Lots of folks questioning if we should celebrate today or celebrate the founding fathers. This is the way I see it:

American independence and the men and women who fought for it were often seriously flawed. It wasn’t freedom for everyone. But it was a step *toward* freedom.

That’s the key distinction for me whenever someone asks. People aren’t screaming for statues of George Washington to come down because he didn’t explicitly fight to keep people from freedom. The Confederacy did. America was a small, faltering step in the right direction.

We’re still shambling and stumbling, mostly in the right direction. It’s taking far too long and far too much effort. Almost half of our population is actively trying to push it all backward. But I’ll always be happy to acknowledge positive change.

We fought to free ourselves from the colonialist rule of a tyrannical monarch and we gifted ourselves a democracy. It was an imperfect democracy, for sure, but it was a *more* perfect union. So that’s cool.

And look: I am well aware of all our flaws and our crimes as a country. There’s no need to come into the replies reminding me about the genocide of indigenous peoples or the slave trade or the carceral state. I get it, and I think we should acknowledge those things and more.

I think we should fight to make our more perfect union... well, more perfect. Every day. And people are, and I think that’s wonderful. Our country has been kind of ugly, but the promise of what we could be and what people fight for every day? That’s beautiful.

So, basically this:

And hey, by the way, if you don’t feel the same as I do, that’s cool. I can understand why plenty of folks wouldn’t. This is just my take.