🇺🇸 Happy 250th, When They Speak of “Contradictions,” We Speak of Blessings — A Fourth of July Response

By Dean Burnette — Grateful USA Citizen | Southern Fried Thoughts  

Published: July 5, 2026

Well now, Happy 250th Birthday, America! 

Two hundred and fifty years. A quarter of a millennium since a group of brave men signed a piece of paper that changed the course of human history. I am prouder than ever to be a Grateful USA Citizen. 

But before we cut into the birthday cake, I want to talk about a speech I listened to yesterday. 

New York City Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani gave a July 3rd address from City Hall to mark our Semiquincentennial. Now, I’ll give the Mayor this: he’s got a way with words. He painted a mighty pretty picture of the New York harbor, the tall masts, the immigrants, and the history of the city. But as I listened to him, I realized something. His speech was like a pot of gumbo where the chef forgot the roux and just dumped in a whole bottle of vinegar. It left a sour taste in my mouth, and not the good kind you get from a dash of hot sauce.

A Recipe for Division

Mayor Mamdani spent a good chunk of his time talking about “masked agents terrorizing our streets,” “corporate landlords,” and “oligarchs who buy elections.” He painted a picture of an America that is fundamentally broken, rigged, and cruel. 

Folks, that ain’t a celebration of our 250th birthday; that’s a political grievance list disguised as a history lesson. 

When a politician stands at a podium and pits the “undocumented neighbor” against the “masked agent” (who, by the way, is just a law enforcement officer doing the job we hired them to do), they aren’t unifying the country. They are actively trying to divide it. They want you looking at your neighbor with suspicion instead of sharing a plate of ribs with them.

The Mayor speaks of immigrants who “made homes here” and “helped to make New York City.” He’s absolutely right. My own mama’s people were exiles from Nova Scotia. My daddy found his Cajun Love. Generations of legal immigrants built this country with blood, sweat, and prayer. But there’s a word in there he keeps avoiding: **LEGAL.** There’s a process. There’s an order. There’s a *sovereignty* to this nation that deserves respect—not contempt disguised as compassion.

Defending Real Americans and Our President

Our President won the *popular vote*. Don’t let anybody tell you different. The American people spoke—loud and clear—rejecting exactly the kind of divisive, grievance-mongering politics that Mayor Mamdani was peddling from that podium. We chose a leader who says “America First” not because he hates anybody, but because he *loves* the people who make this country work. The factory hands. The truck drivers. The farmers. The small business owners who mortgage their homes to keep the lights on and the payroll met.

The media—oh, *those same media* the Mayor conveniently forgot to include in his list of “monopolies that dominate every industry”—they’ll tell you that loving Trump makes you a bigot. That supporting secure borders makes you cruel. That wanting your kids to learn reading and arithmetic instead of radical ideology makes you ignorant.

Bless their hearts, they’re wrong.

I’m not saying our President walks on water. I’ve warned y’all about that before. But I am saying that the people who elected him—the Christians and Jews who worship freely in this country, the blue-collar rodeo hands and sports fans and hunting and fishing families who just want to raise their kids right and earn an honest living—we’re not the divisive ones. We’re not the ones standing at podiums telling half the country they’re “small,” “weak,” and “unoriginal” for believing in borders and laws and traditional values.

That was *your* word, Mayor Mamdani: **”How small they are, how weak, how unoriginal.”**

Who’s dividing now?

  True Patriotism vs. “Righteous Dissent”

Towards the end of his speech, Mayor Mamdani said that patriotism isn’t about pretending the nation is without flaws, but rather that “patriotism is every act of righteous dissent… it is every protest held a decade before its time.” 

Bless his heart, but he’s got it completely backwards. 

Patriotism isn’t about melting down statues, burning flags, or marching in the streets to tear down what your forefathers built. Patriotism is gratitude. It’s tipping your hat to the Good Lord for the freedom to worship however you see fit. It’s teaching your kids to respect the flag, to work hard, and to love their neighbor. It’s recognizing that while we aren’t perfect, this United States of America is still the greatest, most generous, and most freedom-loving nation to ever exist on God’s green earth. 

Beware the Dividers

So, as we celebrate this incredible 250th milestone, I want to leave you with a gentle warning: Beware of people like Mayor Mamdani. Beware of politicians and media pundits who use fancy, poetic words to mask a deep-seated desire to divide us. They use “division” because it’s the oldest, cheapest trick in politics to grab power. Beware the politicians who tell you the nation is rotten to the core while asking you to hand them more power.

That road has been traveled before, and it always ends the same way: with more control for them and more chaos for the rest of us.

Don’t let them steal your joy today. Don’t let them convince you that your country is something to be protested rather than celebrated. 

Turn off the divisive news channels. Step away from the social media arguments. Go hug your family, say a prayer of thanks for the brave men and women who have worn the uniform, and look up at the fireworks tonight with a heart full of optimism. 

Life is like a good bowl of gumbo, and America is the best kitchen in the world. Let’s keep stirring the pot together, with faith, family, and a whole lotta love. 

A note from your friendly neighborhood blogger: As always, friends, I love ya. Even the ones who disagree with me. Especially those ones.

If you enjoyed this post, share it with somebody who needs a little reminder that the America we love is bigger than any one politician’s microphone. And if you got a comment, well, you know where to find me, and a heart full of gratitude for every single one of y’all.

For more inspiration of Real America, watch this celebration!

 Happy 250th Birthday, America! God Bless you, and God Bless the United States of America.

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

 Mark 3:25

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