Presque Isle, Maine, celebrates the nation’s 250th all year, causing pain and suffering amongst the righteous

Presque Isle, Maine, has a full year of events to celebrate the 250th birthday of our nation, organized primarily by Kim Smith, the town's resource development and public information officer. The New York Times wrote about it, nicely conveying the enthusiasm despite a mocking headline for the hate bait. And here indeed are some of the killjoy comments, miserable in their TDS and betraying an utter disgust for democracy and their fellow Americans. Back in January, the Bangor Daily News had written about it.

SJH · Portland, OR:

One way to “celebrate“ our country’s 250th is to get politically active and help restore, democracy, and integrity to federal governance. If you’re ready to a member of the boots-on-the-ground effort, then Google “how to help the Democrats win the midterms” and sign up for active political duty. Then choose wisely, depending on where you live and who you are.

If you live in a blue or red area, then consider helping out in swing states and closely contested elections. Organizations like Swingleft, Movementvote, and Voteforward can help you direct your efforts to best effect. But if you live in a pink or purple area than consider getting active locally. Contact your state/local Democratic committee and ask how you can help. There are some very good books on running and winning local elections.

No matter what you choose, tell your people and ask them to help. And post your experiences on social media sites like Facebook and Reddit. There are seldom-voting Democrats, independents, Newbies, even patriotic Republicans who need to be prompted to vote and vote blue in these midterms. Our country is in a deep crisis. It needs you. Now. Please help. It’s the right time and the right thing to do.

Daj · Bellvue, Colorado:

Sounds like she has gone all in and managed not to politicize our 250th. I however will be mourning the steady demise of all that is decent and good about America.

Robyn · Out west:

Perhaps we could concentrate on returning to democracy for all. I don’t see anything to celebrate on the direction our country is going at present.

W · U.S.:

Good for them! I’m looking forward to our small town’s celebration as well. I certainly will not be watching our President celebrating himself.

Proud Liberal · Netherlands:

I wish I could share in Ms. Smith’s enthusiasm, but the 250th anniversary of the founding of the US feels more like a wake than a celebration.

Eeryn · Florida:

This is interesting because I and so many others will not be celebrating at all.

Howards End: Excerpts

By all means subscribe to charities – subscribe to them largely – but don’t get carried away by absurd schemes of Social Reform. ... there is no Social Question – except for a few journalists who try to get a living out of the phrase. There are just rich and poor, as there always have been and always will be. Point me out a time when men have been equal ... Point me out a time when desire for equality has made them happier. No, no. You can’t. There always have been rich and poor. I’m no fatalist. Heaven forbid! But our civilization is moulded by great impersonal forces and there always will be rich and poor. You can’t deny it, and you can’t deny that, in spite of all, the tendency of civilization has on the whole been upward.

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Reaction against the Wilcoxes had eaten into her life until she was scarcely sane. … Paul had faded, but the magic of his caress endured. And where there is enjoyment of the past there may also be reaction – propagation at both ends. 

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London was but a foretaste of this nomadic civilisation which is altering human nature so profoundly, and throws upon personal relations a stress greater than they have ever borne before. Under cosmopolitanism, if it comes, we shall receive no help from the earth. Trees and meadows and mountains will only be a spectacle, and the binding force that they once exercised on character must be entrusted to Love alone. May Love be equal to the task!

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Hilton was asleep, or at the earliest, breakfasting. Leonard noticed the contrast when he stepped out of it into the country. Here men had been up since dawn. Their hours were ruled, not by a London office, but by the movements of the crops and the sun. That they were men of the finest type only the sentimentalists can declare. But they kept to the life of daylight. They are England’s hope. Clumsily they carry forward the torch of the sun, until such time as the nation sees fit to take it up. Half clodhopper, half board-school prig, they can still throw back to a nobler stock, and breed yeomen.

At the chalk pit a motor passed him. In it was another type, whom Nature favours – the Imperial. Healthy, ever in motion, it hopes to inherit the earth. It breeds as quickly as the yeoman, and as soundly; strong is the temptation to acclaim it as a super-yeoman, who carries his country’s virtue overseas. But the Imperialist is not what he thinks or seems. He is a destroyer. He prepares the way for cosmopolitanism, and though his ambitions may be fulfilled, the earth that he inherits will be grey.

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Howards End, E. M. Forster (1910)