Jingo Bells
The Nonsense of July 4th

ELIZABETH GEORGE
July 05, 2026

Let me begin by saying that many people will be offended by this essay. Some people will be grossly offended. Some people will agree. What I say in these essays is—to state the obvious—my own opinion. Hence, the title of my substack: In My ‘Umble Opinion.

I have a problem with the fireworks, flag waving, parades, brass bands, marching students, soldiers, honor guards, and what-have-you that are the usual elements we see on the 4th of July. I’ve always found them troubling, and this year I found them offensive. But what I found even more offensive were the numerous essays, speeches, and countless social media declarations that appeared to be trying to smooth over our present situation in the United States. These placed emphasis on the fact that America is a work in progress, a country that is still “striving” to become “a more perfect union,” as envisioned by our esteemed Founding Fathers.

Let us be honest and steel ourselves to consider a few facts. America is a country that was established by a group of rich white men—some of them slaveholders, some of them not, all of them property owners, all of them men of means—for other rich white men whose purpose was to remain rich white men. It was not established for Native Americans, the enslaved, the impoverished, or the unpropertied. And it most decidedly was not established for any woman: be she rich, poor, enslaved, free, married, unmarried, educated or uneducated, white, Black, brown, etc. Indeed, even as I write this, the Equal Rights Amendment—giving women rights equal to men (gasp!)—has not been ratified despite having been presented to the states for ratification fifty-four years ago. I doubt it will be ratified during my lifetime, if ever.

What, then, demonstrates our “striving to become a more perfect union”? What demonstrates our noble 250-year-old effort? Throughout the days leading up to the 4th, there appeared to be a harsh reality that few people wanted to face: This country elected into the presidency a person of unequaled malignancy. Despite being exposed to his views on races that are not white, on women, on immigrants, on Muslims, on Asians, on elections, on religious institutions, on education, on justice, on the right to vote, on sexual predation, on power, on entitlement, and on a score of other things that made him the most unsuitable person in the history of the country to serve as its President, Donald Trump was elected. Twice. And since that time, his striving to form a more perfect union—that striving touted in the leadup to the 4th by the essay writers, commentators, journalists, and social media gurus and influencers—has taken the form of enriching his cronies, accepting bribes, glorifying himself in various obscene and ignorant ways, violating his oath of office, starting a needless war, militarily supporting genocide, violating the Constitution, accepting specious awards, accumlating gifts, taking pay-offs, insulting allies, manipulating the stock market to enrich himself, and threatening the takeover of other countries. He has put into place individuals whose purposes have so far had nothing to do with “striving to form a perfect union” but rather with persecuting individuals who do not fit an image of what a true American is. Indeed, there has not been one day of “striving to form a more perfect union” that I can identify as of this writing, and I believe it can be said that neither Trump nor a single member of his oleaginous cabinet has been caught striving to form a perfect anything.

But from what I read and heard in the days leading up to the 4th, it seemed that we ordinary Americans were not supposed to be seeing what’s been going on. Instead, we appeared to be encouraged to retreat back to the Vietnam War era in which one of the cries of those individuals who could not ever face the idea that the US could involve itself in something destructive to the lives of a people trying to free their country from roughly 1,000 years of foreign occupation was: “My country right or wrong.” At the height of the antiwar movement, this aphorism was printed on bumper stickers, on Tshirts, and on posters. It was the battle cry of the jingoist: It’s my country and I will not condemn its actions. Indeed, I will not even question its actions.

In the lead-up to the 4th of July, there were those who declared that Donald Trump and his ship of fools were not going to “steal our celebration” from us. There were those who said that not to celebrate was somehow to give in to the Trump administration, to let them “win”. No, we were told we had to buy fireworks, attend celebrations, have barbecues, watch parades, celebrate with our families, and above all to enjoy the “promise of America” and the incredible “experiment” of self-government that was proposed in Philadelphia 250 years ago. No matter that the promise of America—freedom! choice! largesse!—was made to rich white men. No matter that the promise of America is even more today made to rich white men. We were encouraged to see it as our patriotic duty to celebrate not who we were, not what we’ve done, and certainly not who we are today, but rather the fact that we’re still “striving.”

The Supreme Court may remove any number of our rights while we shoot off fireworks. The Government may employ masked and armed individuals to snatch people off the street. Male white supremacists may march in formation, conveniently masked, down Pennsylvania Avenue. Citizens might have to decide between prescription medicines and food, between having a roof over their heads or having medical insurance, between caring for their children or having a minimum wage job. But by God, we’re going to celebrate because celebrating means we’re still striving to form a more perfect union. Or at least that’s what the talking heads were telling us.

I don’t hate America by any means. But I mourn a promise that could have been made to the people of this country 250 years ago instead of the promise that was made: white men will run things and enrich themselves doing so until they run everything into the ground.

Let me be clear. I don’t object to people celebrating. I object to people pretending they’re celebrating something that has never existed, probably will never exist, and— in the reduced form it now takes—does not even come close to existing at this time. And that is not “striving to become” anything. That is a national tragedy.

© 2026 Elizabeth George
548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104