Another month has passed, and with it, the predictable chorus of complaints about Pride Month. Every June, like clockwork, we hear the same disingenuous refrain: “Why don’t we celebrate veterans this much?” or “What about men’s month?”
These critics conveniently ignore that Military Appreciation Month happens every May, Autism Awareness Month fills April, and dozens of other recognition months populate our calendar year-round.
This false concern for other groups barely masks what really bothers them: a month dedicated to celebrating people who were once criminalized for love and deemed mentally ill. The LGBTQ+ community endured centuries of persecution, imprisonment, and forced “treatment” for the crime of existing authentically. But acknowledging that history apparently threatens some people’s comfort more than actual injustice ever does.
Now we transition into July, when we celebrate America’s independence just as we rapidly descend into the chaos that could mark the end of our once-great republic. The irony is almost entertaining if I wasn’t part of the cast.
We celebrate our right to free speech and assembly while protesters, not rioters, get shot and gassed by a federalized National Guard.
Those who justify this violence cherry-pick isolated moments of chaos from overwhelmingly peaceful demonstrations, conveniently ignoring that the right to assembly means nothing if it only applies when the message is comfortable and convenient.
We celebrate freedom of religion as Texas mandates the Ten Commandments in every classroom. Can you imagine the apocalyptic outrage if schools were required to display Islamic teachings, Jewish principles, or Buddhist philosophy instead?
The same people who scream about religious persecution when asked to respect others’ beliefs suddenly become constitutional scholars when grooming children with their own faith.
We celebrate our right to speedy and fair trials while families are torn apart at the border and sent away without due process.
“Love thy neighbor” apparently has geographic limitations, and “welcome the stranger” comes with asterisks about documentation status. The cognitive dissonance is staggering, claiming to follow the teachings of a refugee while treating modern refugees as invaders. Claiming they broke the law only goes so far — you probably sped to work at some point … should we send you to El Salvador?
Yes, yes, it’s not the same thing, we have heard it all.
We celebrate states’ rights while “blue” states get targeted by ICE raids designed to punish political opposition rather than enhance public safety. Federalism is sacred when it protects conservative policies but becomes tyrannical when liberal states dare to protect their residents from federal overreach.
We celebrate our nation’s economy while watching what’s falsely labeled a “Big Beautiful Bill” guts health care for over 15 million (probably including people cheering for it) while giving the ultra-wealthy even more tax breaks.
Trickle-down economics has been thoroughly debunked for decades, yet somehow voters keep getting fooled into thinking billionaires’ tax cuts will magically improve their own finances. Spoiler alert: they won’t.
The American Dream that once seemed within reach for anyone willing to work hard has become a cruel joke for younger generations.
My generation and those after face an economy where full-time employment barely covers basic living expenses, where homeownership requires generational wealth, where health care bankrupts us, and where education costs more than many people will earn in years, with very little return.
We start from the bottom with no realistic path to the middle, let alone the top. The ladder of economic mobility has been torn apart by those who climbed it when the steps were closer together and the height was manageable. Now they lecture about bootstraps from their pedestals, willfully blind to how the game has changed.
Yet I still love America … not the America we’ve become, but the America we could be.
I love the radical idea that ordinary people can govern themselves, that power flows from the consent of the governed, that liberty and justice aren’t reserved for the privileged few.
I love the incredible notion that what WE can achieve together is limitless.
But love requires honesty, to quote James Baldwin. “I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”
True patriotism confronts the uncomfortable truths rather than wrapping ourselves in flags while ignoring the injustices.
Independence Day should be a moment of reflection, not just celebration. We gained independence from tyranny once before. The question is whether we have the courage to do it again, but this time from the tyranny of our own making.
This July 4th, as fireworks light up the sky and politicians deliver empty speeches about freedom, ask yourself: Are we celebrating what we are, or mourning what we’re losing?
Are we building the more perfect union they envisioned, or retreating into tribal divisions that will destroy us?
Andrew Taban is a former legislative staffer. “Democratic Voices” appears Tuesdays and rotates among several local Democrats.
