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You are here: Home / Political History / How Do You Celebrate America’s 250-Year Experiment?

How Do You Celebrate America’s 250-Year Experiment?

July 4, 2026 at 7:09 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“A quarter of a millennium into its experiment in self-governance, the United States finds itself living out twin realities,” the New York Times reports.

“The nation’s capital, mired in septic politics, has struggled to pull off a big Fourth of July party. There is algae in the Reflecting Pool, acrimony in the air, and a sense, in some quarters, that America is in deep peril if it cannot persuade the 80s poodle-rocker Bret Michaels to sing for its official 250th birthday celebration. Mr. Michaels and other performers bowed out for fear that President Trump had made the affair overly partisan.”

“But beyond Washington, thousands of Fourth of July celebrations will run today on an old, familiar muscle memory, unblemished by scandal, factionalism or questions about the attendance of boldface names.”

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About Political Wire

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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