After much fanfare, America’s 250th birthday is finally upon us. Here in Washington, D.C., the White House-sponsored Freedom 250 celebrations don’t seem to be going too well, from the algae-filled debacle in the reflecting pool to the sparse crowds at the Great American State Fair on the National Mall. Elsewhere around the city, the president has refused to sign a bipartisan housing bill in order to blackmail Congress into passing measures that would disenfranchise millions of eligible voters. Last week’s Supreme Court decision gave the administration the ability to cruelly deport hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Syrian refugees. None of that makes me feel like celebrating.
When I think about our present political moment, I see echoes of the prophet Micah, who forewarned of coming disaster because both Israel and Judah’s political and religious leaders abused their power and conspired to do evil (2:1, 7:3), stole and plundered (2:8), oppressed the poor (3:3), despised justice and distorted the truth (3:9), and engaged in violence and deceit (6:12). At every turn, President Donald Trump seems more fixated on punishing his enemies and cementing his legacy through vanity projects than on anything resembling our nation’s founding ideals of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” among other “inalienable rights” set forth in the Declaration of Independence.
But if Trump’s hubris is all we see as we observe this national milestone, we’re missing the bigger story.
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