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Jim Newton
Itasca
In 1976, the TV cop series Barney Miller featured a bicentennial episode. The 12th precinct worked crowd control at a celebration-turned-protest. One officer announces, "We got some trouble on the harbor." A frustrated Captain Miller replies, "This is beautiful. Rioting, fistfights, vandalism. It's a lovely way to celebrate the bicentennial." In 2026, is it safe to assume that we can relate?
My personal recollection of 1976 is mostly positive: A Major League Baseball game in Chicago, fireworks and more festivity than protests. Watergate ended in 1974, and the 1976 presidential candidates, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, had vigorous campaigns, but civil debates. After the election, they became close friends. When Ford died in 2006, he was eulogized by Carter.
I recall the bicentennial's optimism only because I was alive then. If you were born after 1976, there were other fierce rivals who found common ground: Senators Robert Dole (R) and George McGovern (D) received the 2008 World Food Prize for their unified efforts to fight hunger. George W. Bush became friends with Barack Obama, and his father George H.W. Bush worked with former rival Bill Clinton on the 2005 Southeast Asia Tsunami recovery.
I'm an observer more than a participant in America's 250th birthday. Instead, I'll celebrate by voting in the 2026 and 2028 elections. If you're young, please know that unity was once possible in America, even after contentious elections. We might be disillusioned with voting. Let's do it anyway--while we still can.