America at 250: Are We Still America?

As America approaches her 250th birthday, a deeper question emerges: Are we still America?

In this episode of THE RIGHT SIDE, Doug Billings explores the ideas that made America exceptional—faith, liberty, personal responsibility, self-government, and the belief that rights come from God. Have we forgotten those principles, or are Americans beginning to rediscover them?

This conversation isn't about politics. It's about identity, culture, and the future of the American experiment.

Prayerfully consider donating to the show at: www.DougBillings.us

 #AreWeStillAmerica #America #America250 #Faith #Family #Freedom #ConservativePodcast #DougBillings #TheRightSide #Liberty #PatriotPodcast #AmericanCulture #SelfGovernment #FYP #USA

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

The Right Side with Doug Billings. Hi, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the show. The Right Side. I'm Doug Billings. Glad that you're here. Thank you very much. Subscribe, like, share, follow. Subscribe over on YouTube at the Right Side Doug Billings. You can find me over there. Prayerfully consider sub uh donating to the program at Doug Billings.us. But I want to spend some time with you today thinking about a question that I think a lot of Americans have been asking themselves lately, whether they've put it into words or not. And that is, as you look at the state of play in America, I think a lot of people are asking the question, are we still America? Now, before you answer too quickly, think about it. Let me explain what I mean. Because I'm I'm not talking about whether the country still exists. Obviously, it does. I mean, the 50 states are still here, the Constitution is still here, the flag is still flying. I'm talking about something deeper. I'm talking about whether we still recognize ourselves. You know, it makes sense. I mean, these things are on my mind because America's getting ready to celebrate her 250th birthday. And I think about these things these days, the country that I grew up in. I was born in Kansas City and I grew up in Grand View, Missouri. And every once in a while, something's out there that triggers a memory I have. Maybe it's hearing an old patriotic song, maybe it's, you know, seeing the flag flying in front of a school, maybe it's watching the parade and the veterans and the people that are participating in it. Suddenly I'm transported back to a different time. And before anybody says, well, that's Doug just being nostalgic, uh, it's not really where I'm going with the story today. It's not what I want to talk about. Every generation has its problems. And the America of my childhood wasn't perfect, far from it. But there were certain things that people understood. I mean, I remember walking into classrooms and seeing the American flag. Literally, nobody debated that, nobody treated it as controversial, nobody acted as though it was some kind of a political statement. It was just there. It was part of being American. And what's interesting is that nobody felt oppressed by it, nobody felt threatened by it. It was just understood that we lived in a country worth respecting. Now, maybe that sounds old-fashioned today, but I think it's worth asking, why has that changed? What happened? When did patriotism become something people felt obligated to apologize for? When did pride in America become something that required a disclaimer? Or when did the word pride become confused with the LBGTQ kook community? I've never really understood that. And you know what's interesting? My generation grew up during the Cold War. We understood that there were places in the world where people didn't enjoy the freedoms that we had. We understood that there were countries where citizens uh and uh you know it would be arrested if they criticized the government. And we understood that there were countries where people risked their lives trying to escape. So, and maybe because we understood that and we talked about it when I was a kid, maybe my generation appreciated America differently than what people do today. Okay, we weren't taught that America was perfect, we were taught that America was exceptional, and I think that's the difference. One's a fantasy, the other is history. I don't think somewhere along the way um we kept those two separate. I think we confused those two ideas. Um you know, today, I'll put it to you. If if somebody says America's exceptional, some people out there would immediately respond by listing every single mistake America has ever made. As though those two ideas can't exist together. As though a country can't be exceptional and imperfect at the same time. And it's never made sense to me why people go down that road until lately. I understand that there is a certain segment of our population, mainly those people who are in the commu socialist formerly known as Democrat Party. They have a clear anti-American agenda, and I understand that they want to deconstruct and fundamentally transform America. I get it. But for me, I think about Abraham Lincoln sometimes. Can you imagine, you know, being alive during the Civil War? I mean, not reading about it in a history book, living through it, half of the country at war with the other half. Hundreds of thousands dead, families divided, entire cities destroyed, right here in the homeland. If there was ever a moment where people could have looked around and said, well, America's finished, we're done, we're over, that would have been it. But the country survived. And it didn't survive because there weren't problems. Because enough Americans still believed in the underlying idea that America is exceptional. That's why