"The point is that you cannot fully understand your own country until you’ve seen it from somewhere else. Millions of Americans never have," writes Daniel Allott, conservative opinion editor. bit.ly/4vH9H94 📸: Kristi K. Higgins/Progress-Index.com

"For those left out, left behind or left without much faith in our institutions, it is time to reclaim America 250 for yourselves," writes Mike Carpenter, principal of Carpenter Civic Strategies. bit.ly/4asdDCf 📸: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Opinion: Each milestone anniversary has offered an opportunity to reflect on the nation’s founding ideals.

"Recognizing that there is value in our different contributions as citizens may be one of the most important civic habits we can practice," writes Daniel Yudkin, founding director of the Beacon Project. bit.ly/4vNVRBE 📸: Heather Diehl/Getty Images

Opinion: Has the nature of war changed? Can small nations now defeat large nations? Can high tech win over low tech? US-Iran and Russia-Ukraine offer lessons.

Opinion: Americans have not rejected the founders’ ideals. Rather, many say government has drifted away from its people.

Opinion: The founders knew that a free country without a robust press and informed public engagement could not endure.

Opinion: Cape Verde is one of the biggest World Cup underdogs in history. That could pay long-term economic dividends for the tiny African country.

"Failing to educate the next generation in basic civic knowledge, it's no wonder they're turning to more radical, anti-American ideas," writes columnist Ingrid Jacques. bit.ly/4v8WTHB 📸: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Opinion: Taken together, our findings suggest Americans see a growing gap between the people and the institutions meant to represent them.

Opinion: When Hollywood stops listening to half its audience, somebody pays the price. For 'Supergirl,' that bill just came due.

Opinion: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's Madison Square Garden wedding is all a bit of gauche self-mythologizing on Swift's part. Why are we shocked?

"The vibe at 250 is completely different from the feeling at 200. We still had a sense of oneness then. We no longer do," writes John Mark Hansen, professor of political science at the University of Chicago. bit.ly/4fSMprU 📸: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

"Young people no longer believe that America is exceptional, but this general sentiment is sorely mistaken," writes columnist Dace Potas. bit.ly/4aQqT3V 📸: Giorgio Viera/Reuters

"The Supreme Court’s decision does not change who Becky is. It cannot take away her connection to the sport, the lessons it has taught her or the friends she has made," writes Heather Jackson, mother of Becky Pepper-Jackson. bit.ly/4oX223T 📸: Tyrone Siu/Reuters

Opinion: While the president swears he isn’t engaging in any conflicts of interest, the information gleaned from the report paints a much different picture.

Opinion: As America turns 250, conservatives are fighting in courts and statehouses to protect the freedoms that make this country exceptional.

"For us, being American isn’t just a nationality – it is truly who we are. Every night, I thank God not for my legal status, but for my proud identity as a daughter of America," writes Trisha N. Prabhu, a birthright citizen. bit.ly/4oWmT7q 📸: Kylie Cooper/Reuters

"Republicans like to speak of principles, but at the end of the day, their primary principle is power. Period," writes columnist @rexhuppke.bsky.social. bit.ly/4uZPvhO 📸: Joe Rondone/The Arizona Republic/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

Opinion: Expect this to drag on as Acting AG Blanche battles transparency in a fight he can't win for Trump

"Keeping kids safe in today’s climate rests on three factors: infrastructure; policies and practices; and the awareness of the people on the ground," writes Laura A. Schifter, national climate and education adviser. bit.ly/4oPRjZ7 📸: Provided by Allie Coates

"Love of country should not be conditional," writes columnist Ingrid Jacques. bit.ly/4eG6il6 📸: Doug Mills/Pool photo via Reuters

"The nation's highest court got this one right. The Constitution doesn't let a president rewrite the 14th Amendment by decree," writes columnist Dace Potas. bit.ly/4gf0u3g 📸: Josh Morgan/USA TODAY Network

Opinion: A wave of new surveys shows Americans increasingly don't understand their government. No surprise, then, that socialism is gaining ground with the young.

