America at 250

Happy Independence Day everyone! 250 years since the Declaration of Independence was written and signed.

Part of me starting this blog was to give myself the opportunity to just kinda rant about whatever I am feeling strongly on any given day. And as so many people close to me know, those rants are almost certainly going to go into the political state of the United States. I’m very passionate about this country. My identity as an American is stronger than nearly any other I have. 

My 50 state journey that I went on was never about any individual state. It was about our nation as a whole and the drive to see as much of it as I can. It’s a big reason why I’d be open to moving to most US states, but I don’t know if I would really consider moving to another country. When I was really young and I started to get into US geography, I would take every opportunity I could to learn interesting facts about the country. And these facts would lend themselves to me learning about history and eventually the US presidents.

Dwight Eisenhower, my favorite president

I probably did as much, if not more reading about the presidents when I was younger. The people that sacrificed their life to make our country great, how could that not interest you! All of this together made me very passionate and patriotic about our country. I don’t know if I can even really say that it was a value that was instilled in me by the people around me. I think it was almost entirely self motivated. What I was so invested in was, despite how many problems and struggles our country had, we always seemed to move past it and become better. Suffrage, ending slavery, civil rights: all things that our country did to make itself better. And I was growing up in the Obama administration, where it really did seem like the country was getting significantly better really fast. Our country went from slavery to having a black president, and that showed how much we grew, right?

As I started to get a little bit older and more into current politics, I think my perspective started to change a little bit. It’s a lot harder to view something through total rose colored glasses when you learn so much more about something. So I was able to see that there was still racism and sexism in this country, and we never learned to treat our native populations with respect. But that doesn’t mean that we won’t get there, right? I don’t even think the initial election of Donald Trump phased me as much as some of the other people close to me. I thought that maybe there were some positives about workers’ rights that could improve and maybe there was a world where we still continued to improve despite a buffoon being in the White House. Maybe this is just what we needed to learn from our mistakes.

But then I got even older and smarter. And despite everything, even making the right choice as a nation in 2020, things just felt like they continued to get worse. Inequality was still a problem. The richest people were making more money than ever. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Both parties endorsed a genocide in the Middle East. Not just the Republicans, but Democrats were starting to turn on the immigrants and trans people that helped get them elected. Being a person who cared so much for our country was starting to really weigh down on me. I was filled with dread for the future instead of hope.

I remember in the wake of some of the most intense bills and laws on trans rights going through so many state legislatures, I watched so closely to see what would get taken away from people like me next. There is a trans lawmaker I admired in the Montana State House named Zooey Zephyr who was fighting a battle largely on her own to try and protect the trans kids who were about to be decided to have their hormones taken away, even if they were already on them. If you know me, you know how important my hormone access is to my life, and the fact I was able to begin before 18 made a monumental impact. She said that the people who voted for this bill banning hormones for trans people under the age of 18 would “have blood on their hands” for the kids who would take their own life because they are unable to get the healthcare they need. The house censured her for that statement, and when I heard the news, I just broke down crying. Is my favorite state I love so much going to keep making things worse for people like me?

Zooey Zephyr, Montana Representative

It’s pretty hard to stay patriotic when you are the group of people being targeted. And you know, I bet a lot of people targeted by our government for generations feel the same way. Can our country be great if it’s not great for everyone?

And everything of course came to a head when Donald Trump won his second term in 2024. That night was one of the darkest moments of my life. I had lost all hope for the United States for the future. I was worried we were going down the path of other infamous dictatorships that I don’t know if we would be able to get out. Everyone just seemed so dejected. They didn’t care what was happening to this country. How could we possibly get out of this?

Eventually my hopelessness began to turn to fire. There seemed to barely be a good lawmaker in our country left. If we are going to change things, we need to do it monumentally and quickly. And that’s where I am now. Has much policy wise changed since my attitude changed? No, not at all. But for the first time in as long as I can remember, I do have hope for the future.

I feel that in many ways, we’ve gotten some promising election results to say the least. I’m not going to put all of this on just one election or one candidate. But for the most part, the movers and shakers seem to be winning so far. Those who are willing to make big leaps that are needed to jumpstart our country in the right direction. It’s kind of hard to support a moderate agenda when things have fallen so low that no one wants things to stay the same.

So how do I feel about my country right now? Honestly, I’m still conflicted. I used to be able to say with full heart that I think America is the best country in the world. I don’t know if I believe that anymore, but it’s not really because I think that other countries are better. I just think it's not a great idea to feel like we’re better than others. There are plenty of things other countries are doing better, but I do think America has the potential to be so much greater than we are and have been. Even than the country I once thought was better than all others.

Martin Luther King Jr., “I Have a Dream” speech

What I think what we need and are starting to do is return to the ideals and values that are what makes our country so unique. I think this is freedom, equality, and acceptance of other cultures and people. I think these have been lost in the last 10 years by both our political parties, but they were critical to the founding of this country. So on this July 4th, I think we should refer to it as solely independence day from now on. Because we are still fighting for that independence as a nation. We’re just fighting a different group of people.

Freedom and liberty have always been at the top of our national values, but while it will always be a talking point for those in power, they are clearly not living it. Freedom of speech means the freedom to not be targeted for your religion. Freedom of speech means not being gunned down in the street by your government just for demonstrating against tyranny. Freedom of speech means not having every media source be owned by the same 5 billionaires. Freedom of speech means that you aren’t denied your right to vote. America guarantees us these rights in our constitution, we must not forget that and keep fighting to make sure we keep it.

Scene from Armageddon, possibly the most American movie

I am not saying that America has always been an equal nation. But what has been consistent throughout our 250 year history is that we have always become more equal. Whether that be in our rights to vote, to our rights to not be enslaved, to our rights to marry, to our rights to protect us from discrimination. All of these rights are being threatened for many people, but there is one thing that all of us share. We are all being taken advantage of by the megarich corporations and people who want to own everything we have. Equity means the right to have just as much of an opportunity to succeed as the next guy. We’ve never quite gotten there, but it is so important that we all have the opportunity to live to our fullest extent, regardless of how much money your family is born with. This means access to jobs, guaranteed healthcare, guaranteed food, and guaranteed housing. This is just a baseline that we need because otherwise if you can’t get one of these, it makes it way harder to get all of these.

And ultimately what we need to remember on this Independence Day, is that we are a nation of immigrants. We always have been from the moment the pilgrims came here to escape persecution for their religious beliefs. This means we must also respect those who have always been here, the native populations. This land is theirs as much if not more than any of the rest of us. But by knowing that we have always been a nation of people coming to a new world to find better opportunities, that means that we MUST respect everyone coming here to do the very same. Because those immigrants coming now, are they really any different from someone who came here 100 years ago? Or 300 years ago. And not only should this acceptance be for immigrants, but it should also be for those who have different beliefs and identities from us.

I love this country so much. The leaders of our country might not be living these ideals, but we still can. And we can make the right choice to ensure that our future leaders hold up those same ideals this well.

Ultimately I went on a 50 state journey because I wanted to see the wonders of what the United States has to offer. All the different environments. All the different cultures. This nation is ours and not for any one person or group of people Let’s make sure we keep it that way!

“This land is your land and this land is my land

From the California to the New York island

From the redwood forests to the Gulf Stream waters

This land was made for you and me”- Woody Guthrie