Introduction
As America turned 250 years old on 4 July 2026, there is much to ponder about the future of democracy as an ideal. The democracy that evolved over two and a half centuries was best described in the words of Charles Dickens (A Tale of Two Cities):
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
Notwithstanding the lofty proclamations of its founding fathers, America took a circuitous route to a blue-bloodied democracy that has regressed, 250 years later. Nearly all founding fathers proclaimed their lofty ideals and preached sermons while living off Negro labour, all openly acquired at auctions and subjected to untold misery. John Adams even fathered an illegitimate child via his slave. The geographical expansion of America roused the ire of original natives, even now derisively referred to as American Indians, and led to their physical decimation by instruments of violence. Even today, these tribes are confined to self-governing settlements, an unwritten White order that preserves White exclusivity and banishes Indians from the public discourse.
Sugar, Cotton Days and Civil Rights
Central to American history and its southern agricultural economy before 1864 were sugar and cotton plantations. Africans were imported in sub-human condition not just from the distant shores of Liberia, but also from the West Indies. It was not until President Lincoln’s call for reconciliation in his immortal speech at the Gettysburg (1864) battlefield that Southern America adopted industrial practices and embraced manufacturing, with enslaved people being consigned to a life of physical, but not economic, freedom. Even today, the largest farmlands lie in the erstwhile Confederate states, which makes them politically potent.
Yet it was not until a protracted legal battle that successive Administrations and parties fought and unfought, and the dubious role of the US Supreme Court, ended in President Johnson’s courageous promulgation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That allowed all African-Americans access to education and positions of influence, although the vast majority remained limited to low levels of education and income, performing menial jobs. Likewise, Medicare and Medicaid (which also were LBJ’s contributions) sought to socialise the health care system and make it affordable. In tandem with FDR’s New Deal Social Security Act (1935), it sought to reconcile the rapidly emerging fault lines between migrant communities (including Whites). But that was not enough. White supremacism remained intact throughout 250 years of American history.
Immigrant Rush
The southward expansion of the US brought it into direct conflict and contact with Latin America. Over the past 200 years, Latinos have largely been allowed into America, and many have become naturalised citizens. Between them, they cornered most blue-collar occupations. It served the Whites since they did not have the numbers to run a steadily expanding economy. At the same time, it brought Latinos into direct conflict with African-Americans, primarily owing to linguistic and complexion differences and the edging out of African-Americans from blue-collar occupations, mostly by lowering the market wage rate. This created yet another fault line in American democracy, with White supremacists acting as referees for their own advantage.
Americans pride themselves on being a pluralistic society. Yet, the ingress of immigrants from all across the world made it one, beyond Latinos and African-Americans. Most were already academically qualified and continue to strengthen and enrich global science, technology, literature and the social sciences, although many chose technology to undermine democratic ideals. The rest moved into blue-collar occupations, coming into conflict with Latinos and African-Americans, and further undermining the labour market. As if in response to contain under-the-skin tensions, American capitalism rose to the challenge and absorbed large sections into a rapidly expanding industrial base and unparalleled prosperity till 2008. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom…”
Global Cop
Yet an overweening desire to emerge as the global policeman and contain China led America into Indo-China, an area that had thumbed its nose at French colonialists and subjected them to a humiliating defeat at Dien Bien Phu (1953). In just 22 years, the US was pussy footing its way from Nam back home in yet another humiliating defeat. In these momentous decades, a POTUS was assassinated, the New Left emerged, workers claimed their rights, industrial production multiplied manifold, POTUS Nixon was forced to quit owing to his involvement in the Watergate tapes scandal, and America birthed a Baby Boomer generation, one that was American in body, mind and accomplishment, one that sought to compete on equal terms with Whites. Lacking many skills, Whites were pushed on the back foot and were coerced into allowing a more pluralistic society to emerge.
