America is celebrating 250 years of independence, but the real question is not whether the country survived. The real question is whether the principles of 1776 survived with it.
In this Restricted Republic segment, Justus Knight breaks down the argument that America’s founding promise has been inverted: rights once understood as inalienable are now increasingly treated as conditional privileges, granted or withheld by government power, political convenience, emergency authority, surveillance systems, and executive control.
The Declaration of Independence was not written as a decoration. It was an indictment of concentrated power. The Constitution and Bill of Rights were not designed to make government stronger. They were designed to restrain it.
So as America reaches its 250th anniversary, we ask the question most of Washington would rather bury under fireworks and pageantry:
Are we still celebrating liberty — or just decorating the cage?