America Is Still Worth Celebrating

This marks my 20th blog post, and it feels like the right moment to pause, look up, and say something plainly:

There is much to celebrate about America as we approach 250 years of this Constitutional Republic.

Much of what I write about lives near warning signs. That is part of the terrain behind Eulogy for the Stripes, and it is part of why questions about liberty, trust, family, faith, and national resilience matter to me. But warnings are not the whole story. They are only worth giving because something precious remains worth protecting.

So for this 20th post, I want to shift gears.

Toward gratitude.

Toward perspective.

Toward the simple truth that America is still worth celebrating.

America remains the greatest country on Earth, not because it is perfect, but because it still carries the rare ability to correct course. She can argue, adjust, build, enforce, produce, worship, innovate, defend, and begin again. That is not normal in human history. It is exceptional.

And there are real reasons for optimism.

At the border, the change has been dramatic. Pew Research reported that Border Patrol recorded 237,538 encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2025, down from more than 1.5 million in fiscal year 2024 and the lowest annual total since 1970. DHS separately reported that FY2025 southwest border apprehensions marked a 55-year low. That is more than a statistic. It is a sign that sovereignty, law, and public confidence are being treated seriously again.

Energy tells another hopeful story. In 2025, U.S. crude oil production grew by 3 percent and set a new annual record of 13.6 million barrels per day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. American energy is not just about gasoline prices. It supports groceries, trucking, manufacturing, electricity, defense readiness, household stability, and global leverage. A country that can power itself has options. A country that produces energy with confidence strengthens families at home and influences abroad.

There is something deeply conservative, and deeply American, about treating energy abundance as a blessing.

The same is true of deregulation. According to the federal regulatory scorecard, agencies reported 646 deregulatory actions against 5 significant regulatory actions in fiscal year 2025, a 129-to-1 ratio, with estimated regulatory savings of $211.8 billion. People can debate the accounting, and they should, but the instinct is right: government should have limits. It should make room for builders, farmers, workers, parents, churches, small businesses, and local communities to flourish.

That is the larger story running through this moment.

The border can be secured. Energy can be unleashed. Regulations can be cut. Public safety can be restored. Families can be defended. Children’s health can be taken seriously. Technology can be built here. Courts can be strengthened. Criminals can be removed. Enemies can be deterred. Workers can be respected.

America works when the country remembers what government is for and what it is not for.

Government exists to secure the border, enforce the law, defend the nation, protect constitutional rights, restrain itself, and create conditions where free people can build lives with dignity. It does not need to manage every corner of American life. It does not need to punish production. It does not need to make ordinary citizens feel powerless in their own country.

The strongest conservative argument is not merely political. It is civilizational. Faith matters. Family matters. Work matters. Law matters. Borders matter. Industry matters. Courage matters. A nation that honors those things gives its people room to thrive.

That is why this moment is worth recognizing.

Not every problem is solved. No serious person should pretend otherwise. But the measure of a nation is not whether it faces problems. Every nation does. The measure is whether it still has the will, memory, and moral confidence to address them.

America does.

You can see it in the worker who shows up before sunrise. The business owner who keeps signing the front of the check. The Border Patrol agent standing in the heat. Military, law enforcement, and first responders serve on the front lines to protect us while we sleep and go about our days. That keeps the country alive.

That is America, too.

America is not great because Washington is perfect. America is great because its people still have the capacity to correct what Washington breaks.

That is not blind optimism.

That is earned hope.

And after years of being told to expect less, apologize more, and accept decline as normal, it is worth saying again:

America is still here.

America is still capable.

America is still worth celebrating.