Quote: "A republic does not survive because its people praise it ... "

 

I’m in no mood to ‘celebrate’ America. Our country is broken and needs repair

 

I’m not in the mood to celebrate “America 250” … Sometimes a sour mood is simply clear vision … Nearly 250 years later, the US is not a finished monument, but a structure still under repair, still contested – and in places being quietly stripped for parts …

Repair is not nostalgia … Repair is the unglamorous work of keeping a structure standing: protecting democracy and civil rights, building enough homes for people to live with dignity, limiting the power of money, and preserving the public memory that tells a country what it has broken and why …

A republic does not survive because its people praise it. It survives because they repair it.

Jamil Smith, Guardian US columnist

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/03/america-250-celebration-under-repair

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