it survived. That's why you keep coming back to the idea. You know, I think one of the reasons people struggle to answer the question, are we still America? It's because we've forgotten that America is much more than geography. America isn't just land and it's not just borders. It isn't just buildings and highways, infrastructures and cities. Those things matter, they're important, but they're not the essence of the country. You get that. I mean, you're members of the most intellectually mature audience in all of Radio Land precisely because you listen to the show. So I know you understand that. The essence of America is an idea. And actually, it's a collection of ideas. The idea that rights come from God, the idea that government serves the people, and the idea that freedom requires responsibility, or the idea that ordinary citizens are capable of governing themselves. Thank you very much. Those are the ideas that were revolutionary in 1776. And if we're being honest, they're still revolutionary today, folks. That's what the 56 founders gave us. Not perfection, a framework, a framework built around liberty. Now, here's the part that I've been wrestling with. Do enough Americans still believe in that framework? I think that's the real question. Not whether America still exists, whether Americans still believe in America. Because if people stop believing in the principles that created a nation, eventually the institutions built on those principles are going to begin to weaken. You don't lose a country all at once, you lose it gradually. First, you stop teaching the story, then you stop understanding the story, then you stop believing the story, and eventually you forget why the country existed in the first place. That's the danger. Not invasion, not conquest, amnesia. National amnesia. Forgetting who we are, forgetting what we inherited. You know, one of the things that amazes me is how casually we sometimes treat freedoms that much of the world still desperately wants. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the right to vote, the right to own property, the right to criticize government officials. Those aren't normal throughout human history, folks. They're rare, incredibly, extraordinarily rare. The fact that we've grown accustomed to them is actually evidence of how successful America has been. But sometimes I wonder if familiarity has made us less grateful. Maybe it's that part of us that we're not, you know, we're not experiencing enough of. Maybe Americans are beginning to rediscover gratitude. Maybe that's it. And I think about the parents who are showing up at school board meetings. I think about people becoming more engaged in their local government. And I think about the growing interest in faith in this country and the explosion of conversion to Catholicism, for example. I think about the communities trying to rebuild civic life. Those aren't signs of decline. Those are signs of renewal. Now, maybe it's messy renewal sometimes. That's okay, but it's renewal nonetheless. And that's why I don't share the same doom and gloom outlook that's become so popular today. Doom and gloom is the new business model for the podcaster class. Anyone can go buy a microphone on Amazon, set up a little shop there at home, and they can talk and they can talk about how everybody's against us. The entire government is screwed. No, you can't trust anybody. They're all against us. We don't stand a chance. That's the new business model because apparently the algorithm loves that and they get more clicks. Look, America has problems. Of course she does. She always has, but every generation has looked at the challenges and they've wondered if the Republic would survive. Every generation, somehow American always does survive. And it's not because Americans are lucky, it's because Americans eventually remember who they are. That's the story of this country. Correction and renewal and recovery over and over again. And that brings me back to the original question. Are we still America? And you know what? I think we are. I really do. Not because everything's going well and perfect, not because we're we're solving all of our problems, and not because everybody agrees on every topic. We are still America because millions of ordinary Americans still believe that freedom matters. They still believe that faith in God matters, and they still believe family matters. They still believe that children should be protected. They still believe that citizenship carries responsibilities, and they still believe that this country is worth preserving. And as long as those beliefs remain alive in the hearts of ordinary Americans, the American experiment remains alive as well. Maybe that's what America's 250th birthday should really be about, folks. Not just celebrating the past, but recommitting ourselves to the future, remembering that we inherited something extraordinary and deciding that future generations deserve to inherit it as well. Because none of us created America. We were blessed to receive her. So the question now is whether we're going to be good stewards of that inheritance. I think we will. I think Americans are remembering. I believe that the best chapters of this American story haven't even been written yet. I hope you believe that too. Give yourselves permission to believe it. Please like, share, and subscribe to this channel. If you're on YouTube, subscribe at the right side Doug Billings, uh, Facebook, YouTube, X, all of it, Truth Social, and please prayerfully consider donating to the show at DougBillings.us. We're in this thing together, ladies and gentlemen. Believe it for the Republic. Cheers. The right side with Doug Billings.