Michael Goodwin: America 250 showed the pride and joy this country has to offer
America’s 250th birthday inspired one helluva party, from a national outpouring of flag-waving patriots to a glorious parade of tall ships in New York Harbor.From sea to shining sea, the festivities were bolstered by a timely and unprecedented World Cup pandemonium, with the excitement multiplied by tens of thousands of global visitors cheering on their teams.Alas, the morning-after headache is a doozy.Our national soccer team crashed and burned on its path to glory and the return of politics-as-usual marks a dramatic comedown from the celebratory highs of the long and very special weekend.Before the excitement is forgotten, decency compels us to remember the many expressions of joyful pride and what they tell us about our grand nation, and its unique contribution to the entire human race.The vast majority of Americans, to the chagrin of the political left and their media handmaidens, do indeed love their country.
They are deeply proud, and not at all ashamed, of how we got to the top of the heap and how we stay there.A personal favorite involved the parade of tall ships and the expressions of genuine affection they conveyed from long-term allies on our special birthday.Watching the harbor events on NBC News, my guard was up for any hints of the legacy media’s habit of lapsing into anti-Americanism.Happily, I detected none and was grateful that the network’s anchors and reporters appeared to be sharing in the joy of the hot but glorious day.They were fully engaged in what American independence has meant at home and around the world for 250 years — and what it continues to mean, even in these tense and difficult times.As embodied by our founding documents and their championing of individual rights and limits on government power, the resulting national greatness has been and remains an inspirational example for people around the world.One obvious aspect of that shining city on the hill is how our extraordinary military might has been used to spread the bless...