Mona Charen

The approach of July 4 is making my heart hurt. Love of this country is deep-dyed in my soul, but pondering how or even whether to celebrate the semiquincentennial provokes a riot of mixed feelings.

The right – and not just the MAGA right – responds to any queasiness about this particular anniversary with knee-jerk vituperation. Matthew Hennessey, writing in the Wall Street Journal, offered a typical example of this Pavlovian response this week when he accused Robert De Niro of “hating America.” What had the actor done to deserve this verdict? Well, he attempted to provide “counter-programming” to what Hennessey described as the “star-spangled UFC spectacle” on the White House lawn.

De Niro explained why love of country is sticking in some of our throats right now, and Hennessey quoted a couple passages that clearly triggered him:

“I can’t love a country that starts stupid and inhumane wars, killing thousands of innocents and indirectly causing the deaths and suffering of millions more. I can’t love a country that takes health care away from millions of people and uses that money to enrich their pals in the Trump-Epstein class. I can’t love a country that sends out masked militias to shoot citizens in the streets, torture our neighbors and separate families.”

I have no idea where De Niro stands on many political issues. I may disagree with him on some policy matters. But his despair about the current iteration of America resonates with me and with millions of other Americans.

Here’s where I depart from De Niro, though. We can still love the country. Even in the midst of this debacle, there remains much to love about America. Its gift to the world of the ideas in the Declaration of Independence is first on the ledger. Its physical beauty goes without saying.

Despite the backsliding, we remain the nation with the greatest scope for free expression in the world. No other country protects free speech, religious freedom or free association as vigorously as the United States. That is under threat, but we are seeing that people now know it. A majority in a recent Public Religion Research Institute survey agreed with the statement, “Today we are in real danger of losing important democratic rights and freedoms we have had in this country.” Whether they will act on that fear remains to be seen.

We remain one of the most charitable nations on Earth (Indonesia is No. 1, in case you were wondering).

Despite what the Trump administration has done, Americans overwhelmingly welcome and accept people of all backgrounds as full and equal citizens – and not because “elites” forced this upon us. We continue to prefer pluralism to sectarianism. A recent survey by the PRRI found that 77% of Americans want this to be a nation made up of people from all over the globe, while a mere 20% long for a nation (that never was) made up of only those of Western European origin. We don’t want religious homogeneity, either; 64% prefer that America be a nation of people belonging to a variety of religious faiths, while only 34% want a nation primarily of Christians.

Our federal system serves as a bulwark against centralized power, and, very critically in our time, makes it difficult to steal elections. Besides, as the world’s oldest continually functioning democracy, elections are deeply baked into our DNA.

America has demonstrated a capacity for self-correction in the past. Suffrage was gradually expanded from white property owners to all white men and then to black men and finally women. Slavery was obliterated by the Civil War. The greed and peculation of the Gilded Age gave way to the progressive era. McCarthy’s reckless bullying was rebuked by Congress. Nixon’s crimes were followed by government reforms.

It’s possible that we have crested as a nation and are now in permanent decline.

Perhaps we’re past it. But when you consider our strengths and our virtues, giving up on loving this country and working to steer it toward a better future would be a tragic dereliction.