America Is a Young Country

www.americanthinker.com

Only three generations separate me from America’s founding. My maternal grandfather was born in 1861. His father was born while Thomas Jefferson was still alive. That’s one reason I think of America as a young country, with another 250 years ahead as the world’s beacon of liberty.

It’s common for the doomsters to portray America as a nation in decline, if not one on its last legs. There’s always the shadow of Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and the whole notion of inevitable decline that permeates liberal thinking. The problem with that comparison is that America has very little in common with the Roman Empire. To begin with, we are not an “empire.” Also, unlike Rome, which was determined to conquer as much territory as possible and was rebuffed only when it ran up against the ancient German tribes, the U.S. has no serious interest in expanding its territory beyond its current size. (A strategic arrangement with Greenland is possible, but it’s hard to imagine that unpopulated mass of ice as another “state.”)

The greatest danger to our next 250 years is socialism. Benjamin Franklin’s remark at the close of the Constitutional Convention that America is “a republic if you can keep it” has served as a warning to centuries of Americans that democracy must be actively defended. Ironically, one of the greatest threats to our democracy are those liberal sophists like socialists now running for Congress in New York, who claim that Donald Trump and other conservatives are intent on destroying our democracy. It is liberals, and by extension progressives and socialists, who are the greatest threat. They can speak of destroying democracy because they know a lot about it.

Socialism does pose a threat, as shown by the election of a number of socialists from the Democrat party. But the idea that socialism is taking over the country is very much an illusion. Zohran Mamdani and his kind get a lot of media attention, but the reality is that only 36 percent of Americans have a positive view of socialism. (Yes, 62 percent of young Americans say they favor socialism over capitalism, but wait till they begin paying taxes.) A declared socialist will never be elected president, at least not for a very long time, though progressives like Gavin Newsom and AOC are close enough to socialism to pose a problem. Even those admitted socialists who are elected in places like New York City; Seattle; and Washington, D.C. will probably make a mess of things and not remain in office for long. Despite some confusion and unwarranted pessimism, over 60 percent of Americans recognize that America is a land of freedom and opportunity and that socialism is not the path to either.

America’s economic future is especially bright, though it is not just economics: Our constitutionally guaranteed freedoms are the cornerstone of our democracy. We enjoy a degree of freedom unknown to any other society in history: freedom of speech, of religion, of association; free and fair elections, a just and speedy trial before our peers, the right to bear arms, and the rest. We should never take those freedoms for granted, and no amount of material wealth would make up for their loss.

Still, Americans do enjoy material well-being. Unlike many in my grandmother’s generation, who had neither indoor plumbing nor electricity, nearly all Americans today enjoy comfortable housing, abundant food, world-class medical care, and workplace opportunities unknown to Americans in the past. Most of those who do not, including the homeless who live in makeshift shelters, do so out of their own bad choices. (One study revealed that some twenty percent of the homeless in our country are mentally ill, but eighty percent are entirely capable of working if they choose to do so, and there are more than enough jobs to go around. According to a 2026 survey, there were 7.6 million jobs going unfilled in the non-farm sector.)

America is a young, vibrant country with great opportunities for those who choose to work and with even greater opportunities in the future. The rapid application of A.I. in the workplace is making employees more productive and leading to large annual wage increases. In 2025, wages grew by 4.3 percent, outstripping 2.4 percent inflation. At this rate, in fifty years — the working life of many — the real, inflation-adjusted average monthly wage in America will be $13,000 instead of the current approximate $5,000. In other words, the average standard of living will be 2.6 times greater than it is today. It’s not necessary to be highly educated or unusually talented to take advantage of this wage growth. An everyday job in retail, construction, or teaching will produce affluence and security.

What is remarkable, in fact, is that America has such a large middle class in comparison with countries like China and Cuba that claim to be workers’ paradises. Socialism does not produce a worker’s paradise. It produces both economic and personal enslavement — an existence with no guarantee of personal freedoms and very little opportunity. The amazing thing about America is that for 250 years, not only have we kept our democracy, but we have so consistently afforded opportunity to nearly all our citizens. America is unique in this respect, and we should be proud of having done so.

I believe that the future of America is brighter than almost anyone can imagine — certainly brighter than the liberal commentators in the mainstream media suggest. (How will they be celebrating our 250th birthday, and what will they say about our next 250 years?) Few could have predicted the rise of the internet and its contribution to the everyday life of Americans. One used to have to thumb through heavy tomes to double-check basic facts; now one can do so in a few seconds online. No one can really predict what the contribution of A.I. will be, and no one can predict what other, even greater technologies lie ahead.

Americans should be celebrating with real joy on our 250th birthday, because what we are celebrating is the rise of the greatest, most compassionate, most equitable society ever seen. America is indeed a great democracy, if only we can keep it.

Jeffrey Folks is the author of many books and articles on American culture, most recently Heartland of the Imagination (2011).

American flag

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