America’s 250 Left Me Feeling Depressed

Guest Opinion by Jonathan Hoffman

I went to America’s 250 celebration at the Hoover Met expecting to leave feeling proud to be an American. I expected the music, the fireworks, the patriotism, and to be reminded why I love this country.

Instead, I left mourning what we’ve lost.

Most of you know me as the patriot. The fighter. The guy who stood against the mask mandates, fought for medical freedom, and has spent years fighting for election integrity and exposing government corruption.

The truth is, the longer you’re involved in this fight, the harder it becomes to see America the way you once did.

People constantly send me information. Documents. Public records. Videos. Tips. I don’t spend my days looking for this stuff. It finds me because people know I’ll investigate it.

And once you’ve spent years looking behind the curtain, you can’t pretend you never saw what’s back there.

Based on everything I’ve personally investigated and experienced, I no longer have confidence in our election system. I have come to the conclusion that we are no longer electing our officials. Our election machines, through wireless connectivity, are being hacked and votes are be shifted away from candidates who are willing to stand for the truth and toward candidates who stick to safe talking points and are willing to fall in line with the establishment. And if we don’t have secure elections, then we don’t have a country, period.

That didn’t happen overnight. It happened after years of being involved, after countless hours of research, and after seeing things for myself that fundamentally changed how I view our government.

But it goes far beyond elections.

When you spend years examining the actions of elected officials, questioning decisions they’ve made, and following the money and the influence behind politics, it changes the way you see these public celebrations.

So while everyone around me was cheering, eating hot dogs, waving flags, and taking pictures with politicians, I wasn’t seeing the same celebration they were.

I was thinking about the republic our founders fought and died for.

In 1776, they didn’t ask permission for freedom. They fought for it.

Today, 250 years later, I couldn’t help but ask myself how much of that republic is still intact.

I looked around and wondered how many people have any idea what’s happening beyond the speeches, the photo ops, and the fireworks.

Spending years in this fight has changed the way I see everything.

But once you’ve seen enough, you don’t get to go back.

You don’t get to sit through a patriotic celebration and simply enjoy the show.

You start asking whether we’re celebrating what America is… or remembering what America used to be.

That’s why I left depressed.

Not because I love America any less.

Because I love her too much not to grieve over what I believe we’ve lost.

And if everyone doesn’t wake up soon and fight with everything they have to ban voting machines in Alabama so we can return to paper ballots and hand counting only, every single one of you will have to look your children in the eye one day when they’re living in a time where AI controls our elections and they have no way to fight back. All you’ll be able to say is, “I’m sorry.”

This opinion piece originally appeared on Facebook. It is reprinted here with the permission of the author.

Jonathan Hoffman is an Alabama entrepreneur and political campaign consultant who became involved in grassroots activism through local civic issues in his community. He is the founder and CEO of Southern Freedom Society, a citizen-funded media organization focused on public engagement and political awareness. He works with local candidates and volunteers across the state on communication and outreach efforts.

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