It was 249 years ago that the American colonists declared their independence from the British crown. In 2026, we get to celebrate 250 years.
There is a lot to celebrate, and there is also a lot to not celebrate. The spirit of independence and liberty has somewhat lived on for two and a half centuries.
At the same time, it is hard not to notice people lighting off fireworks and celebrating our freedom while we live in a semi-authoritarian state. Just in the last few months, we have seen higher tariffs, higher debt, higher spending, bombing Yemen, bombing Iran, and an ever-expanding surveillance state.
It is hard to say precisely, but when the colonists fought for independence, the British crown was taking perhaps around 1% in taxes. Now, the national government spends nearly $7 trillion per year. If you include state and local government spending, government at all levels is consuming nearly 40% of our income. When you factor in regulations, the story is far worse.
Is this really what the colonists declared independence for? With all of the problems with a king thousands of miles away, I think I would gladly take the taxation of the British crown from 250 years ago.
The United States Were Great
Most people think of the U.S. Constitution as the foundation of our country since the beginning. When the colonists won independence, they lived under the Articles of Confederation. Actually, that was effective from 1781 to 1789. There really was no national government from 1776 to 1781 because the colonists were at war and not following the dictates of the British crown.
One of the criticisms of the Articles of Confederation is that the national government was too weak and impotent. Of course, this should be considered its strength for anyone who cherishes liberty.
The Constitution was generally a well-written document, but it did centralize power. Now we have the largest and wealthiest empire in history.
The relatively capitalist system led to great wealth. Unfortunately, since liberty was not guarded closely, it has led to great wealth for the U.S. government, which has enabled it to intervene in countries all over the world.
We are a long way from the Articles of Confederation and a loose alliance between the states. The United States – plural – has become the United States – singular. The United States were great. The United States is not great.
American Spirit
Even with this monstrosity of a national government, there is still something special about America. Sure, things have changed, but there is still a certain spirit of independence and rugged individualism.
Americans are far more defiant than most other people in the world. There is less obedience and less trust in authority figures. This may sound hard to believe, but there is even greater brainwashing in other parts of the world.
Even with the Covid lockdowns and vaccine mandates, there was a sizeable percentage of the population that refused to go along.
And if you think things have gotten continually worse, that is also not the case. The government is as big as ever, but there is actually less trust today in politicians than was the case 50 years ago.
There is still great propaganda that comes out of the establishment media, and many people still buy it. But there are fewer people today who buy the propaganda than what was the case 20 years ago or 60 years ago.
How many people were questioning the Federal Reserve system in 1960 or 1990? It was almost nobody. Today, you can find videos and discussions everywhere.
If the government tried to enact a draft for another Vietnam-type war, how successful do you think that would be?
How many people talked about a deep state 20 years ago?
How many people homeschooled their children in 1980 as compared to now? It was barely legal to do in 1980.
Sure, there are many reasons to be pessimistic, and it is certainly a tragedy that we have lost so much liberty. Still, there is reason for optimism.
For liberty lovers, July 4th shouldn’t just be about recognizing how much liberty we have lost. We should still celebrate the liberty that we have and the possibilities for what lies ahead.