07/04/2026
Happy 250th Birthday, America.
I know we arrive at this landmark divided — not just in our politics, but in how this day feels. Some of us see little worth celebrating right now; others are more excited than they've been in years. To both, the same invitation: on a nation's 250th birthday, it's worth asking what exactly we're celebrating — because there are things about America no administration, no election, no news cycle can take away. And a birthday is also the moment for honest resolutions.
So here are mine: 20 things I celebrate, and 20 resolutions I hope we make together.
WHAT I CELEBRATE:
1. The land itself — Yosemite to Yellowstone, the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico, Hawaii's islands, California's redwoods
2. The Constitution's promise of equality, regardless of s*x or race
3. The beauty and endurance of Native American cultures
4. The election of Barack Obama
5. FDR's legacy — Social Security and the New Deal
6. The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act
7. Our music — blues, jazz, funk, rock 'n' roll: Miles, Coltrane, Aretha, Elvis, Janis, Dylan, Marvin Gaye
8. A home for the world's people — from Einstein to Zakir Hussain, who kept his Indian passport yet gave the Bay Area fifty years of music
9. Science and technology for all mankind — the polio vaccine, the moon landing, the internet
10. Berkeley and the '60s counterculture — still open-hearted, still curious, still dancing in their 80s
11. The old New York skyscrapers — ambition made stone
12. American humanitarianism across the world
13. Voices of conscience — Bernie Sanders, Noam Chomsky
14. Actors of heart — Robin Williams, Tom Hanks, Jimmy Stewart, Gene Wilder
15. Comedians who hold up the mirror — Chappelle, Larry David, Seinfeld
16. A public library in every town
17. The First Amendment
18. The land-grant universities and the GI Bill
19. The Peace Corps
20. Trump v. Barbara — the Supreme Court reaffirming, just days ago, that every child born here is born a citizen
WHERE I RESOLVE WE DO BETTER:
1. Less war abroad, more building at home
2. Health care for all — every other wealthy nation has done it
3. Tax the way we did when we flourished: in 1913, fewer than 1% of Americans paid income tax; in the 1950s the top rate was 91% — and we built the greatest middle class in history. Last decade, our 25 richest paid a true rate of 3.4%
4. Build on what FDR built
5. Overturn Citizens United — representation, not purchase
6. Let profit serve purpose: medicine should heal, insurance should protect, education should teach
7. Give Native Americans the resources, status, and power they rightfully deserve
8. Pay the debt still owed to African Americans
9. Treat immigrants with dignity — they grow our food, build our homes, heal our sick
10. Education without a lifetime of debt
11. Lead on climate — no nation is more able
12. Defend free speech from those who abuse it to divide, for power or for profit
13. End gun violence — no peer nation tolerates this
14. Justice that doesn't depend on wealth
15. Paid maternity leave — nearly every country on Earth provides it; we don't
16. Retire the Electoral College and gerrymandering
17. Break the two-party, revolving-door stranglehold
18. Politics about issues, not personalities
19. Elect a woman president — 250 years is long enough
20. Stop arriving late to justice — the world's oldest democracy should not be its slowest
We celebrate best when we also resolve to be better. That is what birthdays are for.
Happy Fourth, my friends. Here's to the next 250.
Name one thing you'd celebrate — or one you'd change. The comments are open.
The full version of these lists — with the history, the numbers, and the stories behind them — is here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/america-250-20-things-i-celebrate-ways-we-can-do-better-susheelan-s23dc/?trackingId=%2FRUdP%2FLgaPH0fPaoTii9hg%3D%3D
