Happy 250, America
As the 250th birthday of this country comes to a close, and the fireworks stop booming outside my window, I wonder what we have to celebrate. Some other poster somewhere on this site said it felt more like a wake, and I think I agree. It feels like a wake, a memorial, a celebration of the life that was, even if that life has quite yet shuffled off to the pearly gates.
Everything great seems to have been from years past. Once in the past we cured diseases, put men on another heavenly body, won two whole world wars, invented the digital realm I now type these words on, and sent our stories and characters to every corner of the globe. We made giant metal birds that crisscrossed the skies, explored outer space, the ocean depths and the human body at the same time, let people have dreams, and built what we were told was the American Dream.
And now... what? What do we have to look forward to now?
We have the west on fire while data centers in the east drain the water from the ground. We have greedy execs in Silicon Valley, Hollywood and Wall Street telling us that AI will create and think for us, and that we will own less and less everyday while thanking them for the smaller and smaller crumbs that trickle down. We have enshitification, everything turned into a gig economy, and please wait while this website verifies that you’re human. Traitors that would overturn this democracy are goose-stepping in our nation’s capital as fortunate sons trade on insider information and the diminished leader lines his pockets by slicing up the country and selling to wealthy cronies.
What little was good about this country seems to be over, the best is behind us and we get a front row seat to see its demise. The first 250 may be the only 250 we get, with half of the country proudly celebrating the birthday as if there are many more to come without understanding that the diagnosis may be terminal.
So join me in lifting a glass in memory, in celebration, or maybe just in hopes we can dull the pain.
Fuck it.
Happy 250, America.