From Light to Darkness
For America, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light….” Yet, the same nation was staring at “the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.” The historical Cold War narrative (that percolated to kindergarten, explaining anti-Communism) continued unabated as the Soviet-Afghan war erupted in 1979 till 1989, even after the USSR disintegrated. Thereafter, misconceived military campaigns in Kosovo, Iraq and many more diverted American industry to servicing its war needs.
It was only a matter of time before all major production had, perforce, to be outsourced to a totalitarian regime in China, where output mattered more than did wages and rights. Over the next three decades, American industries disappeared, as did individual farming, while the production leash passed to China. This industrial downturn caused massive unemployment, liberal bank mortgage policies, and a huge crash in 2008. America never recovered from that near-mortal blow. It was the age of darkness with no spring of hope. Naturally, inter-community fault lines opened up again, with Whites reasserting their supremacy, with technology adding to large job redundancy.
MAGA Movement
POTUS Trump’s MAGA movement was a reaction to an America in decline. However, it was White America’s movement that further sharpened inter-community rivalries and anger at being sidelined, at losing whatever little they had gained in the last eight decades. Heavy-handedness in dealing with immigrants, even lawful ones, destroyed the outward pluralistic image of American society. As the economic recession deepened, White supremacism came to the fore, led by high priests like the POTUS himself and his lieutenants, like Pete Hegseth. Democratic Party-ruled America not only embroiled the country in massive overseas military adventures, nearly all of which failed, but also failed to apply anything more than Band-Aids to a tottering economy.
NATO Stretched
Even in its foreign relations, America’s Big Brother attitude has hit it square in the face, with NATO allies distancing themselves from the US and gradually cosying up to Russia. Bush’s mindless action against Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi left the Middle East region without any monitors, presumably to facilitate Israel. However, this has spectacularly backfired with Iran now having donned that mantle. In its relations with Russia, America has sacrificed its EU allies to the dictates of its domestic oil industry while exiting from defending Europe against an illusory Russian invasion.
Countering China
The American footprint in Latin America is under increasing economic pressure from China, never mind the Panama Canal theatrics; the same is the case in South Asia and Southeast Asia. Latin America never was a threat to the US from the days of the Monroe Doctrine (1823); American politicians turned it into one for their electoral and personal gain. Even Japan has thriving trade with China. Sanctions on Iranian and Russian oil and gas, too, have run their course, with more countries lining up for supplies. Whimsical import tariffs have destroyed America’s business reputation as countries have accelerated trade agreements with third countries such as India, China, Canada, and Brazil.
Defence vs Welfare
Hegseth’s latest demand for a $1.50 trillion defence budget is ruinous in a country where infra is in average condition (with numerous public works dating back to the New Deal), educational and R&D establishments are underfunded, medical costs are sky high, the SSA, Medicare and Medicaid are not far from bankruptcy, substantial school dropouts (to sustain families), high prison occupancy and crime, rape normalised, jobs being axed for AI with no alternatives, and myriad more life-threatening conditions.
America at 250 is “ so far like the present period that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only”. A nation does not survive on waging war for, as, Carl von Clausewitz put it, “War is an act of violence pushed to its utmost limits.” That limit has been reached by America when the world suffers existential economic crises, the Russian threat is illusory, a developed Cuba is a tourist’s delight, Russia is no longer capable of consuming Europe, a prosperous America can emerge as the world’s largest blue-bloodied democracy; a prosperous developing world can spread prosperity across the globe, sea lanes become safer for global trade, the environment would be way cleaner, people healthier and educated, energy and mineral flows equitably shared, all of which, and more, combine to largely close inter-faith and community fault lines. Instead of pursuing the AI bubble to establish totalitarian states for the good of a few businesspeople, America must create more opportunities for its people and assure them of QLI indices that befit the world’s foremost power. Thomas Jefferson said, “War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses.”
So, What Should the USA do?
America, you need to give up war as your sole means of foreign policy at 250 and concentrate on closing your own fault lines; the world will respect you again. In a popular Sioux proverb, “ With all things and in all things, we are relatives,” lies America’s redemption. Let 250 years of progress prove just that.
