OPINION: All aboard for America250

The 1976 Bicentennial Celebration doesn’t seem that long ago to many of us.

I can still hear Johnny Cash singing, “All aboard, here comes the Freedom Train,” as I stood in line with my classmates waiting to tour the American Bicentennial Freedom Train as it rolled into town. And I can still picture the bulletin board in Mr. Hathaway’s sixth-grade American History class with the words, “It’s not perfect, but it’s the best there is,” stretched across the top and our one-page reports on who we supported for President pinned to the burlap-covered cork. (I, of course, wrote mine about Ronald Reagan, even though Gerald Ford later won the Republican nomination that summer.)

The Bicentennial was a big moment in America. Communities held parades, schoolchildren learned the stories of the Founding Fathers, and people paused for a moment to reflect on the miracle of a nation that had made it 200 years.

Now we’re approaching another milestone: America’s 250th birthday.

America250 isn’t just about celebrating the great moments we’ve had as a nation, although there are many of those. It’s also a time to reflect on our struggles and how we’ve survived as a nation. Our history includes war, division, and hard debates about the meaning of liberty. But it also includes courage, perseverance, and an extraordinary ability to correct our course when we’ve wandered from our founding principles.

America250 is the American story — our story.

On Thursday, April 9, North Idaho Republicans invites you to an America250 – Keep the Republic celebration at the Coeur d’Alene Resort. We’ll be joined by Governor Brad Little, Lt. Governor Scott Bedke, Secretary of State Phil McGrane, State Controller Brandon Woolf, Treasurer Julie Ellsworth, and Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield. (Attorney General Labrador had a schedule conflict.)

The evening will be an opportunity to reflect on our nation’s history, celebrate where we are today, and look ahead to the future we are building together.

The Founders understood something important when they created this country. They didn’t give us a monarchy or a permanent ruling class. They gave us a republic — a system that depends on citizens who are willing to participate, speak up, and take responsibility for the direction of their communities.

Benjamin Franklin famously reminded us that what the Constitutional Convention had produced was “a republic, if you can keep it.”

The truth is, the future of the American story won’t be written in Washington, D.C. It will be written in towns and communities across this country — places like North Idaho — where citizens still believe their voice matters and their participation makes a difference.

In a republic, self-government doesn’t happen somewhere else. It happens right here, in communities like ours.

The Founders handed us a republic, and our job is to keep it.

That means staying involved, competing honestly in the public square, and remembering that self-government only works when citizens are willing to shoulder the responsibility that comes with it. Around here, we have a name for that kind of civic spirit.

It’s The Idaho Way.

Tickets and information for the NIR America 250 — Keep the Republic celebration are available on our website: https://NorthIdahoRepublicans.org.)

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Becky Funk is a member of North Idaho Republicans and former Legislative District 4 Republican Chair.