Lately a lot of people I know have been down on the U.S.

The reasons why are obvious:

leadership at the highest levels that appears to operate with lack of regard or care for the ideals have undergirded this nation for centuries, soaring costs of living, violent class divides and misaligned values in every form from age to gender to politics to pop culture fandom, major institutions and societal cornerstones (schools at all levels, churchs, communities etc.) are in general decay or decline, uncertainty around employment with recent tech innovations like AI - these are just a few of the issues that people I talk to, often friends and family, mention when they refer to "these times."

The implicit message is: things are bad and I feel bad, angry, sad about it.

America is horrible.

Is it really, though?

While I acknowledge that this country has seen better days as far as all of the above mentioned, I disagree that America is the ugly ogre sick and dying.

The main reason being, those who are troubled by the times, still have the strength means and energy to complain, protest, debate, or even permanently leave the country.

In a truly dying nation, people literally DIE, are forcibly removed from any resources to fight back, or they abandon everything to find a better, safer circumstance. Any form of resistance is useless against the collapsing walls of society. Just look at current headlines in Haiti, Sudan, Myanmar to get an idea of real failed societies.

But that's not what I see here, in America, in 2025.

I see protesters with Starbucks lattes in hand, hardcore gun-totting Trump supporters blasting a stereo from an $84,000 Texas-sized tricked out truck, Cybertruck drivers triple-parked complaining about the price of electricity while doomscrolling, teenagers railing about lack of opportunity wearing shiny new sneakers and fresh gear, folks of all walks of life who live on X or TikTok or Facebook with enough free time and mental energy to consume, contemplate, and participate in the latest internet scandal, my 65+ year old neighbor shuffling out to collect another package from Amazon delivered in under 24 hours.

In other words, I see people at all stages of society, for the most part, having and doing what they want.

If this is America in decline, we're in the biggest party to hell the world has ever seen.

American promises

'America' means something different for everyone. But there's one way to define it I'd argue is universal among all Americans and even non-Americans.

America is promise.

Promise of protection.

Promise of opportunity.

Promise of bold pioneering performance.

Promise of freedom from physical harm, freedom from fear.

Has it lived up to these promises?

Not always.

The list of American-induced injustices (historical and contemporary), sneaky deals, bloody suppressions within and without borders of other sovereign nations' citizens, is long and well-known.

We are not a perfect people. No place on the planet is.

You know this.

Yet somehow, when America gets it wrong, it feels big. Like you're 16 and your parents lied to you big. It's damaging no matter how rich or poor you are (or feel).

I get that.

I get the disappointment in this nation that was greater in many ways years ago.

I get how quickly love of America can turn into loathing resentment, and eventually hate at how far it has fallen from premium to discount status. (I've personally seen this.)

In fact, I'm pissed about it.

About how things got this way, and how many in this country have been led to believe that suddenly this is a terrible place to live, raise families, work, play, or explore, just because of one election outcome.

Because that's not what I see.

That's not my America.

My America

Since the November 2024 election, I've met a lot of new people.

I traveled home and abroad: Hawaii, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, East Timor. I've seen a lot of what I like and don't like about America and had other places to compare it to.

In my travels, I've met entrepreneurs, diplomats, teachers, poets, and fellow veterans. Most are working, providing, moving to maintain what they've got or get a little more. They're good people.

Could they have voted Trump or Harris? Probably.

What does it matter now?

Today it feels like moral superiority is the religion of the day.

It doesn't matter your political view. What does matter is if your camp is most righteously beyond reproach. Those who disagree even slightly? Evil. EVIL!

Evil (as defined by me) - the ultimate insult of 2025, often used by a member of an in group to refer to an outgroup whom or which shares opposing views or values

Our secular society is propelled by undercurrents of Presbyterian, turned Christian, turned capitalist morals. The result? Finger-waving, and occasionally violent, action against pure evil.

Talk to some, this is how they would define their existence in America today, a heavenly struggle for good against pure evil and idiocy.

I don't deny that this is a regrettable part of the American identity.

However, I also won't discount the reality I encounter on 97% of my days: good people, doing mostly good things, often enabled by American technology, opportunity, or pioneer/rebel attitude.

That's my America.

And in "these times", when other nations, the media (YouTube, social media) or Media (legacy media: Fox, CNN, Disney et. al), and even other Americans tell themselves the story of America Failing or America Collapsing, I listen with empathy, but I'll always steer them toward the other truth:

You live in a place where you can (for the most part) do, be, feel, say, go where you want.

Moreover, you live in a place where things work. (most of the time)

The same can't be said for other countries.

A Black kid from a middle-class Texas family, loses his dad at 16, still gets into a highly competitive military college, graduates, becomes a military officer - Special Agent, travels the world, finds "the one", marries her, comes under investigation, is cleared from wrongdoing, starts again as a freelance interpreter, fails, starts again as a teacher, moves, leaves education, starts a business, writes books, helps others do the same?

Only in America.

And that's just my story.

I've benefited royally from America's underrated social fluidity technology. Outside of the U.S. Constitution (which was radically innovative at the time and laid the foundation for modern national organization around the globe), that's our greatest contribution to the world.

Start out broke, get rich, lose it all, gain it back again through sweaty perseverance?

Only in America.

Try this in any other place on Earth, you'd be lucky to get anywhere in a single generation. It's not that these other country's aren't "free" in the American sense. It's that rigid social structures are designed to prevent that type of social movement from happening. This is how they maintain a more stable society.

We don't believe in that here.

We believe that if you have the skill, connections, and the cash money (gotta have the cash) you can design the life you want.

That's my America.

My America is the one that allows me to ignore the narratives being fed to me about how I should feel about America.

Mine is the one that makes it easy and simple to communicate this message to you.

My America is also the nasty, violent, unpredictable place that I recognize, but have the option not to stay in the hurt confusion.

It's where I'm a single spoke in a wheel rolling toward the restoration of faith in critical institutions and the good people who keep them running.

My America is me, you, and those others toiling in passionate quiet to keep the promise of a nation always on the brink of something extraordinary.

My America, despite its black record, divisions, and missteps, is worth protecting and preserving.

And no matter where I physically reside,

my America is home.

Happy 4th.

-Keith