America at 250: The Greatest Story Ever Told Is Still Being Written

 Guest Opinion by Perry Hooper Jr.

There are moments in history when a nation pauses, looks back with gratitude, and looks forward with confidence. America's 250th birthday is one of those moments.

As hundreds of thousands of soccer fans from Europe, South America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East have traveled across America for the World Cup, they have discovered something television cameras and international headlines could never show them. They have found welcoming communities, thriving downtowns, churches filled on Sunday, veterans honored with standing ovations, families proudly displaying the Stars and Stripes, and millions of ordinary Americans who still believe their country is the greatest nation on earth. They came expecting the America described by the international press and leftist political leaders. They found the real America. The best answer to anti-American propaganda is a plane ticket. America does not need a better sales pitch. It simply needs people to see it with their own eyes.

For a quarter of a millennium, the United States has stood as the world's greatest beacon of freedom, opportunity, and self-government. Nations have risen and fallen. Empires have come and gone. Yet the American experiment, born in Philadelphia in 1776, continues to inspire freedom-loving people across the globe.

President Donald Trump's Independence Day address captured that spirit. Rather than dwell on America's shortcomings, he challenged Americans to remember what has always made this nation exceptional: faith in God, individual liberty, limited government, free enterprise, strong families, and citizens willing to sacrifice for something larger than themselves. On the National Mall, President Trump gave voice to what millions of Americans were already feeling. After years of being told to apologize for their country, Americans celebrated it without hesitation. As fireworks exploded over the nation's capital, military bands filled the air, and families waved thousands of American flags, the Commander in Chief reminded the world that America's story is still being written—and that, as he declared, 'no dream in history is bigger than the American Dream.'

That message could not have come at a better time.

For too long, Americans have listened to politicians, professors, Hollywood celebrities, and media commentators explain why America is supposedly in irreversible decline. Yet while they were talking about decline, millions of Americans were building businesses, raising families, serving in uniform, worshipping in their churches, coaching Little League, volunteering in their communities, and quietly proving once again that the strength of America has never come from Washington. It has always come from the American people.

The professional pessimists have predicted America's decline for generations. They were wrong after the Revolution. They were wrong after the Civil War. They were wrong after the Great Depression. They were wrong after September 11. They are wrong today.

Every generation has faced its own tests. The Revolution. The Civil War. The Great Depression. World War II. The Cold War. The War on Terror. Every generation answered history's call, and every generation left America stronger than it found her.

Look around America today. Children still race through parks carrying little American flags. Veterans still remove their caps when the National Anthem begins. Churches still pray for our nation. Small businesses still unlock their doors before sunrise. Farmers still work until long after sunset. Police officers still answer the call. Soldiers still volunteer to defend a country worth defending. The America that built this Republic never disappeared. It simply got tired of being told it should apologize for existing. On this Fourth of July, it found its voice again.

Ronald Reagan declared, "America is too great for small dreams." Two hundred and fifty years after our Founders pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, America is still proving them right. Kingdoms have fallen. Dictators have come and gone. Empires have collapsed beneath the weight of their own arrogance. Yet the American Republic still stands because it was built not on the power of government, but on the freedom of its people.

Patriotism is not nostalgia. It is our responsibility to leave our children a nation stronger, freer, safer, and more prosperous than the one we inherited. That responsibility belongs to every citizen who believes America's best days are still ahead.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, a handful of patriots gathered in Philadelphia and changed the course of human history. This Independence Day reminded the world that their work did not end in 1776. It lives on in every American who still believes freedom is worth defending, faith is worth preserving, and the Stars and Stripes remain the greatest symbol of liberty the world has ever known. President Trump called this America's new Golden Age. History will decide what that era is called. The American people will decide whether it becomes reality. Judging by the pride that swept across this nation on its 250th birthday—and by the millions of visitors discovering the real America instead of the one they were told existed—I would never bet against the United States of America. After 250 years, the beacon of liberty still shines brightest over this nation, and with God's help, it will continue to light the path for generations yet to come.

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." — Psalm 33:12

Perry O. Hooper Jr. is a longtime Alabama Republican figure, former Alabama Legislator and Montgomery businessman. He served as Co-Chair of “Alabama Trump Victory” in 2016, and served as an at-large delegate to the Republican National Convention. He is a noted civic leader in Montgomery with deep family roots in Alabama’s legal and political history.

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