Published June 30, 2026
Sometimes it blows my mind that the U.S. bicentennial was 50 years ago and that I was old enough to be well aware of it at the time. My freshman year high school yearbook featured a theme centered on it, including photos from the Bicentennial Day we’d had that school year. Other reminders were everywhere.
I didn’t have a musket and bayonet, but as a cosplaying Revolutionary War soldier I dressed as appropriately as I could according to the assignment, marching alongside a classmate holding a flag on a pole and another with a white bandage wrapped around his head, signifying he was wounded.
I’m there on one of those two facing pages. Spoiler alert: I don’t look the same half a century later.
There’s not much in the way of specifics that I can cite from what we learned that year about this nation’s history, but I’m certain the 1976 version of me would be horrified by what we’ve become — and by who’s more or less okay with it.
for those of us old enough to remember, the difference in the vibes between then and now simply cannot be described
— shauna (@goldengateblond.bsky.social) June 28, 2026 at 6:06 PM
Yes. And we had a Republican president!
I also know that although I had wonderful teachers, I didn’t have any like this (as seen on the final day of class before summer 1976 in the movie “Dazed and Confused.”)
Before I focus on the present day, I’m going to revisit 1976 for a slice of life as I remember it. It should go without saying that my experience isn’t universal, and that this is not meant to be a comprehensive summary of that year.
I mostly remember the songs
I remember walking 1.8 miles that summer to the place where I spent most of my time when I wasn’t at home. There’s not a molecule in my body that wants any part of that here in the summer of 2026.
We played Ping-Pong at that community gathering place and listened to albums by Firesign Theatre (“Nick Danger, Third Eye”), Monty Python, and others. Songs on the radio 50 years ago included “Misty Blue,” “Afternoon Delight,” “Happy Days” and “Baretta’s Theme.”
“Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” which I immediately loved, debuted that week. At some point that summer, “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight” played during a game of Ping-Pong. I didn’t understand all of the lyrics, and a slightly older person who helped stabilize my teenage angst explained them to me.
“I’m not talking ’bout millenin,” he said, using a word that I later discovered didn’t exist and that I still have know idea how to spell. “It means he’s not talking about forever, just that night.” Too many years later, a woman I became friends with set me straight.
“I’m not talking ’bout moving in,” she said, laughing, “and I don’t want to change your life.”
“Silly Love Songs” was No. 1, and I remember riding in a car with older guys who were mocking Paul McCartney for the songs he was producing post-Beatles. Me? I loved it. Especially the bass! What was wrong with those dudes?
I began to suspect that getting older could be a bad thing.
It was an Olympic year
Years before the Dream Team era began, the U.S. men’s basketball team in 1976 was talented enough to win back the gold after the shock of ’72, but looking at the names on the roster now is a bit underwhelming. Nothing personal, guys.
Remember Nadia Comăneci? She didn’t perform to “Nadia’s Theme,” but the song came to be associated with her and her highlights. The Games of 1976 were maybe the best ever for the U.S. in boxing. Watching Lasse Virén was mesmerizing. Here in a World Cup year, it’s fun to think back on the international flavor of the ’76 Olympics.
We weren’t the center of the universe after all, though. Montreal hosted the Games that summer. Thankfully, Canada remains its own country today. We haven’t seriously tried to swallow it for ourselves yet.
For those who don’t follow sports and haven’t really had the opportunity to get to know Canada men’s national football team head coach Jesse Marsch, he is probably one of the few Americans who addressed the insulting “51st state” rhetoric head-on since day one.
❤️🍁🇨🇦TEAM CANADA FOREVER🇨🇦🍁❤️
1/3 🧵— 🍁🇨🇦Team Canada Forever🇨🇦🍁 (@teamcanadaforever.bsky.social) June 28, 2026 at 9:35 PM
Also, don’t be surprised if I move to Canada someday soon. I have ancestors from there, and new avenues for trans Americans to pursue asylum there have opened up that I’m exploring.
Anyway, the U.S. finished third in gold, silver and total medals in the 1976 Summer Games.
Yes, I’m stalling
Maybe you’ve guessed by now that I am reluctant to get to the point. The way the U.S. has plummeted in many aspects nauseates me.
Yes, you’re in serious trouble, America.
