Bridge Over Troubled Water

Fifty years ago on July 4th 1976, during the American bicentennial of its birthday, the nation had just witnessed the daring rescue of the operation in Entebbe where Israeli commandos freed 102 hostages who were hijacked on board Air France 139 and flown to Uganda. The raid saw the death of the commander of the raid Yonatan Netanyahu, then the older brother of the future Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In the United States for the American celebration, according to the Smithsonian, "millions of people gathered for public readings of the Declaration of Independence." History.com reported "the Native American Trail of self determination was organized to educate the public on indigenous mistreatment."

It is a day when a segment of Americans celebrate their freedom on Juneteenth but also remember that it would not have not been possible without the unintended consequences of the Declaration of Independence.

The Fourth of July, is a day of jubilation and reconciliation with a past that doesn't always live up to Gov. John Winthrop's city on a shining hill.

As the nation now starts its journey to its next 250 years, a huge segment of the nation is hopeful about becoming a more perfect union.

During the fireworks display, as people celebrated this great milestone, we heard Paul Simon's iconic song Bridge Over Troubled Water. Even with the celebratory feelings of the nation, America is presently over troubled waters. The troubled waters are a visibly corrupt politics, a rejection of norms that has protected people from wrongful arrest and even murder, a desire to erase history, an extreme obsession with corrupting the next election and a strange predilection to treat its allies as enemies.

Even as it moves forward towards a more perfect union unfortunately, our nation still possesses the images of ugliness. As thousands gathered in Washington DC, on Saturday, hundreds of masked men marched through Washington DC chanting Reclaim America. These were members of the Patriot Front. Patriot Front was founded after the 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. It calls for America to become a white ethno-state. It is their constitutional right to march but it is the responsibility of leadership to condemn this as well. Unfortunately, the ugliness of this day is represented in the eyes of some of the nation's leaders namely Donald Trump, Stephen Miller, Kash Patel and Pete Hegseth.

“President Trump cannot condemn the Patriot Front marchers because they are him. He cannot condemn what he is and what he is a product of.”

Tony Aguilar

President Trump according to Congress.gov removed the explicit prohibition against segregated facilities. The NY Times reported the Trump administration directed the general service administration to remove long-standing clauses, explicitly prohibiting segregated facilities from new federal contracts. He has also reportedly weakened housing laws that protected people against housing discrimination. Perhaps it's because he still carries a grudge against the Department of Justice which indicted him and his father for housing discrimination in New York. He also removed two of the National Park Services free days namely MLK Day and Juneteenth.

President Trump cannot condemn the Patriot Front marchers because they are him. He cannot condemn what he is and what he is a product of. Even as the president traveled to Ankara for the NATO Summit the ugliness was still on display. His antagonizing of European allies including Spain, United Kingdom and blaming Italy's Prime Minister Georgia Meloni for not assisting with the Iran war. His attack on Greenland once again leads to a potential conflict between NATO allies.

In 1971, the FBI had officially shut down COINTELPRO a program which was used to spy on American citizens and according to the Church Committee "found that the FBI had completely violated first amendment rights and abused its federal authority."

While its various changes didn't totally rehabilitate its reputation, under the ugliness of FBI Director Kash Patel, the reputation of the nation's foremost law enforcement agency has again been sullied through its political purges, and weaponizing of the agency. Secretary Hegseth's critique of women in the military, dislike and rejection of Christian ethics draws attention to the ugliness of Christian nationalism. According to the NY Times Senator Jack Reed during Senate testimony that nearly 60% of the senior officer fired or sidelined were women or Black. Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller's abnormal hatred of immigrants is beyond the animosity of Herbert Hoover, Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt and John Adams. The attempt to end birthright citizenship is an attack on the fundamental of America.

The scene from the train of a young Black woman surrounded by masked Patriot Marchers on July 4th, 2026 will be iconic for years to come.

America, like all nations is not perfect but within its DNA, there is a gene of decency that has enabled it to move beyond its failings.

One solution to America's ailments is in its racial, religious, ethnic and gender diversity. It resides in its institutions such as colleges, law firms and corporate entities who reject Chamberlainesque appeasement towards the present administration.

It will be the rejection of the public and private displays of corruption and the pushback against attempts to turn media into instruments of propaganda through disinformation. America's greatness is not only its military and economic prowess. It also lies in its resistance to injustice whether through the civil rights movement, opposition to Japanese internment and the women's movement. It resides in its use of soft power through agencies such as USAID.

Our nation has at times heeded the words of James Madison who said in Federalist No. 48 "there are more instances of the abridgments of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." Elizabeth Willing Powell asked Benjamin Franklin "what form of government the Constitution had decided on" responded "a republic if you can keep it." America must continue to heed the words of James Madison. To ignore those words would make the answer to Franklin's retort a definite no we cannot.