By Ande Jacobson
July 4, 2025. This day marks the 249th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America as stated in the Declaration of Independence. That declaration was revolutionary at the time stating that people had the right to self-governance and didn’t have to cater to the whims of a king.
I’ve long had a complicated relationship with this particular holiday, and this year it’s even more so. On the one hand, as a musician I enjoyed the music that was prevalent on this American holiday as I used to play in a variety of community bands. I no longer perform, but I’ve been listening to a wide swath of American music on my favorite classical radio station throughout the day today.
I’ve never liked the fireworks displays of the day because of my sensitive ears, so this holiday has also always posed a challenge for me once the sun went down and the relentless booms took over for hours. I wrote about that aspect of the holiday in an essay from 2023.
The history that the holiday represents is inspiring when considering how the nation was born. The fundamental tenets in self-governance, consent of the governed to their government being required for that government to be legitimate unlike the corrupt monarchy from which the colonists fled, and the overriding principle that we had unalienable rights that nobody could take away were revolutionary ideas at the time of the nation’s founding. As time went on, adult men (originally mostly white property owners) grew to eventually include all adults within the nation’s boundaries so that all persons were considered equal before the law in principle, at least as an ideal. We never quite reached that ideal in practice, but we were making strides toward it, and that was inspiring. What that ideal represented was that nobody was better than anyone else based on their appearance, gender, sexual orientation, culture, religion, work history, education, service status, wealth, position in society, citizenship, primary language, or any other identifiable characteristic. They were a person, and all persons had the same rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The Constitution is a living document that can and has been amended over time. Rights to vote or to serve in elected governmental positions required citizenship and residency, but basic rights applied to everyone.
The U.S. has never been perfect, but it was moving toward the laudable ideal of equality. Recently as the U.S. has become much more diverse, the pushback that has always been here reached a new level. There have always been some who didn’t think that everyone should be treated equally, as they believe that some people are better than others despite there being no credence to that position.
I’ve thought a lot about this. We all make some distinctions regarding who we choose to spend time with. For instance, we choose our friends based on common interests, proximity, general rapport, or myriad other reasons. For all of us, there are people we wouldn’t choose to spend time with, but that doesn’t mean that we are better than they are or that they deserve fewer rights than we enjoy. It just means that we don’t consider them a friend. Sadly, that’s not a universally held position, and in a democracy, everyone gets their say.
This year, on this solemn anniversary of our nation’s founding, we are facing challenges that almost nobody alive today has seen before. We are facing challenges threatening to eliminate the core of our democracy having elected an administration and congressional majority that doesn’t believe in the rights established by our founding documents. Instead, they believe that some people are better than others, and those others shouldn’t enjoy the same rights. Although this belief isn’t held by the majority of Americans, the current administration is taking steps to dismantle the foundations and institutions of our democracy piece by piece.
Through extremely unpopular legislation, those in power are creating the largest police force America has ever known specifically to wage war on migrants, whether they are documented or not. More than that, they are also prioritizing stripping citizenship from those who have been naturalized in numbers never seen before. While there have always been policies for denaturalization in extreme cases only, it’s never been used as a routine practice. This same legislation is also waging war on the poor for the benefit of the extremely wealthy by cutting our meager social safety net and making it far more difficult for those who need it most. Attacking the vulnerable in this way is never OK. For one thing, under the right circumstances any one of us could be vulnerable. That means that if any group is targeted, we are all in danger. Scary to think about to be sure.
Dark as things are right now, after reading numerous newsletters today, they offer some solace. One important message on this solemn day is that while we can and should not be happy with the U.S. right now, we have to remember that most of our time is still spent dealing with normal life. We spend time with friends and family. We do our work. We pursue our activities of interest, and in so doing, it is possible to be happy in the U.S. despite being horrified by what our government is currently doing. Yes, it’s important to speak out and to protect the vulnerable, but we don’t have to fight the political battles 24/7. We can and must recharge. We can and must remember what it is that we treasure and what’s worth standing up for.
Another positive note is that the future is not yet written. In our 249 year history, our nation has faced other challenges from the Civil War to the Robber Baron era to the Civil Rights fights of the 1950s and 1960s. We have to remember that there are far more people opposed to the current assault on our democracy than are for it. Together we can change the course of our future. Together we can maintain community of service and of action.
I haven’t explicitly celebrated Independence Day for several years now. In that, today is much like the last several Independence Days have been for me. I tend to get a bit contemplative thinking about where we are in time. This year is different though given the existential challenges that we face as a nation and especially as a democracy. Still, we can still make a difference. Together, we can get to the other side of this. We can determine how future generations will see this era. It’s up to us, all of us.
Happy Independence Day, 2025.
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