{"id":19222,"date":"2026-07-01T12:01:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T12:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=19222"},"modified":"2026-07-01T12:01:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T12:01:30","slug":"americans-step-out-for-their-nations-250th-in-a-proud-moment-sown-with-division-and-doubt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=19222","title":{"rendered":"Americans step out for their nation\u2019s 250th in a proud moment sown with division and doubt"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By CALVIN WOODWARD<\/strong><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 One of the stars of the American firmament once advised citizens of all stripes how to express their love of country. Mark Twain\u2019s long-ago words capture how Americans are stepping out this week to wish their nation a happy milestone birthday.<\/p>\n

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\u201cOur patriotism is medieval, outworn, obsolete,\u201d Twain wrote in 1905. \u201cThe modern patriotism, the true patriotism, the only rational patriotism, is loyalty to the Nation all the time, loyalty to the Government when it deserves it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In these rabidly partisan times, those who think President Donald Trump deserves their support and those who don\u2019t are joining in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Whether all the partying to come gives the nation a breather from disunity or aggravates it is an open question.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a proud and loud moment, sown with division and doubt.<\/p>\n

Love of country comes in different flavors, of course. Some love it as is. Some love what it could become and press on with their activism and protest in pursuit of history\u2019s call for a \u201cmore perfect union.\u201d Some love what it used to be and might be once more \u2014 the underpinning of MAGA.<\/p>\n

But overall, belief in American exceptionalism has waned. More people in the U.S. think there are better countries in the world than those who think the United States is the best. That\u2019s according to an April poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research that found 44% endorsing the United States as just one of the best.<\/p>\n

This is not the America of, say, Teddy Roosevelt, whose presidential library Trump is visiting in North Dakota on Wednesday. Roosevelt mirrored the brashness and ambition of a country surging in innovation, industry, influence, military muscle and spirit.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

In its place is a country where the president is his own brand of brash, but millions of the people he leads wonder if it\u2019s all coming apart.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s in charge here?<\/h4>\n

For the 250th, the division starts at the top, with two organizations claiming to be the one leading the commemoration and all but ignoring the other.<\/p>\n

A decade ago, Congress created the bipartisan America250 group and charged it by law with planning the country\u2019s local, national and international events for the 250th. Trump stepped on that with an executive order making his Freedom 250 group \u201cthe\u201d national organization in charge.<\/p>\n

Marquee events like the Fourth of July fireworks at the National Mall, the parade of tall ships in New York and the Great American State Fair along the National Mall are the province of Trump\u2019s Freedom 250. Musical stars who had been lined up for the splashy opener of the fair last week withdrew, concerned Trump, a Republican, would make the festivities political and very much about him.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

He stepped forward to fill the void, declaring himself the \u201cNo. 1 attraction,\u201d and he delivered a speech there June 24 on American glory and his achievements. He\u2019ll headline the official July Fourth events in the capital as well, for what he called \u201cthe most spectacular TRUMP RALLY of them all.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Poems, art and a message in a bottle go underground for 250 years<\/h4>\n

America250, meantime, put together America\u2019s Block Party \u2014 a series scheduled simultaneously around the country anchored by a Fourth of July benefit concert in Los Angeles hosted by Queen Latifa, with Chris Stapleton and the Smashing Pumpkins among the acts.<\/p>\n

By congressional mandate, America250 also sank a 900-pound time capsule in Philadelphia with items from all states and branches of government, to be pried open in 250 years.<\/p>\n

The people of 2276 will then see a major league baseball lineup from 2026, poems from Alabama, Illinois, Kentucky and more, postcards from Colorado and Maine, beaded artwork from Montana, an Oklahoma belt buckle, a message in a vintage Coco-Cola bottle, a pocket Constitution signed by the U.S. justices, a George Washington Lord\u2019s Prayer gold medal from Utah given out at the Wedding of the Rails event celebrating completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, and more.<\/p>\n

In Philadelphia, where the founders signed the declaration and birthed the nation, 250 people will form the contours of the Liberty Bell in a parade with 50 marching bands and Miss America delegates, formerly called contestants, representing every state.<\/p>\n

Ain\u2019t that America: Celebrations sprout from the grassroots, too<\/h4>\n

Though there are official events galore, it\u2019s not as if Americans, of all people, need the government to show them a good time.<\/p>\n

In one of thousands of gatherings under the national radar, Evans, Pennsylvania, will hear the Circle of Friends Choir perform patriotic songs a cappella in an event also featuring a patriotic trivia contest and a barbershop quartet.<\/p>\n

In Pocatello, Idaho, drag queens organized a reading of patriotic picture books for young people, including the story of Katharine Lee Bates. Bates returned from the Colorado Rockies, where the spacious skies, purple mountain majesties and fruited plains inspired her to write the poem that became \u201cAmerica the Beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twain, the scold and satirist of American government and of imperialism, shared Bates\u2019 love of his country\u2019s natural beauty. He loved the nature of its people, too \u2014 sometimes. \u201cWe glorious Americans will occasionally astonish the God that created us,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

But a century before Make America Great Again grabbed the political zeitgeist by the lapels, he was speaking of good old days lost.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are called the nation of inventors,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we are. We could still claim that title and wear its loftiest honors if we had stopped with the first thing we ever invented, which was human liberty.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Thousands of America 250 events are unfolding in every corner of the country. But tears in the national fabric are seen everywhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-based-on-facts-either-observed-and-verified-directly-by-the-reporter-or-reported-and-verified-from-knowledgeable-sources","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nAmericans step out for their nation\u2019s 250th in a proud moment sown with division and doubt - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=19222\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Americans step out for their nation\u2019s 250th in a proud moment sown with division and doubt - Silicon Valley Moving Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thousands of America 250 events are unfolding in every corner of the country. 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