Today marks a massive milestone. Two hundred and fifty years ago, a group of ordinary people set out to build a country based on a radical idea: that a government should serve the people, people the government. Over the last two and a half centuries, the American experiment has survived challenges that would have broken other nations. We have plenty of reasons to celebrate our endurance, our shared values, and the progress we have made together.
 

But true patriotism requires honesty. Loving our country means looking at our history clearly—both the triumphs and the times our government failed us. There have been dark chapters where Washington lost its way and stopped working for the people.
 

We were born with the stain of human slavery and colonialism and it took us 100 years to get over the first and the second still plagues us. We Had only existed two decades before regular citizens violently rebelled against the new federal government. In 1791 Washington imposed a tax on whiskey, poor farmers in western Pennsylvania—who used whiskey like currency—felt the distant government was unjustly squeezing them to pay off eastern war debts. They assaulted tax collectors, burned down their houses, and marched on Pittsburgh. It took President George Washington leading 13,000 militia troops into the field to suppress the uprising, proving that tension between the public and federal overreach started on day one.
 

During the Gilded Age (so praised and openly emulated by Trump) after the American Civil War the US experienced explosive economic growth, but the government completely sold out to big business and graft and corruption were rampant. Political machines like Tammany Hall ran major cities like personal piggy banks, stealing millions in taxpayer dollars through kickbacks. On the national stage, the Crédit Mobilier scandal exposed congressmen and even the Vice President accepting bribes and free shares from railroad monopolies in exchange for lucrative government subsidies.
 

During the 1950’s the paranoia of McCarthyism overrode our core constitutional rights. The government turned inward, launching witch hunts that destroyed the careers and lives of thousands of innocent Americans based on nothing more than suspicion and political theater.

In the 1970’s a sitting president used federal agencies like the FBI and CIA to spy on political opponents and cover up a criminal break-in, it shattered the American public's baseline trust in Washington. Coming right on the heels of the government misleading the public for years about the Vietnam War, Watergate created a profound, cynical disillusionment with the executive branch and federal power.
 

Lately, it feels like we are living through another one of those broken chapters. Washington is trapped by its failure to reform elections. Hyper-partisanship and gridlock has replaced passing basic, common-sense laws. The “tired and poor” are being routinely trampled by an Administration devoted to billionaires and mega-corporations.  Public trust in our institutions has plummeted to historic lows because every day Americans see a government ignoring their actual struggles.
 

But here’s the thing. To move forward we need to be as proud of our country for righting itself after our periods of greed, corruption, cruelty, and vanity as we are of those shining periods the idealism, valor, integrity, selflessness and egalitarianism.  Self-correction was intentionally built into our system of government. As we look ahead to the next 250 years, our goal should not be to pretend our history is perfect. Our goal must be to hold onto what has worked and discard elements of our government that do not work like the Supreme Court and broken election finance. We must learn from the moments the government failed so we can build a system that actually works today—one that protects your rights, answers your questions, and focuses on solving real problems. On this land liberty, freedom justice and the right to pursue a better life are where we start from each day. We at the Weekly Vantage and the Christian Komor for Governor campaign honor you as you do your own part to live those values. Thank you for being part of this journey. Happy Independence Day.