women, for minorities, for immigrants, legal and illegal. We continue even now in offensive action.

Today in America, on this July 4th, we must shout above tyranny once again, as in 1776. Strong-armed federal agents supported by “leaders” with a controlling agenda roughly round-up illegal immigrants who should be in court on civil violations, not held without due process in degrading, unhealthy detention, separated from family.

For many in America, healthcare is not affordable; home ownership is increasingly unachievable; higher education is expensive and does not lead to enough jobs; meaningful, properly paid work is impossible to find in many communities; food costs rise and rise; veterans and the homeless are neglected; children are shot and killed in rough neighborhoods; companies and a hijacked government ignore climate change; private equity exceeds the definition of greed; lobbyists infest politics; CEOs earn obscene salaries and trickle down no coins at all.

On our 250th, we cannot celebrate the Fourth of July in the usual way with the nation now at precipice, with the people’s needs neglected, the rich richer, the future for our young as uncertain as is the country’s. This is wrong; the moral fabric has more holes.

It is 1776 deja vu. This time the oppressors are not royalty and Parliament; the oppressors are self-serving “leaders” covering truth with lies made out of whole cloth, who spread falsehood meant to divide, who quash empathy and humanity on a march toward fascism and greed to make us all serfs sweeping the company store.

Is the American Experiment to continue? Absolutely, but as in 1776, we must again recognize the enemy. Shout above the evil ones. Speak out. Vote. Be proud of what good has been achieved in 250 years but, for our future, especially for the young, repair the moral fabric. Roust the bad leaders and elect those who will continue our march of progress in the American Experiment. We are way better than this awful moment. It is up to us, We the People.

The writer is a retired newspaperman.

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