America’s 250th Anniversary: Mixed Emotions on Independence Day 250

Mixed emotions on Independence Day 250 (July 5, 2026)

There was a big patriotic party last night for the “4th of July 250.” As always, a lot of revelry, happy faces, loud music, dancing, bright lit drones, and the tried and true fireworks and flag waving. Go team America! 

Does it seem appropriate and meaningful that so many Americans refer to that day as simply “the 4th of July”; a day off, to barbecue and celebrate? Yeah! Maybe? But it is also a day to reflect on the blessings of liberty. Do we really understand what universal freedom is? How we get it? How we keep it?

“A republic, if you can keep it.”
– Benjamin Franklin’s reply to Elizabeth Willing Powel as he left Independence Hall at the end of the 1787 Constitutional Convention. She asked Franklin if the delegates had created a republic or a monarchy?

In contrast, some of us quietly spent the day away from the sights and sounds, reflecting on the meaning of independence and the freedom we inherited from those Americans who have fought for our liberty, with “sword” and “pen” since 1775. After all, fireworks can be a reminder of war for its warriors and victims. Not that I’m either, but I both celebrate, and mourn for their sacrifice, loss, and the loss of our freedom at the hands of foreign, and even domestic tyrants, none the less. 

“The pen is mightier than the sword.” 
– Edward Bulwer-Lytton

^‘11And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; ¹² and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. ¹³ And when Eli′jah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Eli′jah?”’ 
– 1 Kings 19:11-13

Then again, most children and adults delight in the glorious marvel of controlled colored explosions. However at some point in life, peace and prosperity are the main focus over noise and chaos. Since actual physical conflict, represented by that noise and chaos, almost no one likes. As Americans, immersed in fictional representations of conflict and actual news of military action, we would be surprised that some isolated rural populations in other parts of the world, who have heard rumors about us, do not covet our culture.

At the end of the Revolutionary War George Washington relinquished his power and position as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, and on December 23, 1783, quietly mounted his horse, and rode home to Mount Vernon in order to be home for Christmas. Prior to that day he avoided fanfare, military reviews, parades, and the trappings of fame and power. Before he left for Mount Vernon he gave his emotional resignation speech at a crowded Maryland State House. His emotion was so intense that he had to hold his speech with both hands and many in his audience wept.

The idea that a commander of an army would hand military power back to a civilian government was unheard of, and shocked the world. King George III remarked that Washington was “the greatest man in the world” for not declaring himself emperor of America.

George Washington was a devout Christian and therefore a humble leader, understanding his subordinate place in the hierarchy of leadership in “one nation under God.” In similar fashion, the person he worshiped – Jesus Christ – mounted a donkey on his way into Jerusalem, through the cross, His death, Hell, His resurrection, and finally home to Heaven. 

Washington’s life’s earthly battle required superhuman strength, which he would likely say did not come from within himself. Jesus Christ’s earthly battle was in His time, in the non-eternal end times since, and of the here and now – still waging, is matched, and will be defeated by a divine strength, love, and power we cannot comprehend. 

God’s love for us is such that He laid down his life for our ransom. The authoritarians at the time saw His death as a victory, until he victoriously resurrected and defeated death itself. In the subsequent centuries, that resurrection conquered the world through the “minds and hearts” of whole populations of common people; in spite of human political and military coercion cloaked in religious clerical intent. Instead, the discipleship of Christianity offered meaning, purpose, peace, courage, salvation, and free will within the framework of willing the good of the other – love.

“Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought.”
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority.”
– Lord John Dalberg-Acton


The American Revolution started, as John Adams remarked four decades after the war, as the thoughts and spirit in the “minds and hearts of the people.” How is it that so many Americans united with the same important idea of human free will and self governance forgotten repeatedly throughout history? Answer: A miracle of Divine Providence.

Let’s make our 250th year a call for common Americans to learn and live their heritage of freedom. True liberty needs a dominating culture instilled in the general population upstream from politics and protected from those who would dominate us. Let us call July 4th what it is – Independence Day! As Americans, we are not here to be dependent on our government. Our government is dependent on us to give consent to govern, as stated clearly in the Declaration of Independence. And our rights and free will are given by God.

Learn more here at the Libertarian Christian Institute, and the states’ Article V, US Constitutional Amendment efforts at ConventionOfStates.com .

picture attribution: Independence Day “Let Freedom Ring” Event – U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys, South Korea – 4 July 2012

Source: https://libertarianchristians.com/2026/07/09/mixed-emotions-on-independence-day-250/