As a dramatically and shockingly decreased number of our fellow Americans prepare to celebrate the 4th of July and the 250th Anniversary of the Republic created via the genius, courage, and tremendous sacrifice of the likes of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams, I believe there is no mystery as to what those Founding Fathers would say to the citizens of “The United States of America” of 2026. I truly believe they would scream out in unison: “You have all but lost the country we shed our blood, sweat, and tears to create. This is your last chance to save it.”
The reason as to why I believe they would scream out that warning is this: Five years ago, I began spending about one year of my life “living” in 1776. Literally, on the 4th of July 2021, I watched and heard multiple voices on the left speak about eliminating the 4th of July celebration; tearing down statues of our Founding Fathers; sandblasting their names off schools and buildings; and “canceling” their very existence.
From that fear and that year of my life came the book: The 56 – Liberty Lessons from those who risked all to sign The Declaration of Independence. A book which not only seeks to protect our Founding Fathers from cancellation, but which outlines how they would fight – and defeat – the left’s tyranny of today.
THE UNWINNABLE WAR AMERICA’S FOUNDING FATHERS FOUGHT AND WON CHANGED HUMAN HISTORY FOREVER
I believe that if Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, and other Founding Fathers saw the America of 2026, they would search out the citizens who still believed in their vision and demand that we “snap out of it.” They would articulate why the tyranny we face today is in many ways worse than the tyranny they fought in 1776.
Those heroic patriots would be stunned by the accession of socialist and communist embracing “leaders” such as Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, and Maine Democratic Senatorial nominee Graham Platner. Worse, they would be horrified by the results of recent polling showing that more than half of Americans under the age of 30 believe “democracy isn’t essential to the country’s identity.”
Let that sink in for a moment. More than half of the young people who will soon take control of the reins of our nation don’t believe the foundational Tenet pushed by Jefferson, Franklin, and Adams is essential. While chilling to so many of us, there is no doubt that a United States under socialist or even communist governance is a growing aspiration for the millions of our fellow citizens under the nation-destroying spell of AOC, Mamdani, and Platner.
If our Founding Fathers could see the United States of 2026, they would be sickened by the realization that after the political assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, many of our fellow Americans from literally every walk of life either cheered that murder or rationalized it. More depressingly, they would learn of multiple polls showing an increasing number of Americans sanctioning the murder of political or business leaders they oppose.
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“How,” those Founding Fathers might ask, “Did the nation we created turn into such a cauldron of hate spiced with totalitarian dictates?” But I believe those men would just as quickly come to the conclusion: “All is not lost.”
They would rightfully remind us that unless those bent on anarchism and totalitarianism imprison us or take our lives, they cannot take our voices. They cannot silence us.
We must now speak to the greatness of the Republic created by Jefferson, Franklin, and Adams. We must speak to each other about why the values passed down from our Founding Fathers are so important. We need to remind ourselves why the rule of law matters and why believing in something larger than ourselves makes us a better people.
THE AMERICAN DREAM ISN’T DEAD, BUT EACH ONE OF US NEEDS TO HELP IT TO THRIVE
I have no doubt that if those who created our nation could address those on the left seeking to cancel them, they would deliver one simple message: “If our history is bad, let us condemn it and learn from it. If it is good, let us praise it and build upon it. But let us never ever cancel our shared American history.”
To the rest of us, I believe our Founding Fathers would remind us of the line spoken by Benjamin Franklin when asked if our new nation was a monarchy or a republic? He immediately replied: “A Republic, if you can keep it.”
Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams would tell us that to reverse such a destructive slide, we must first acknowledge its existence, its severity, and how widespread it has become. Next, they would say that we must act. We must ring the alarm. They would remind us that starting around 1772, they created “Committees of Correspondence” to spread the word of the tyranny of the British crown.
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Our Founding Fathers would point out that 138 years after they created the “Committees of Correspondence,” Teddy Roosevelt gave a speech at the Sorbonne in Paris titled: “Citizenship in a Republic.” Remarks which became known as “The Man in the Arena.” In the body of the speech, Roosevelt stressed what our Founding Fathers deeply believed:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood…who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Jefferson, Franklin, and Adams might look at the United States of 2026 accelerating toward a socialist future being pushed by the likes of AOC, Mamdani, and Platner and tell us that we have arrived at the crossroads of “Victory” or “Defeat.” That it is our turn to step up.
On this, the 250th Anniversary of the greatest nation ever created, which road will we choose to walk? That blazed by our Founding Fathers, or the one which has led to the destruction of multiple nations in the past?
God Bless the United States of America. A republic if we can keep it.
