OP-ED: Hate and reality in the post America 250-era
By ALAN SMASON
The final dazzling display of pyrotechnics is now over and the thunderous booms we heard have gone silent. The many accents of red, white and blue being worn and decorative bunting that adorned our nation’s many buildings are not quite as evident they were as on our nation’s birthday this past Saturday.
Fireworks light up the National Mall on July 4, 2026 with the Washington Monument sheathed in patriotic blue at left. (Screenshot)
We should be very proud of the progress we have made in 250 years. Compared to other powerful countries, we have in a remarkably short period of time achieved superpower status among the nations. Largely due to our geographic isolation in North America, the United States has enjoyed a sphere of influence that has largely prevented foreign incursions on our lands. The principle of manifest destiny by which we occupied the great expanse of North America meant that we spread out from ocean to ocean and beyond, establishing American territories in Samoa and states as far flung as Alaska and Hawaii.
But the history of this country has always carried with it a dark side. The Founding Fathers intended to further their financial ends where they could. Throwing off the yoke of British colonialism meant commercial opportunities but with that came the hardships endured by slaves and indentured servants. As we settled the wilderness occupied formerly by Native American tribes and foreign nations like France and Spain, our nation increased in size and power but at a cost to those who got in our way.
It was by necessity nearly a century after our founding that we eventually dismantled the divisive nature of slavery by waging a war within ourselves. The stain of blood that marked our national character was the welcome mat we later offered to a host of immigrants who flooded our shores from Europe, Asia, Africa, Central and South America in the decades that followed. The largest wave of Jewish immigration occurred during this period between 1880 and 1926.
But then, a century ago, anti-immigration legislation became the norm. Xenophobia replaced that welcome mat and America – the land of opportunity – was no longer a beacon to everyone who managed to find their way to our shores. We resisted the temptation to become involved in foreign wars, although our entry into the Great War and the Second World War that followed firmly established the United States as a leader among nations with a vast military superiority hitherto unknown.
Families who worked industriously were able to advance under the American system by assiduously applying themselves in commerce and taking advantage of educational opportunities that put their children and grandchildren on equal footing with others. But then, quotas and blacklists were established to ensure that not everyone achieved those opportunities. As a result, many Jews who were denied entrance in various institutions were often forced to establish their own.
Much of the pushback against immigration was aimed at keeping segments of society from the kinds of opportunities that were intended to be afforded to all of its citizenry. Similarly, the rights to vote and enjoy safe and affordable housing were curtailed in many cases until federal legislation was passed to correct those nefarious practices.
Despite our great progress in science and industry, there have been disturbing trends in our country. The first is the political split between Democrats and Republicans that has galvanized political opponents into a zero sum game in which no one actually wins. There is a profound sense of no middle ground in Congress or even in state legislatures. This makes political rhetoric the capital of the day with everyone doubling down on their positions and leaving little or no opportunities for compromise, the principle on which this divided nation was founded.
The second trend and the one of greater danger to our Jewish community has been a notable spike in hate groups and hate literature promulgated by nationalism on the right and an even greater divide by our liberal friends on the left. While we anticipate the traditional tack of right wing nutjobs like the Nazis who blame their woes on the Jewish people, we have more recently been taken aback by those we considered colleagues and friends on the left who now shockingly support the murderous actions of Hamas and other Iranian proxies like Hezbollah to diffuse American support for the State of Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East and our greatest partner in that region.
The last decade has seen well-documented evidence of hate crimes that have led to the deaths of American Jews on American soil by its own citizens. The Tree of Life Synagogue was only the first such attack in 2018 and the latest public attack, a truck ramming and fire on Temple Israel in Michigan, the largest Reform temple in the United States, could have resulted in an even higher body count had it not been for security measures implemented on its perimeter.
These are dangerous times and living in the post America 250 era seems a lot more like the fascist era of the 1920s and 1930s of a century ago than it should.
No event has so solidified that feeling than the October 7, 2023 coordinated attacks on mostly Jews in Israel – many of them who held dual citizenship as Americans. It resulted in the largest number of Jewish deaths on a single day since the end of the Holocaust. In many places in these United States of America, the rapes of innocent women and savage butchery perpetrated by Hamas and Islamic Jihad were celebrated or justified somehow as legitimate protest over Israeli’s Palestinian policies.
There should never be any place in this nation to broker the death, destruction and abduction of people living peaceful lives as occurred on October 7 in Israel nor should we celebrate the misguided 2025 New Year’s Day domestic terrorist attack on Bourbon Street by a jihadist that resulted in the deaths of 14 people.
While not everyone on the left has embraced the antisemitic attacks on Jews veiled under the so-called righteous rebellion against anti-Zionism, their numbers have risen significantly as the death toll rose in Gaza. American Jews, who long have supported downtrodden communities, are now feeling uncertain about whether they can rely on support from their former friends. The highly organized pro-Hamas encampments that sprang up in 2023 and 2024 on campuses across the country targeted Jewish institutions and made Jewish students and communities feel unsafe. In the political landscape of today, many dedicated liberal politicians are adopting the incorrect language of “apartheid and genocide” and regularly ascribing those terms to Israel.
A recent viral video showed Scott Weiner, a gay Jewish California congressional candidate being verbally assaulted by kefiyeh-wearing, masked queer protestors at a Pride rally in San Francisco. Despite him modifying his position on Israel and now terming the Israeli occupation in Gaza as “genocide,” he was taunted, harangued and insulted for essentially being Jewish.
In the post America 250 era, the term “land of the free” takes on an obscured vision not intended by those who crafted the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Our nation leads the world in incarceration with Louisiana bearing the ignoble title of being number one as the most imprisoned state.
And as to our Second Amendment rights to bear arms, we also lead the world in the number of deaths attributed to gun violence. As one might suspect, we also lead the world in the proliferation of guns. While this nation has traditionally enjoyed a Wild West attitude towards gun ownership, we now proudly allow both open and concealed carrying of arms in this state. The latest national estimate suggests there are 120.5 guns for every 100 residents or a rate of 1.5 guns per citizen.
So, while we struggle to deal with the present climate of hate in the wake of our semiquincentennial, we should remember that the biggest promise of America is its promise. The founding documents of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and Bill of Rights that followed offer us a better way of life than most any other place on earth. And what Thomas Paine acknowledged 250 years ago still rings true today: “These are the times that try men’s souls.”
