I dunno if we need to slam America on Independence Day.
We do have an awful history in a lot of ways. From Columbus’ atrocities, to witch burnings, to genocide and slavery, our history is far from the juvenile, whitewashed nonsense portrayed in Hamilton. On the other hand, the US does have a lot in our history to celebrate. For starters, we were able to end the abominable practice of slavery. The Confederacy (one of the most shameful chapters of our National history) was rightly crushed. Jim Crow, the specter of that white supremacist slave state, was likewise crushed. We gradually extended suffrage to non-landowners, to non-whites, and to women. In recent decades, we’ve significantly lessened our hostility to miscegenation and gay marriage, legalizing them both.
There is a liberal tradition here, and it has made tremendous progress, which is more than I can say for most of the rest of the world.
Our aim should be to nurture and strengthen this liberal tradition, and to discard the reactionary ignorance, hatred, and entitlement that has been the root of our atrocities. In the spirit of centuries of slow but steady progress, we should pledge to crush the illiberal and unAmerican Trump movement, to open the borders, and to reform our “criminal justice” system. To get back to the distinctly American task of building a liberal, enlightened society from the embers of a feudalist, mercantilist, imperialist, racial/gender supremacist, slave society, complete with a solid 45% of the population who seeks to preserve those traditions.