Happy Birthday, USA! A More Perfect Union Still Takes Work

 

America’s 250th birthday is personal to me. I was born a bicentennial baby. My life has unfolded between the country’s 200th birthday and its 250th. I remember the patriotism and pride on display at the Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Salt Lake City Olympics; the tragedy of the attacks on the Murrah Federal Office Building and on 9/11; the hope our nation felt when the Berlin Wall fell; and the prosperity of a dynamic economy. I have seen enough in that span to know two things can be true at once: America is flawed, unfinished, and often frustrating. America is also worth believing in.

I believe in America because I have seen it work. The public servants of SSA are faithful. They show up every day when the easy thing would be to quit or hide. In my community, neighbors help neighbors; political parties do not matter when it comes to everyday living. I have seen families survive because a monthly benefit arrived, a doctor was paid, a field office employee answered a question, or a representative helped them fight through a system they could not have navigated alone.

I also believe in America because I have seen it struggle. I have seen institutions lose the public’s trust. I have seen people wait too long for disability decisions, medical records, hearings, payments, and answers. I have seen government make simple things hard, then ask citizens to be patient with systems that do not feel patient with them. Loving this country does not require pretending those things are not real.

That is why America’s 250th should not be treated as a fireworks show alone, a month of events, or just another year of celebration. It should be treated and understood as a rededication of covenant between the Government and the people.  A nation does not last this long by accident, and it does not stay worthy of its founding promises by memory alone. Every generation must decide whether liberty, equality, duty, and self-government are museum words or living obligations.

In 1975, President Gerald Ford went to Concord and Lexington as the nation prepared for the bicentennial. He spoke to a country still recovering from Vietnam, Watergate, inflation, and a deep loss of confidence. His message was not chest-thumping. It was earnest, sober, healing, and rooted in renewal. He understood that anniversaries should not only praise the past; they should also call a nation back to its better self.

That is the right spirit for 2026. We do not need a 250th anniversary built only around nostalgia. We need one built around repair. The founders gave us principles, but they did not finish the work. They gave us a frame, but they did not build every room. They gave us a promise, but every generation has had to decide who is included in it.

That matters deeply to our community and those we serve - the disabled. A more perfect union is not measured only by speeches, monuments, or anniversaries. It is measured by whether a disabled worker can get a fair decision, whether a widow can keep the lights on, whether a child with severe impairments can receive help without the family being buried in forms, phone calls, and delay, and whether government can still see the person in front of it.

Social Security is part of that American promise. Medicare is part of that promise. SSI, disability insurance, appeal rights, representative payee protections, due process, and access to medical evidence are part of that promise. These programs are not perfect, and no honest person should pretend they are. But they are among the ways this country has tried to make liberty real for people who cannot simply muscle their way through hardship.

The American covenant has always been tested by whether it reaches people in hard circumstances. It is easy to talk about freedom when everything is going well. It is harder, and more important, to defend dignity when someone is sick, disabled, widowed, aging, poor, or alone. That is where slogans end and service begins.

For ACRD, this anniversary should be a call to practical patriotism: help the claimant understand the process, help the representative build the record, help policymakers see the person behind the case number, push for systems that are faster, fairer, and more humane, and defend the programs that protect people when work, health, age, or family loss change everything.

I was born when America turned 200. I have lived long enough to see the country’s strengths and its wounds. I still believe in it, not because it is perfect, but because it can be made better. That is the work each generation inherits.

America’s 250th birthday is not just about remembering 1776. It is about deciding what kind of country we intend to be in 2026 and beyond. A more perfect union still takes work. It takes humility, courage, service, and attention to the people most likely to be overlooked. That is not separate from patriotism. That is patriotism.