by James "Jimmy" Coulter

People these days can't seem to agree on anything. Yet somehow we've all come to the same conclusion: the world sucks. We might debate how it sucks, or even why it sucks, but we can all agree: life sucks!

Sure, perhaps life has always sucked. It started sucking the moment one couple got tossed out of a garden for doing the single thing they were told not to do, and it's been all downhill from there. Ever since, man has been forced to work by the sweat of his brow to put food on the table and a roof over his head—and all while enduring the same problems: war, famine, disease, taxes, death—but I repeat myself!

And sure, perhaps life sucks less now than it used to. Back then, most people were lucky to make it to the ripe old age of 30—largely because infant mortality was sky‑high! And even if you survived childhood, you could still drop dead from smallpox, measles, or even diarrhea. Yes, people really died from diarrhea! But now we have antibiotics, vaccines, and other medical wonders that have allowed us to live longer, and folks no longer poop themselves to death. (Though judging by the current outbreak of explosive diarrhea from contaminated lettuce, that cause of death might be staging a comeback!)

And sure, maybe the "good old days" weren't all that good—at least not for everyone. Yes, back in the 1950s, some folks enjoyed the idyllic American Dream: a wife, two and a half kids, a dog, and a house with a white picket fence. But plenty of others were eating at separate lunch counters, while others were forced to live their entire lives in the closet. The "good old days" weren't good for them then, and while things aren't perfect now, they're at least a little better.

But let's not kid ourselves: just because things were worse back then and slightly better now doesn't mean everything is fine or even trending in the right direction. Some things are still bad—and in many ways, they have gotten worse! Sure, the 1950s were a time when women were expected to stay home doing all the cooking, cleaning, and child‑rearing. But to its credit, it was also a time when a single salary could actually support a single family: the bills got paid, the kids got fed, and the wife didn't need a second job just to keep the lights on.

Back then, you could graduate high school, work your way through college on a minimum‑wage job, and come out the other side with a degree, a decent job, and the ability to buy a car and a house without drowning in debt. You could even save enough to retire and enjoy your golden years in relative comfort. Now? We've got high‑school grads who can't read, minimum‑wage workers who can't afford the food they're cooking, and college grads lugging around student debt so heavy their great‑grandchildren might inherit it. A house and a car? In this economy?!

Everything costs more now. A cup of coffee is a luxury, a movie ticket is a splurge, and a gallon of gas might as well require a co‑signer. And the quality? Worse. Clothes barely survive a wash cycle. Customer service is a rumor. We've even coined a word for companies shrinking products while jacking up prices: shrinkflation. Everything's smaller, pricier, and shoddier.

In short: life sucks. I wish I had a solution for how to make it suck less, but what do I know? I'm an op‑ed writer, not a miracle worker.

by James "Jimmy" Coulter

America's celebrating a big milestone this year: 250 years since it became an independent nation, founded on the concept of self‑government. At the time, the notion that people could choose their own leaders rather than be ruled by kings was novel, even radical. Many saw it as an experiment doomed to fail.

Yet 250 years later, that radical idea endures. We are still a nation built on the revolutionary premise that all men are created equal, a phrase so familiar now that it's easy to forget how bold it was when first written.

But I also know many Americans don't feel like celebrating right now. With everything happening in the country and the world, some don't feel America is even worth celebrating. I understand that feeling. I've felt it myself.

There's a quote I keep returning to: "There's nothing wrong with America that can't be fixed with what's right with America." It resonates because our founding ideals have never perfectly matched our reality.

Even when Jefferson penned those famous words, "all men are created equal," millions of people were enslaved, treated as property, and counted as fractions of a person. America proclaimed equality long before it practiced it.

But Americans saw that contradiction and fought to close the gap. It took generations of struggle, a civil war, and countless acts of courage, but slavery was abolished, citizenship expanded, and rights extended—and although the history is messy, the arc bent toward justice because people insisted it must.

There have been many times when things were wrong with America, when the country didn't feel like it was living up to its ideals. When black people couldn't use the same facilities. When women couldn't vote. When many people weren't able to openly love whom they loved or marry whom they wanted to marry.

And what made America great is that Americans looked at their country, saw where it fell short, and refused to accept that shortfall. Now we live in a country where (mostly) things are better now than they were previously.

Today, things aren't as good as they can be. America doesn't seem to be living up to the promise "all men are created equal." But the same force that moved this nation forward before can move it forward again.

America is only as good as its people. Its greatness has always depended on citizens willing to engage, to take part, to push their country toward a better version of itself.

And one of the most powerful tools we have is the simplest: the right to vote. It's easy to feel powerless in the face of national problems, but voting is the one civic act every American can take to shape the future. This year's midterm elections give us the chance to choose leaders who reflect the values we want this country to embody.

If you're discouraged, I understand. But discouragement doesn't have to lead to disengagement. The story of America is the story of people who refused to give up on the nation's ideals, even when the nation itself seemed to falter.

As we celebrate 250 years of independence, we're reminded that America was built on an idea, and it becomes great when Americans work to make that idea real. There may be things wrong with America today, but there is nothing wrong that cannot be made right by Americans.

Elizabeth Willing Powel: "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?

Benjamin Franklin: "A republic, if you can keep it."