Philip Gulley was 15 when the United States turned 200. His parents threw a big block party at their home in central Indiana, and Republican and Democratic neighbors alike celebrated the occasion. Everyone seemed exuberant, he remembers, with the festivities lasting well into the night.
Now, as the US turns 250, Gulley, a 65-year-old Quaker pastor and writer, no longer wants to party. He’s so disillusioned by the nation’s current state of affairs that he won’t even participate in his usual July 4 family tradition of watching fireworks at the local school. When asked what he plans to do for the semiquincentennial, his reply is terse: “Nothing.”
A majority of Americans seem to share Gulley’s discontent. National pride and satisfaction with the country’s direction have been on the decline for decades, and the mood heading into the 250th anniversary is particularly grim. Nearly 70% of Americans say that they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the US, while about 60% say that the country’s best years are behind it, according to the Pew Research Center. Gallup polling shows that only about half of the nation’s inhabitants say they are “extremely proud” or “very proud” to be an American, a 25-year record low. And another survey from the firm finds that more than three in four Americans say that the Founding Fathers would be disappointed in how the country has turned out.
