The 250th Birthday of the United States was July 4th, 2026. What are you celebrating?

My wife’s wisdom should guide you.

As I wrote in my acknowledgements for the General Counsel Series (The Promised Land, at page 14):

A comment by my wife Suzanne after seeing the show at the American Pavilion in Epcot Center in Walt Disney World gave me the essential vision of Visions of America; she felt that we should be proud about something besides all of the wars we’ve won.

And so, for the celebration of the 250th birthday of the United States, do not celebrate with gold statues or triumphal arches dedicated to the Power of Money, the Power of Religion, or the Power of the United States.

Celebrate by remembering the countless ways that the United States struggles (despite going astray (Isaiah 53:6)) to establish the ideal America first discovered by the hearts of Abraham, Moses and Jesus:

—blessing ALL people (Abraham; Genesis 12:2-3);

—challenging ALL pharaohs to set ALL people free (Moses; Exodus 8:1); and

—healing ALL hurting people (Jesus; Luke 10:25-37).

Honor those who blessed people, challenged pharaohs to set people free, and healed hurting people. Celebrate John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Martin Luther King!

John F. Kennedy

In his Inaugural Address, President Kennedy called upon America “to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle. . . . to assure the survival and success of liberty, . . . a struggle against the common enemies of [Humanity]: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it, and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

The glow of the Torch of Liberty never shown brighter than when President Kennedy led America against the common enemies of Humanity: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.

That is why the thousand days during which President Kennedy led America are remembered as “Camelot”—a time when the courage and wisdom of America’s “King Arthur” led us through “The Valley of the Shadow of Death” of all Humanity in a nuclear Holocaust.

For thirteen days in 1962, Humanity tottered on the brink of destruction, almost committing suicide with nuclear weapons. We call those days “The Cuban Missile Crisis”. . . . .

[The leader of the Soviet Union,] Nikita Khrushchev, blatantly lied about his intentions in Cuba. Publicly and privately, the Communists had given repeated, definitive promises that they would not put nuclear missiles in Cuba.

Many of President Kennedy’s advisors urged him to take direct military action to destroy the missiles before they became operational. This would mean air strikes and, in all likelihood, an invasion.

However, President Kennedy had recently read The Guns of August, Barbara Tuchman’s classic account describing how the Europeans foolishly stumbled into World War I. Kennedy was determined that no one would ever write a book how he had stumbled foolishly into World War III!

Kennedy wisely choose restraint as well as firmness. Instead of ordering air strikes or an invasion, Kennedy ordered the U.S. Navy to stop any ships carrying offensive military equipment to Cuba.

The President’s brother, Bobby Kennedy, later wrote about the climactic moment when Soviet cargo ships arrived at the spot where United States ships were going to stop them. A Soviet submarine was in position between the cargo ships.

Would the Soviet ships sail on, forcing the United States to fire the first shot? Would the Soviet submarine fire the first shot? Or would the Soviet ships stop?

Bobby Kennedy recalled what it was like to wait for news of whether war had begun:

I think these few minutes were the time of gravest concern for the President. Was the world on the brink of a holocaust? Was it our error? Our mistake? .  .  . His hand went up to his face and covered his mouth. He opened and closed his fist. His face seemed drawn, his eyes pained, almost gray.

At last, word came that the Soviet ships had stopped and turned around. Bobby Kennedy remembered the relief that flooded the room: “[E]veryone looked like another person. For a moment the world had stood still, and now it was going around again.”

Eventually, a face-saving compromise was reached that resolved the crisis. The United States promised not to invade Cuba, the Soviets pulled their nuclear missiles out of Cuba, and the United States removed its nuclear missiles from Turkey.

The Cold War continued for almost thirty more years. But after this moment of mutual terror, the Cold War began to thaw. Never again did the Soviet Union and the United States come to the brink of a nuclear holocaust.

There would now be time for the Torch of Liberty to convert the Communists to a way of life that ensures everyone’s rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Jimmy Carter

Ultimately, America’s peaceful victory in the Cold War proved that Jimmy Carter was right about the most important thing: the Torch of Liberty is the best weapon in America’s arsenal.

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan was nicknamed “The Great Communicator” because of his unsurpassed skill in touching the hearts and minds of Americans. Another nickname should be “The Great Optimist” because it was ultimately Ronald Reagan’s unflagging optimism that won the Cold War for America.

.  .  . Ronald Reagan encouraged the nation with his conviction that it was “Morning in America”. Reagan knew that America was still a young nation—full of energy and vitality. Therefore, Reagan said America’s future would be far greater than her past.

For decades, “foreign policy experts” had engrained in Americans the pessimistic notion that although we might be able to stop the spread of Communism, it was impossible to set a nation free after it had fallen into the steel grip of Communist tyranny. These “foreign policy experts” were certain that the Iron Curtain would always divide the free countries of Western Europe from the enslaved countries of Eastern Europe.

But Ronald Reagan was an optimist. He believed that the Torch of Liberty was shining in Humanity’s heart throughout the world. He decided to launch an ideological and diplomatic offensive against Communism. He demanded that the Communists tear down the Berlin Wall, the hated symbol of the Cold War.

Soon after Reagan left office, his optimism bore fruit. Communism [in Europe] started collapsing with amazing speed.

President George H. W. Bush (who had once been the head of the CIA and who had traveled the world for eight years as Reagan’s Vice President) used his immense experience and skill in foreign policy to keep this revolution peaceful. As demonstrations mounted, Communist regimes vanished in Eastern Europe once the Soviet Union no longer propped them up. . . . .

In December, 1989, people celebrated the fall of Communist regimes throughout Eastern Europe by dancing atop the Berlin Wall. They then took sledgehammers and chisels to that hated symbol of tyranny.

Even after the fall of the Berlin War, the Communists hoped that they could hold onto power within the boundaries of the Soviet Union. But once again the Torch of Liberty was too strong for them. In December, 1991, the Soviet Union disbanded.

At long last, liberty and union had come to Europe, one and inseparable, now and forever.

On Christmas Day in 1991, Americans had a special reason to celebrate the joy and peace of Christmas.

The flag of the Soviet Union came down in Moscow. The flag of a free Russia took its place. President Bush George H. W. Bush went on television to announce that—for the first time since the start of the Cold War decades earlier—America’s nuclear weapons were no longer poised to launch a nuclear holocaust.

The optimism of Ronald Reagan and the skill of George H. W. Bush won a peaceful victory in the Cold War, leading Humanity out of the Valley of a Nuclear Death.

Martin Luther King

“Morning in America” became Morning for all Humanity.

Martin Luther King’s Dream was coming true.

Brave, peaceful protesters had overcome evil with good—even when evil was supported by guns, tanks, and nuclear bombs.

As freedom rang throughout the lands that the Communists had tyrannized, people everywhere could say: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty! We are free at last!”

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

Do you believe the Torch of Liberty is the best weapon in America’s arsenal? Why? How?

Do you believe that the Torch of Liberty is shining in Humanity’s heart throughout the world?

Do you believe that someday all Humanity will say, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty! We are free at last!”? Why? How?

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For related ideas, please read my blogs “Jesus Embodies Hesed—The Vision of Isaiah”; Jesus Embodies Hesed—Fulfilling the Law of Moses and the Prophets”; Jesus Embodies Hesed—Sowing the Ideals of the Law of Moses and the Prophets”; Jesus Embodies Hesed—Saving Lost Sheep, Lost Coins, and Lost Sons”; and “Jesus Climbs the Temple Mount”.