Did Americans have anything to celebrate on Independence Day?

The Fourth of July is typically a day for Americans to celebrate the foundation of the nation's democracy. Still, some find it hard to be jovial this year amid a spate of Supreme Court decisions that appear to undermine those ideals. For many, it was too hard to get in the spirit of the holiday when it appeared that many of our fundamental freedoms could be at risk.

Gallup poll results released in late June indicated that less than 4 in 10 adults describe themselves as "extremely proud" to be American, continuing to maintain "last year's record low and down from about 7 in 10 two decades ago," The Washington Post reported. In today's increasingly polarized political climate and with patriotism on the decline, was there anything worth celebrating on Independence Day?

Americans need both "reckoning and celebration"

This year, the Fourth of July brought an "uneasy political divide into focus," Cristina Beltrán wrote at Politico. The U.S. is split between those who believe the nation "requires a reckoning and those demanding only celebrations." Progressives might be more comfortable with "highlighting hypocrisy than extolling the aspects of American life that make us proud," but only focusing on the negatives makes it easier for conservatives to "caricature our beliefs and commitments." The nation needs "something richer than patriotism" and "more than righteous indignation and anxious disavowal," Beltrán opined. "As a people, we need reckoning and celebration."

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Esau McCaulley agreed that "uncritical celebration is a limited and false definition of patriotism" in The New York Times. Instead of succumbing to pressure to "put our complaints aside" for Independence Day, "recounting the full story of America and asking it to be better than it is can be an expression of love," McCaulley suggested. "I don't think we have to be proud of everything this country has done to be proud of our progress despite unrelenting opposition."

There was "much to celebrate" on the Fourth of July

For one, Independence Day is a time to celebrate the country's "proven capacity for renewal and self-improvement," The Washington Post editorial board wrote. Our country's system of democracy has been maintained by "its ability to correct and recalibrate." While people might say, "things have never been this bad," that belief is "as historically myopic as it is objectively wrong" because "by almost every metric, the United States is better off than 200 — or even 20 — years ago," the board contends. "Despite the corrosiveness of self-doubt and political tribalism, there is much to celebrate." Our values have "matured and endured," and while the U.S. is "still far from perfect," the Post's editorial board still believes " it's an experiment worth pursuing."

In the wake of a spate of contentions Supreme Court decisions, it had admittedly been a "grim week or so in the United States" leading up to the holiday, Margaret Sullivan acknowledged in The Guardian. But there are still "reasons to feel encouraged about the future of the nation," such as the Electoral Count Act reform, a "successful effort in Congress to protect democracy and electoral integrity." The criminal prosecution of the Jan. 6 insurrectionists is "heartening as well" because it shows that to "some degree, the democratic guardrails are holding and the rule of law prevailing."