Every year, our family rejoices in the anniversary of our arrival in America from the Soviet Union. July 20 holds great significance as the day we achieved freedom. It is imperative for me to acknowledge the alternate paths my life could have taken. The reality is that nothing is promised or guaranteed, but the privilege of being an American has always filled me with pride and hope. America, often referred to as a shining city on a hill, has been my blessed dwelling. I have always believed that our indomitable Americanness would enable us to conquer any challenge we faced. Our foundational documents would guide us, and our shared objectives would pave the way forward. We were unstoppable.
However, this year’s Americaversary elicits a slightly less optimistic sentiment. In his inaugural address as California governor on January 5, 1967, Ronald Reagan famously proclaimed, “Freedom is a fragile thing, and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction.” The resilience of that freedom was tested during the pandemic and emerged battered and scarred. We have largely moved on, considering discussions about past injustices, such as the denial of education to underprivileged children or the termination of employment for unvaccinated individuals, as dwelling on the past. Nonetheless, this recent past continues to have a detrimental impact on our present.
In fact, last year, Americans experienced a loss of trust in various institutions. According to a 2022 Gallup poll, the perception of major American institutions significantly declined. This decline extends beyond the president and Congress, with “five other institutions at their lowest points in at least three decades of measurement: the church or organized religion (31%), newspapers (16%), the criminal justice system (14%), big business (14%), and the police.” A recent Gallup survey shows little improvement, with faith in these institutions remaining stagnant. This erosion of trust is not solely attributed to pandemic-related practices. The government colluded with social media platforms to censor accurate reporting from this newspaper regarding the Hunter Biden laptop, with the intention of influencing the 2020 presidential election. Additionally, society expects individuals to embrace fluidity in gender identity, disregarding the consequences of non-compliance, such as termination or arrest. When Reagan speaks of freedom, he goes beyond the act of voting on Election Day.
Personally, I keenly feel this lack of faith and worry about its implications for the beloved country I call home. While we concentrate on our dwindling confidence in institutions, our loss of faith in one another is becoming increasingly apparent. The preservation of our freedom relies on a cohesive unity that we currently lack, and it has experienced significant attacks in recent years. Our country’s distinctiveness is disregarded, as is the celebration of our founding. Statues depicting American heroes like Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt are torn down without a second thought. Columbus Day commemorations are diminishing, and Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July face threats of being eradicated. Without a unifying thread, no shared history to commemorate, we become vulnerable to the very loss of freedom Reagan warned us about. When we lack trust in one another and fail to rely on each other, the fabric of our nation unravels.
Finding a solution is no easy task. It cannot be accomplished solely through an election or a mere change in leadership, although it would undoubtedly benefit us in the case of the divisive Biden administration. It is crucial that we hold the institutions accountable for betraying our trust. Above all, we must ignore the voices that urge us to despise our country and be ashamed of our history. No country is perfect, and ours comes closer than most. Ultimately, the responsibility falls on each of us as individuals. We must strive to reconnect with family members who have been lost due to political disagreements. We should return to religious and civic institutions and contribute to their rebuilding if they have faltered. Whenever possible, we must safeguard our collective freedom. We possess the greatest country in the history of the world, and it is our duty to defend it. Those of us celebrating an Americaversary should proudly commemorate it and remember, alongside those fortunate enough to be born here, how fortunate we all truly are. The shining city on a hill experiences moments of tribulation, and we find ourselves in such times now. However, we have overcome adversity in the past, and there is every reason to believe that we will triumph once more.
Karol Markowicz, co-author of the new book “Stolen Youth,” urges us to embrace this mindset.
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