This July 4 holiday comes after a rough year for America

Happy birthday, America!

Today, you turn 249 and, honestly, you do not watch one day on 248. (Ha ha.)

Seriously, it is perfectly understandable, why there is more gray on your scalp and deeper lines of concern on your face. Last year was difficult, to say the least.

A condemned criminal and a sexual attacker judged was elected president – history! – And since then, he has worked tirelessly and diligently to settle as the first monarch in the country, and a fabulously remunerated to this.

Federal troops occupy the second city in the country, on the objection of state leaders, while masked agents collect people in the streets of southern California for the temerity of venturing with brown skin and an accent.

Our social security net is shredded, the country withdraws from its international leadership in the arts and sciences, and we have wasted our global position as a lighthouse of hope and compassion.

But that’s not all.

Political violence becomes as familiar and standardized as the shootings of the school court. In the past 12 months, we have attended two attempts at Trump’s life and the assassination of a minnesota legislator and her husband.

Medicaid, the program which serves millions of needy, old and disabled, is on the cutting block. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which helps Americans resist the worst moments after a natural disaster, has been radically exhausted just when we head to the seasons of fire and hurricanes.

As for the loyal opposition, the Democrats are in bad smell with the voters and even many of their own supporters after the managers of Joe Biden launched the public on the fragility and the fall in the faculties of the octogenarian president.

It was only after a poor performance of cataclysmically debate, which revealed his infirmities to see them all, Biden reluctantly set out in favor of his successor anoint, the vice-president Kamala Harris.

Once again, the Democrats wander in the desert, carrying a familiar groove in their desolate path while they debate – Again – Whether to turn left or hug the center.

It is completely the catalog.

But no one has ever said that this representative democracy was going to be easy or constantly edifying.

America, you are a large noisy nation of more than 342 million people, with all kinds of competing pulses and interests, and no end of certainty.

During our last presidential election, we separated almost evenly, with Trump passing Harris during the popular vote from 49.8% to 48.3%. It was one of the narrowest margins of the victory of the last century, although you do not know it of the radical actions of Trump and the servility of the congress managed by the Republicans.

But our differences go even deeper than the now familiar Gulf between red and blue America.

In a deep dive recently completed on the state of our democracy, UC Berkeley researchers found a division almost even on how to measure the success of our political system.

A little more than half of those questioned said that a successful democracy is a democracy that is adaptable and has the capacity for change, while almost half of the success stems from membership in long -standing principles.

With this kind of striking disagreement on such a fundamental question, is it surprising that we have trouble finding a consensus on so many others?

But, if it is a consolation during this star feast, the country was the worst. Well worse. And you, America, have not only survived, but also in many ways, made itself stronger by facing your faults and overcoming certain knee puff challenges.

Slavery. Civil war. Racist exclusion laws. Two world conflicts. Depression. Financial crises. And too many deadly natural disasters – floods, fires, earthquakes, hurricanes – to possibly count.

Your treatment of some Americans, it must be said, has not always been fair and fair.

People despair of the Supreme Court and his deference to the President. But it should be noted that previous judicial majorities have judged that black Americans – “beings of a lower order”, in the words of the famous decision by Dred Scott – could be refused citizenship, that racial segregation was constitutional and that compulsory sterilization based on eugenics was perfectly legal.

This sordid story will not necessarily make no one feels better in the current state of business, and should not either. But that gives a certain perspective.

That said, today, it’s a day to celebrate good things and the brilliant and brilliant place that you aspire to be, with freedom and justice for all. So Chin Up, America! Have another slice of birthday cake and don’t worry about the calories – you really look great for 249!

In the meantime, it is up to us, your citizens, to continue working towards this more perfect union. Be that as it may, America, the remedy lies with us the people and the power we hold, especially in the polls. Unhappy with the demolition team that has federal chain programs and to allow Trump to blow out of the constitution and the rule of law? Vote them, starting with the mid-term elections of 2026.

Do not give up the hope or belief that, as dark and difficult as things seem at the moment, the better days are waiting for us.

This constant faith is what makes America large.