Do We Really Have That Much Greatness Left In America?

By Robert Kimball Shinkoskey Photos: YouTube Screenshots Corporate America certainly put on quite a display of patriotism this year in programs like ABC’s “Disney Celebrates America,” and CBS’s “Great American Block Party.” I have to say that the Disney special promised and delivered on “The largest, most spectacular fireworks and drone display in the city’s history.” However, the Nashville fireworks were very possibly the most monstrously excessive fireworks display to ever promote America’s already sky-high reputation for placing aesthetics over substance, fanfare over fundamentals, novelty over nobility, and material ostentation over common sense. It was truly grotesque. The little children, dogs, and veterans in the city will likely be traumatized for the rest of their lives. Folks, fireworks and drones will not bring America back. But they will help sink her deeper into dependence on autocratic leaders. Ryan Seacrest, that effervescent fanboy of the wealthy class in America, dutifully trumpeted all of this bigness of budget far more than generosity of spirit with his smooth-talking introductions of celebrity bands while the network overlaid montages of singing, dancing citizens. One thing was immediately apparent as the supposedly 500,000-strong crowd sang along with America’s greatest hits. Americans know the lyrics to country songs, but not the lyrics of the Constitution’s rule of law. They party-hearty much more effortlessly than they recall the history of democracy and the political science of consensual government. They bury their heads in the sand much more deeply than they dig into the necessary reconstruction of cities shattered by generations of rocketing crime and plummeting college entrance exam scores. The cities, corporations and networks putting on these kinds of shows clearly are resolutely dedicated to the status quo, which consists of civic bragging, sales of new drugs, cars, and phone services, and tawdry ratings figures. In past years and decades has America really accomplished so much that we warranted such an outrageous display of luxury, pomp and ceremony, and self-congratulation in 2026 while at the same time dutifully disregarding the many horrendous facts on the ground? Do we really know what we are celebrating at milestone 250 aside from victories in war, ending slavery and promoting voting rights? Do we even care that today we are losing wars, creating new forms of slavery like debt slavery, and sabotaging voting rights for minorities and Democrats? CBS touched on a number of patriotic heartstrings like Reba serenading the troops and congratulations for Taye Taye and Travis on their nuptials. But America’s talented musicians sang their hearts out like they knew nothing about America’s progressive frittering away of her early greatness in stages after the Civil War. Could they really see with their own eyes our lemming-like rush to the cliff-side in twenty-first century America after generations of post-World War II backsliding away from good citizenship? Do they even know about recent corporate monopolizing of economic power, the resurgence of racial hatred, and the never-ending superciliousness of American moviemaking and other forms of brain-sucking entertainment? Okay, I get it, America doesn’t care. And corporate America loves that America doesn’t care. It all fits together so beautifully and results in our ever-more hypocritical patriotic celebrations while we sink deeper and deeper into self-aggrandizing violence and ignorance. Robert Kimball Shinkoskey is the author of books and editorials on democracy, religion, and the American presidency.