Opinion: The idea that some overhyped radical left is about to take over the nation is laughably false.

"Biological reality matters, and the Supreme Court acknowledged that by allowing states to do what's right," writes columnist Ingrid Jacques. bit.ly/4eWTlCj 📸: Jack Gruber/USA TODAY

Opinion: Linguists and political scientists who study this sort of rhetoric easily spotted Trump's pattern of using speech to drive fear.

Opinion: The brutal heat wave searing much of the United States is proof Mother Nature is a hell-bent on getting Americans to believe in climate change.

Opinion: Trump wasn't wrong about birthright citizenship abuse. He was wrong about how to fix it ‒ and the Supreme Court just said so.

"Time and again, Trump's solutions to problems are met with criticism, mockery and disdain, and the Reflecting Pool is no exception," writes columnist Nicole Russell. bit.ly/4vAiWIo 📸: Jack Gruber/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

Opinion: I love President Donald Trump’s Great American State Fair. I love its emptiness. Its expensive food. Its abject failure.

Opinion: A 90-year-old precedent just fell. The Supreme Court's FTC ruling says less about Trump than about how much power every future president will have.

"Americans are as precious and sensitive as children with skin the thickness of wafer paper," writes Amelia Robinson, opinion editor for the Columbus Dispatch. bit.ly/4w1CTrr

Opinion: Newsom wants billionaires everywhere to pay more. But on taxing his own state's wealthiest, he's singing a different tune.

"The weakness at the top of the field doesn't mean Democrats are without options," writes columnist Dace Potas. bit.ly/4xWstLo 📸: Hannah Beier/Reuters

Opinion: Parents deserve clear, accessible information about where and in what amounts added sugar exists in the foods they're buying.

"What drives the Obamas to build such a monument is the belief, fed by years of sycophancy, that their legacy rests on genuine achievement," writes columnist Nicole Russell. bit.ly/4etjfi0 📸: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Opinion: Texas is requiring Bible lessons in public schools. That's the right call, but it shouldn't distract from deeper problems in the classroom.

Opinion: For many of you, the US is a great but flawed country. Though you differed widely on why. Here's what you said about America's problems and promise.

"The brands that are backing away from Pride Month are doing exactly what we knew they would do all along – support LGBTQ+ people only as long as it was profitable," writes columnist @sarapequeno.bsky.social. bit.ly/4ejw4vb 📸: Grégory Dziedzic, Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images

Opinion: It turns out Democrats and Republicans are like-minded on many of the most vexing issues facing our country. We know because we asked.

Opinion: As America turns 250, what does it mean to be an American? For me, the answer begins not on U.S. soil but on a fishing boat in pursuit of freedom.

Opinion: New York City is becoming a place where everyday residents can enact real change.

Opinion: To gauge the impact of the war with Iran, I spoke to leaders of two American pro-Israel groups.

Opinion: Hello, I am a centrist Democrat who is terrified that progressive liberal candidates keep winning primary elections.

"No government, no part of a government, would become too powerful. There we have the American Experiment," writes former Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer. bit.ly/4gEoBIE 📸: Jack Gruber/USA TODAY

"Batya Ungar-Sargon defies easy categorization. A lifelong leftist, she was won over by Donald Trump's appeals to the working class and voted for him in 2024.," writes columnist Ingrid Jacques. bit.ly/4eeBhTF 📸: Provided by NewsNation

Opinion: A growing faction on the right is recasting the Civil Rights Movement as staged propaganda – borrowing the left's worst grievance tactics.

Opinion: Republicans have been claiming that the rest of the country is overreacting. They would.

"He is a healthy, robust leader of the free world, and the fixation is weird, discriminatory and much ado about nothing," writes columnist Nicole Russell. bit.ly/49Utn0D 📸: Samuel Corum/Getty Images