For starters, everywhere I turn, (mostly) men want to take away our autonomy. The tech lords are cramming AI (an umbrella term I use for several things I want no part of) into places most of us don’t want it. Remember when we heard “embrace cryptocurrency or be left behind”? It’s the same song, different verse.
I’m not going to list for you all of the ways choice is being taken from us, all the freedoms we had in 1976 that we no longer have or that are imperiled. It’s all out there for you to read about. Perhaps what sickens me most is that the bad guys are doing it in the name of freedom, and they have convinced tens of millions to go along.
Meanwhile, the president says, “I love the inflation.” I’m old enough to remember when inflation was a major issue Republicans used to seize the White House in the three elections after 1976.
A survey of military families found that for the first time this year, rising grocery prices were a key driver to families being unable to afford healthy meals.
Many reported skipping meals or reducing portion sizes so other family members could eat.
federalnewsnetwork.com/defense-news…— Eric Michael Garcia (@ericmgarcia.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 6:22 AM
“I support the troops” is an easy thing to say and costs you nothing. But, do you? Does the party you vote for really support the troops?
SCOTUS has turned the first amendment into a protection for businesses and dark money, changed the 2nd from a protection of militias to a protection for assault weapons in private hands, read the text of the 11th like crazy people, and inverted the 14th to hurt the people it was supposed to protect.
— Eric Segall (@espinsegall.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 6:19 AM
The Supreme Court, at least as far back as the late June 2013 decision that gutted major parts of the Voting Rights Act, is in on the destruction. The annual June gut punches come right before July 4th. How about that? This week’s decisions eased up on the throttle, but let’s wait to see what happens to birthright citizenship down the road after Tuesday’s troubling signs.
As I look at the faces in my yearbook, I am horrified by how many at that Catholic high school publicly declared their support for this administration. It is destroying the U.S. we learned about 50 years ago, and doing so in the name of a perverted form of Christianity.
Christian nationalism can go to hell. If there is a Jesus, I am sure he’s weeping.
Wait, SCOTUS wasn’t finished
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court completed its slate for this term.
The Supreme Court today addressed one of the most pressing threats to the nation today: banning this high school sophomore from playing school sports with her friends 🫡🫠🙃
— Parker Molloy (@parkermolloy.com) June 30, 2026 at 7:23 AM
That’s Becky Pepper-Jackson, the plaintiff in one of the trans sports ban cases.
First (but *not* last) #SCOTUS ruling is the two transgender discrimination cases.
For the usual 6-3 majority, Justice Kavanaugh *upholds* state bans on transgender athletes in public sports under *both* Title IX and the Fourteenth Amendment:
www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p…
— Steve Vladeck (@stevevladeck.bsky.social) June 30, 2026 at 7:02 AM
One clarification: It’s 6-3 on equal protection (the big question); it’s actually unanimous on Title IX, but on *very* different grounds.
— Steve Vladeck (@stevevladeck.bsky.social) June 30, 2026 at 7:06 AM
thomas simply couldn’t join the opinion, this corrupt, misanthropic bigot had to throw in his two cents and put his bigotry into the record
— jamelle (@jamellebouie.net) June 30, 2026 at 7:09 AM
See, people always want to make this just about “sports,” but the real upshot here is that, 6-3, trans women can’t make a claim under the Equal Protection Clause. And if they can’t do that, it’s hard to see how they have constitutional rights.
— ElieNYC (@elienyc.bsky.social) June 30, 2026 at 7:16 AM
And there it is. They’re chipping away at our rights until we have none.
Clarence Thomas wrote a whole concurrence just to say that he thinks trans people don’t exist. There’s no extra *law* there or anything. Just fired off a couple of paragraphs to say that transgender is not a thing and people who think they’re trans are crazy.
— ElieNYC (@elienyc.bsky.social) June 30, 2026 at 7:23 AM
For my money, the most ominous takeaway from this Supreme Court term is that we now have *four* justices parroting voter fraud conspiracy theories that are ripped straight from Trump’s Truth Social posts. If Trump gets to replace a liberal (or Roberts), things are gonna get worse in a hurry.
