Nate Feltman: Perspective on America at 250

Anniversaries are not just occasions to celebrate the past but opportunities to take stock of the present and consider the future. At the 250th anniversary of America’s Declaration of Independence, that reflection feels especially necessary at a moment when many Americans seem uncertain about where our country is headed.

Just spend a few minutes on social media or cable news, and the national mood appears bleak. Spiraling national debt, political dysfunction, cultural division and institutional distrust dominate the conversation. Yet the United States remains the world’s largest and most dynamic economy. Americans enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the world. U.S. per-capita gross domestic product now exceeds $85,000 annually — almost double that of the European Union.

That success did not happen by accident. The ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence helped create a historically unique nation built on individual liberty, constitutional order and limited government. Imperfectly applied at times, those ideals unleashed extraordinary entrepreneurship, innovation and opportunity.

Ironically, one of the strongest reminders of that reality this summer has come from people who do not live here. As visitors have traveled to America for the World Cup, social media has filled with reactions that many Americans find surprising.

One Australian visitor said: “I feel like I’ve been lied to my entire life about America. If you log onto the news, everything is bad, terrible. It’s not. America is absolutely amazing.” A British visitor posted: “There is so much real culture here and friendly, down-to-earth people. … it genuinely shocked me.”

Visitors have marveled at things Americans barely notice anymore: the friendliness of strangers, the scale of our communities, the size of our houses, the abundance of everyday life and retail wonders called Walmart and Buc-ee’s. Certainly, some of these reactions are entertaining. But sometimes it takes outsiders to recognize what many of us take for granted.

Most Americans rarely pause to consider the many extraordinary aspects of American life. We have grown accustomed to a standard of living, level of convenience and degree of personal freedom that much of the world still finds remarkable. We often dismiss abundance because abundance has become normal.

While America is far from perfect, there is much to celebrate after 250 years that should fill all Americans’ hearts with a sense of patriotism this July Fourth. Patriotism does not require ignoring real problems. Our debt trajectory is concerning. Political tribalism is corrosive. There are and always will be serious challenges to address.

But perspective matters. That point was captured by commentator Bill Maher, who said: “The name of our country is America, not Utopia. And the appropriate comparison isn’t to the Eden that you might imagine. It’s to every other country on earth.”

As we celebrate America’s 250th birthday, we should remember that ours remains the most successful experiment in republican self-government in human history — not because we are flawless but because we were founded on enduring truths about liberty, human dignity and the proper limits of government.

Visitors discovering America this summer have delivered a reminder that despite our imperfections, the freedoms, prosperity, openness and optimism we often take for granted remain extraordinary by global standards.

There is no guarantee America’s best days remain ahead. But as America turns 250, we should be filled with gratitude and the determination to preserve what has made this nation exceptional for future generations.•

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Feltman is CEO of IBJ Media and publisher of IBJ.