As America approaches its 250th birthday, the author reflects on the nation's democratic longevity while expressing deep concern over the rapid erosion of constitutional freedoms and democratic norms under the current political climate, questioning how to celebrate a democracy that is being actively dismantled.
One reason to celebrate America’s national big birthday – our 250th on the Fourth of July – is to honor the unusual longevity of our democratic experiment. Democracies rarely last, but ours has. Even if we know its flawed history – the land grab and slaughter of the indigenous population; slavery; enduring racial, gender and economic inequalities – it’s hard to fault the admirable, high-minded idealism of the Bill of Rights and the US constitution. I’m all for celebrating democracy. The bicentennial was fun. I lived outside a small rural town where there was a parade, a fife and drum corps, tricornered hats, flags and fireworks. Then president Gerald Ford had sponsored civil rights legislation. Roe v Wade was three years old. There were brilliant and honorable judges serving on the US supreme court. The Vietnam war had ended. Obviously there were problems: our growing military presence in Central America, the bankrupting and colonization of American inner cities, growing disparities. Even so, there was a hope in the air, a sense that things might be looking up. ‘This is injustice’: how leftist zines were used to sentence anti-ICE protesters to decades in prison Read more But I’m a little unsure of how the birthday party will go on 4 July 2026, when Donald Trump and his minions celebrate the 250th anniversary of a democracy they have rapidly and intentionally made less democratic. Week by week, law after law, ruling after ruling, we’ve watched many of our constitutional freedoms – the cornerstones on which is democracy is built – compromised, eroded or obliterated. Freedom of the press has given way to censorship and the installation of biased political operatives in place of investigative journalists. Our freedom of speech has been diminished with every political protester who has been silenced, assaulted, arrested and in some cases deported. Our legal guarantees – habeas corpus, the right to a fair and speedy trial – are rapidly disappearing in the rear-view mirror. And the schemes to redraw election maps have threatened to scrap the most basic element of a democratic system: the right to vote in a fair election. After a certain age, we may all feel a slight anxiety about an approaching birthday, but only the senior citizen in the White House has responded with an accelerating storm of tweets and messages steeped in hostility, aggression, vituperation, grandiosity and claims without a minimal relation to the truth. double quotation markIt’s possible to enjoy the occasion and still be mindful of the ways in which the democracy we are honoring is being dismantled Plans for a patriotic concert fell through when number of musicians declined the gig. In its stead, Trump has floated the idea of a Maga rally, hardly the sort of event that will reflect a unified nation, and the spirit of inclusiveness and mutual tolerance to which we have aspired. We can expect an emphasis on the military, shows of force that are a far cry from the high school drum corps that swung down Main Street 50 years ago. Soldiers marching in lockstep beneath screaming fighter planes are familiar features of the public face of an autocracy. Weirdest of all was the UFC cage fight on the White House south lawn. It’s painful and embarrassing to imagine the ghosts of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin joining tens of thousands of Americans watching fighters punching, kicking and wrestling inside an octagonal enclosure. Perhaps what’s most alarming is that some have heard, in Donald Trump’s pre-birthday rhetoric, echoes of the speech that preceded the January 6 insurrection. I like summer holidays: fireworks, barbecue, back-yard gatherings. And I’ll be glad to celebrate the fact that our country has survived any number of threats from within and without, though none exactly like the dangers we face now. Surely it’s possible to enjoy the occasion and still be mindful of the ways in which the democracy we are honoring is being dismantled. The ideal would be to combine the merriment – the speeches, the parades, the music – with a true commemoration of the reasons why we fought to overthrow a monarchy and why a nation of immigrants came here to find peace, security and the promise of better lives. Let the people addressing the crowds – the small-town and big-city mayors, the political, religious and community leaders – pause a moment to read aloud the Bill of Rights, to remind us of what the constitution says, what it advises and promises. Maybe some brave speaker will risk being a buzzkill and remind the crowds that we are waging an extremely costly and senseless war, holding tens of thousands in detention centers, much like concentration camps; we are advancing programs and policies that are hardly the expression of the democratic ideal. And let’s emphasize our hopes that in another half-century we’ll still actually have a democracy that has not just endured but triumphed. Without losing our sense of the moment, let’s raise a toast to another 250 years. Let’s cheer for a future in which the antidemocratic forces and authoritarian tendencies subside and we can come closer to the dream of what – in the best-case scenario – a democracy can provide for its citizens, one and all. Let’s wish a rousing happy birthday to a nation that can take what’s best from history and try to – no, insist on – bringing our divided communities together and improving life for everyone, at home and around the world. Francine Prose is a former president of the PEN American Center and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
