This July 4th, Reflect on What America Could Be

Tampa Bay Times Column by Steven Arango 6/22/2025

This Fourth of July, as fireworks crackle across the sky and families gather for cookouts and parades, we’ll celebrate America’s founding. But amid the patriotic fanfare, we ought to pause — not just to reflect on what America is, but to reckon with what America could be. Because right now, the American experiment is at risk daily from within.

Our democracy is fraying — not because we disagree, but because we’ve forgotten how to disagree. We no longer assume good faith in our neighbors. We treat politics like a blood sport and fellow citizens like enemies. We are being trained — by algorithms, cable news segments and influencers — to see the country in binary terms: red or blue, rural or urban, patriotic or un-American. This mindset doesn’t just stall progress. It chips away at the very foundation of our self-government.

Democracy, after all, isn’t self-executing. It doesn’t run on autopilot. It survives only when citizens choose to uphold it — when we choose to show up, contribute and serve. And that’s what we need to recover: a culture of service. Not just military service, although I’ve seen firsthand how profound and unifying that can be. I mean service in every form: teaching, caregiving, volunteering, mentoring, voting, working in public institutions, even simply being an engaged neighbor. These acts, humble and unglamorous, are what keep a pluralistic society functioning. They’re how trust is built, how divides are bridged, how a nation renews itself. I’ve seen this spirit up close and personal.

My grandfather was just 17 when he requested an age waiver from the Marine Corps so he could fight in World War II. He returned from the Pacific wounded but with his conviction intact: that this country — flawed and unfinished — would always be worth defending.

My father immigrated here from Venezuela with little money, no safety net and few connections. But he had a work ethic forged in hardship and a belief in America’s promise. This country gave him a shot; and, in return, he has been able to save countless lives on the operating table.

My mother has been a pediatrician for over 30 years. My stepmother served as a nurse. My wife has deployed to the Middle East a couple of times. My brother wakes up every morning prepared to take a bullet for his country.

All of them serve in their own way not because of the perfection of this country but the possibility.

That distinction matters. America was never meant to be a finished product. The founders did not declare the mission accomplished in 1776. They simply ignited the experiment, one that depends on every generation deciding whether to keep it going. We inherit not a conclusion but a question: Will we rise to the occasion? Or let apathy, division and cynicism do what no enemy has managed to do: unravel us from the inside out.

Behind every flag waved this July Fourth will be a human being — an American — doing their best to live up to our shared ideals. To instead assume the worst in our fellow man and woman amounts to a brand of pessimism that America has never and will never condone. Whether born here or newly naturalized; whether you pray in a church, mosque, synagogue, or not at all; whether your ancestors fought in the Revolution or arrived yesterday, you are part of this American experiment. And the next chapter depends on all of us to strive for the America that could be.

That doesn’t mean we ignore our differences. On the contrary, America’s strength has always been found in our differences — of thought, background, identity and belief. America is and always has been a nation of Indigenous peoples and immigrants, of enslaved ancestors who fought for dignity, of pioneers, workers and visionaries. Our history has been complicated, often painful but always marked by progress, driven by people from every walk of life. We may disagree — even passionately — but at our best, we do so under a shared commitment to one another and to the republic we’re still shaping.

That’s the truth too many forget in our era of outrage: that we’re in this together. That the person who voted differently isn’t your enemy. That democracy demands more than posting opinions. It demands effort, listening, compromise and, above all, belief. Belief in each other. Belief that we can disagree without dehumanizing. Belief that liberty, dignity and self-government are still worth fighting for, not with fists or fury, but with courage, compassion and civic grit.

History teaches us that most democracies fail. They don’t collapse overnight. They erode gradually, when citizens stop showing up, stop believing and stop serving. That should alarm us, but more important, it should mobilize us.

This Independence Day, don’t celebrate just what America has been. Recommit to building what America could be. The fireworks will fade. The hot dogs will be eaten. But the next chapter of this country — still unwritten — belongs to every single one of us.

Steven Arango is a native Floridian, a former Marine officer and an attorney. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer, the Marine Corps, the Department of the Navy, the Department of Defense or the U.S. government