— Jay Willis (@jaywillis.net) June 29, 2026 at 6:55 PM
It’s somehow simultaneously shocking that there were only 6 votes to preserve birthright citizenship *and* that they did it at all
— Jon Phillips (@jowiph.bsky.social) June 30, 2026 at 7:39 AM
Kavanaugh concurred in the result here but said if Congress removed birthright citizenship for undocumented folks he’d be okay with it. So some ambiguity over which “side” he is on. Probably better thought of as 5-4
— Wrycke (@wrycke.bsky.social) June 30, 2026 at 7:39 AM
The fact that this Birthright citizen decision is 6-3 and not 9-0 tells us everything we need to know
— Kieran Meadows (@kieranbluesky.bsky.social) June 30, 2026 at 7:42 AM
How tf is right!
Their dissent has completely disqualified them to serve as justices on SCOTUS.
— Allison Richards @PC2DC (@pc2dc.bsky.social) June 30, 2026 at 7:45 AM
The Birthright citizenship ruling should be a wake up call to any Dem who is still on the fence about court reform. We are essentially one seat change away from the Court undoing Reconstruction by fiat.
— Ned Resnikoff (@resnikoff.bsky.social) June 30, 2026 at 7:42 AM
As for not reining in big money in politics, here’s Justice Kagan: “I’m not sure what to call a remnant of a remnant, but that is what the Court has left today. And the result will be what Justice Breyer warned of: a legal regime increasingly unable to stop political corruption, and thus to preserve our institutions’ democratic legitimacy.”
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1.bsky.social) June 30, 2026 at 7:57 AM
As someone said, celebrating our independence from a monarch while we have a president who is largely being enabled as a king as the table is set for more such shenanigans is indeed a somber and scary note for our 250th birthday.
I’m not optimistic
I often think there’s no coming back from this. Too many people watch Fox News Channel, read far-right propaganda and believe it all. The critical thinking I learned 50 years ago is not as common as I imagined at the time.
So I don’t know how to end this post. I think we’re done — unless Americans decide we should be what we say we are, unless Christians decide to be what they claim to be, and unless a lot more Republicans leave the party cult. There are just too many people who’d have to admit they messed up, and I don’t think enough of them will.
America at 250 years old is a sorry state of affairs, an impetuous brat with anger issues and too much acting out. We can fix this, but I don’t think we’re going to. Every day for years we’ve been dishonoring the sacrifice of those in World War II who prevailed against the Nazis. The three branches of the federal government are thieves of what they protected. There is no excusing it. None. Not even if you have a robust 401(k) from it.
The Supreme Court Gives Donald Trump Full Control Over the Executive Branch, Except the Part of It that Impacts Their Retirement Portfolios
— Cristian Farias (@cristianfarias.com) June 29, 2026 at 7:47 AM
Also …
Dr Oz on ACA “fraud” — “Of the people who signed up, 40% never use the insurance. Let me ask you, John, you have health insurance — do you use it once a year? In Obamacare right now 40% of the people ostensibly signed up never use the insurance … we have a lot of fake people on the policies”
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) June 29, 2026 at 11:34 AM
That clown, Dr. Oz, talks like someone who doesn’t understand how insurance works. The absolute worst people are running this country.
One study found Musk’s closing of the U.S. Agency for International Development could cause the deaths of millions of children.
— Forbes (@forbes.com) June 29, 2026 at 9:40 AM
The worst.
Meanwhile, this is what happens when you think everyone’s a “Christian,” or should be, and when you don’t understand the separation of church and state. Freedom from religion, you arrogant asses.
We have turned our standing in the world upside-down. Today calls for shame, not celebration.
A bright light in a dark week
Speaking of the American Revolution …
@rikiwilchins.bsky.social 2026 Jun The
DC-based Daughters of American Revolution, once a right-wing bastion of white women, overwhelmingly votes to reject ban on trans women joining and require members to be “born female” by a vote of 1,481-984. You GO, grrrls.www.them.us/story/daught…
— Assigned Media (@assignedmedia.org) June 30, 2026 at 3:22 AM
A thank you from me to the Daughters of the American Revolution.
I’d planned to publish this Saturday, on the Fourth, but I decided to update it and push it out today. That leaves some room for me to be in a better mood by the weekend. I mean, it’s possible.
Take care of yourself. Protect your peace. And if you are truly thankful for veterans and for pets, knock it off with the neighborhood fireworks. It’s courtesy, if not common.
Photo of Philadelphia bicentennial parade by Joseph Sohm via Shutterstock.
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