Latest Column | ‘America Only Turns 250 Once’ (August 2026)

By State Sen. Rob Sampson

America only turns 250 once.

Some anniversaries pass quietly. Others become historical markers, the dates future generations use to measure where a nation has been and where it chose to go next.

America’s 250th birthday is such a moment.

For two and a half centuries, the United States has represented one of humanity’s boldest propositions: that ordinary citizens can govern themselves; that individual rights precede government; and that political power is legitimate only with the consent of the governed.

That proposition changed the world and demands reflection, gratitude, and renewed purpose.

Over the Fourth of July weekend, Washington, D.C., hosted the Great American State Fair, bringing all fifty states together to commemorate our founding.

Connecticut helped write that story and belonged there. Unfortunately, Governor Lamont’s administration declined to participate, apparently because of its opposition to President Trump.

That missed the meaning of the occasion.

America’s 250th birthday was not about one president, one governor, or one party. It was about the inheritance we share as Americans.

Representative Gale Mastrofrancesco and I therefore joined volunteers and supporters to make certain Connecticut would be represented.

They deserve the greatest recognition. No one was paid or reimbursed. Each covered travel, lodging, meals, and transportation because they believed the Constitution State should not be absent from a historic national event.

With help from businesses and supporters, we shared Connecticut’s Revolutionary history and welcomed visitors from across the country.

For several days, we stood beside every other state and played a small part in a moment that will someday occupy a place in history books. I felt the weight of that.

Around us were Americans of every age, background, region, and political persuasion. They surely disagreed, but they had not gathered primarily as Republicans or Democrats.

They had come as Americans.

They came to honor the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, our veterans, and a country whose achievements were made possible not by conformity, but by freedom.

Our delegation received national attention for stepping forward when state government would not. Yet Connecticut’s news media showed little interest.

There was scant coverage of the volunteers or the fact that ordinary citizens had ensured Connecticut was represented, a worthy story about citizenship, patriotism, and voluntary action.

America’s 250th birthday arrives at a consequential time.

Some influential voices describe America almost entirely through its failures. Our history is too often distorted rather than understood, our founders condemned without regard for their achievement, and patriotism treated as unsophisticated or exclusionary.

We should acknowledge America’s failures honestly. But honesty also requires recognition of what America has accomplished.

Our founding principles supplied the standard later generations used to confront slavery, expand civil rights, defeat tyranny, protect religious liberty, and extend equal citizenship. They made possible a society in which people could speak freely, worship according to conscience, build businesses, and chart their own course.

America’s genius has never been centralized control. It has been ordered liberty: maximum freedom consistent with the equal rights of others; limited and accountable government; respect for work, responsibility, and earned success; and charity rooted in compassion rather than compulsion.

Those convictions are not exclusively Republican or conservative. They are deeply American.

They are shared by Republicans, independents, unaffiliated voters, and many Democrats who differ on policy but still believe our country is fundamentally good, our constitutional system is worth preserving, and our fellow citizens are entitled to live according to their own values.

That is the coalition America needs now.

Unity does not require unanimity. Free people will always disagree. It requires recognizing that disagreement need not make us enemies.

We can reject democratic socialism and ever-expanding government without rejecting those who see matters differently. We can defend our history without pretending it is flawless. We can love our country without demanding that everyone live, worship, think, or vote alike.

America’s 250th birthday should be more than a commemoration. It should become a turning point.

Let this be the moment when we see ourselves again as one people, not factions defined by grievance, but citizens bound by a common inheritance and a common future.

Let us return to the confidence that built this nation: confidence in liberty, representative government, hard work, personal responsibility, strong families, generous communities, and the capacity of free Americans to shape their own destiny.

Our national story is not finished. The first 250 years were shaped by citizens who believed liberty was worth the struggle and that the American experiment could endure.

The next chapter belongs to us.

May America’s 250th birthday be remembered not only as the moment we honored our remarkable past, but as the moment we resolved to pursue American excellence again—together.

Our best days can still be ahead.

America only turns 250 once.

Let us make it count.