America turns 250 this week. That should be the easiest unifying moment in politics.
Instead, the bipartisan America250 organization — created by Congress a decade ago to plan this celebration — got sidelined by an executive order creating "Freedom 250," a rival event the White House controls. Federal agencies pulled down America250 banners. Most of the $150 million Congress allocated went to the new organization. Artists who were announced for Freedom 250 concerts dropped out when they learned who was behind it, and the whole concert series got scrapped and replaced with a rally.
This isn't about left or right. This is a 250th birthday party for the entire country being turned into a campaign event. Every American — regardless of who they voted for — should be able to celebrate what this nation has accomplished and reflect on the work still ahead without it being stamped with anyone's personal brand.
Like the inauguration celebration, Freedom 250 is being financed through a murky public-private funding scheme with companies like United Airlines, Palantir, Deloitte, and Lockheed Martin sponsoring the festivities. Plans that had been years in the making were upended overnight so that agencies and federal funding could be redirected behind one person's lavish, partisan vision of patriotism.
This is exactly the kind of thing that makes people cynical about politics. Not every moment needs to be a fight. Not every national occasion needs to be branded. The Fourth of July is supposed to be about all of us — the founding ideals, the progress we've made, the work we still have to do, and the shared identity that holds 330 million people together despite our differences.
America is bigger than any one president. Act like it.
Happy 250th, America. You deserve better than this.