The calendar says that this July 4th, the United States of America will be celebrating its 250th birthday.

But are we really 250 years old or just fifteen months old?

I guess that depends on your definition of the United States. Is America our borders, or is America more about our ideals?

If you think of our country as just the fifty states, I guess we are 250 years old. Well, technically, only thirteen states are that age. But you get the point.

However, if you think of America as something more than that, if you think of America as the ideals we stand for, the principles we strive for, I fear we are only fifteen months old. This is because so many of our values, our institutions, our traditions, and our promises have been changed or demolished under the current administration.

There will be images celebrating the 250th birthday that will show the Statue of Liberty holding its torch high in the sky -a proud statue that symbolizes the ideals of America.

At the base of the statue is a poem written by Emma Lazarus that reads in part…

“Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand 

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame 

is the imprisoned lightning, and her name 

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand 

glows world-wide welcome;”

But we no longer welcome the exiles. Rather than welcoming them, we send them back to other countries. In some cases, countries they’ve never been to before where they have no connection.

The most famous part of the poem at the statue has not been relevant for the last fifteen months.

"Give me your tired, your poor, 

your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, 

the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. 

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, 

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

The symbol of American freedom is not a symbol of the borders of our country, but rather a symbol of the ideals of America. Ideals we are losing if they haven’t been lost already.

Our foreign policy has changed to “might makes right.” The American military is no longer used to defend our borders and the borders of our allies, but is now used to invade other countries without the support of our friends.

Our haphazard attack on Iran has enriched them and made them stronger. It has exposed our country's Achilles heel and made us weaker.

Are we still the good guys? Foreign aid of food and medical supplies to impoverished countries has been cut and, in many cases, eliminated. That’s not the America I thought I knew.

All of this has put me in a less-than-celebratory mood when it comes to celebrating our semi-quincentennial. A concert that should have had America’s biggest stars on the stage celebrating all things USA has turned into another Trump rally. Instead of honoring all of America, it’s been set up to honor one man. The very thing our founders warned us about.

Nebraska has sent a display to Washington, D.C., to be a part of the America 250 celebration. The display for America’s State Fair includes the history of Standing Bear, Boys Town, and Union Pacific’s role in connecting the West.

But those are all artifacts from the past. If we’re adding more current Nebraska artifacts, we’d have to include the Cornhusker Clink.

Now it’s true that America’s history has included many events that didn’t live up to the ideals our Founding Fathers set up 250 years ago. The men who started this country way back when knew we were far from perfect. But the idea was to form a more perfect union. I worry that we’ve moved backwards from that goal.

I’m sure I’ll spend time with family and friends on the 4th. I’ll put some burgers on the grill and wear the obligatory red, white and blue clothing.

But it won’t quite feel the same. It won’t be as celebratory to me as it has in years past.

The parades, the fireworks, and the day off from work will be a nice distraction from all that is going on, but it will only be a mask to cover up the fact that we are losing our way as a country.

I love this country. And because I love it, I’ll do my part to try to put it back on the right path, to lead us into the next 250 years and away from the last fifteen months.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.

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