WHY IT MATTERS

As politics becomes more polarized and entertainment more self-referential, the question of what we are collectively encouraged to admire has become increasingly difficult to ignore. With the United States celebrating its 250th anniversary, questions of national identity have become increasingly difficult to answer. Political divisions dominate public life, institutions face declining trust, and much of the culture appears uncertain about traditions that once shaped it. Yet before a nation loses confidence politically, it often loses confidence culturally.

For much of the twentieth century, America exported far more than products, technology, or military power; it exported an imagination. Through Hollywood films, fashion, music, architecture, and advertising, it projected a recognizable vision of freedom, prosperity, beauty, and possibility that captivated people far beyond its borders.

As someone who grew up in Britain, I encountered America long before I ever visited. Like millions around the world, my understanding of the country was shaped through Westerns, New York romantic comedies, Ralph Lauren campaigns, country music, Route 66 road trips, baseball caps, diners, ranches, and small-town Main Streets. Whether entirely accurate or not, they communicated something coherent: America knew what it was.

That confidence was reflected in the culture itself. Mid-century America produced architecture, fashion, film, and music carrying a distinct national character. The rugged individualism of the Western, optimism of post-war design, craftsmanship of heritage brands, and aspirational vision of family life presented in popular entertainment all pointed toward a broader civilizational story. America was not merely a place; it was an idea expressed through the visual language of Americana.

Interestingly, some of the strongest cultural successes of recent years suggest that appetite has not disappeared. Entire online communities are devoted to recreating the understated elegance of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy and the minimalist Calvin Klein era she embodied. The enduring fascination with John F. Kennedy Jr. is not merely biographical, either but reflects a longing for an America associated with confidence and aspiration.

Likewise, Ralph Lauren remains one of the most successful interpreters of the American imagination, selling not merely clothing but a vision built around family, tradition, craftsmanship, Western landscapes, and belonging. The extraordinary success of Top Gun: Maverick and the popularity of Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone universe reveal a similar instinct. These stories resonate because they celebrate competence, sacrifice, excellence, inheritance, and duty—qualities that modern culture often struggles to portray with confidence.

Of course, cultures evolve, and I am not arguing that America should be frozen in the 1950s, nor that every aspect of its past is worthy of celebration. Yet a nation still requires common symbols, stories, and ideals capable of binding people together across class, ethnicity, geography, and politics. Especially as globalization and digital culture continues to flatten regional distinctiveness with a visual language that increasingly feels interchangeable: the same minimalist coffee shops, the same influencer aesthetics and the same luxury brands. What was once distinctly American now risks becoming merely global.

Perhaps that is precisely why Americana continues to resonate. The renewed fascination with older American aesthetics suggests that beneath the noise of contemporary politics, many people are still searching for continuity, meaning, and permanence in an age increasingly defined by transience. We are looking for symbols of continuity, places that feel rooted, stories that connect generations, and ideals that point beyond individual self-expression–because every civilization requires something it is willing to admire, preserve, and pass on.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The renewed fascination with Americana is not simply nostalgia. It is evidence that people are searching for coherence and belonging in a culture increasingly defined by fragmentation. For decades, the world looked to the United States not merely for entertainment, but a vision of life. If it hopes to remain culturally influential, America must rediscover the confidence to define what it stands for and what kind of culture it wishes to cultivate.

The heart of the matter: The Declaration of Independence inaugurated the American experiment in ordered liberty, and failure to uphold its original meaning would endanger history's most durable and successful example of self-government.

WHAT THE DECLARATION GOT RIGHT

Two-and-a-half centuries ago, the founders based the American experiment on the self-evident truth of five key propositions: (1) all men are created equal; (2) they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, such as Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness; (3) the purpose of government is to secure these rights; (4) governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed; and (5) citizens have the right to abolish a government if it is “destructive of these ends.”

WHERE WE’VE GONE WRONG

In our postmodern age, we question the very idea of truth. For many, the highest value—the central unalienable right—is now each person’s right to disregard objective truth and decide for himself what he accepts as true for himself. An emblematic example of this is U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s “mystery passage” in Planned Parenthood v. Casey: “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.” This sentiment sounds sugary sweet, but it reveals relativism’s inherent viciousness: Casey upheld the constitutional right to abortion—somehow, the “right to define one’s own concept of existence” authorizes the killing of innocent human beings.

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At 250 years old, America is still a young nation in comparison to many others around the world. But making it to a 250^th birthday is remarkable given just how unique the American founding is.

One of the incredible features of the American Republic is that it has the oldest written constitution in the world. While the U.S. Constitution is a bit younger than the United States, it has provided the blueprint for the American government and a roadmap for recognizing and respecting the rights of American citizens for most of the last two and a half centuries.

As a part of Restoring the West’s special series, Senior Editor for Law & Liberty Trey Dimsdale was joined by Dr. Hadley Arkes, the Edward N. Ney Professor of Jurisprudence and American Institutions Emeritus at Amherst College and the founder and co-director of the James Wilson Institute on Natural Rights and the American Founding, to discuss the moral architecture of the Constitution and the unique features that have allowed it—and the nation that it has shaped—to endure for all these years.

WHY IT MATTERS

We did not arrive at the 250^th anniversary of the American Republic by accident. The values that have informed America’s imperfect pursuit of liberty and justice for all are not unique to the still relatively young nation, but they were necessary prerequisites for America’s economic and political success. The Judeo-Christian tradition’s most innovative contribution to political philosophy is the inherent dignity of each individual, which is the fundamental concept that informs any nation governed by the consent of the governed.

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By Lorraine Smith Pangle and Thomas L. Pangle

University Press of Kansas, 1993 • 350 pages

The verdict: For education reformers seeking to restore moral and civic education to American schools, the Learning of Liberty can serve as both a road map and a North Star.

WHY THIS BOOK MATTERS

Benjamin Franklin once quipped, perhaps apocryphally, that the Founders gave us “A republic, if you can keep it.” The Learning of Liberty articulates the Founders’ ideas on how emerging schools could contribute to that difficult task. As we celebrate the 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, revisiting the Founding Fathers’ thoughts on education can help renew civic education across the nation.

THE ARGUMENT

Thomas and Lorraine Pangle’s The Learning of Liberty is an in-depth analysis of the American Founders’ ideas about education in an emerging nation, including their thoughts on republicanism, religion, and human nature, and how they were applied. In it, the Pangles assert that knowing the history of this “new American ideal of public education that puts civic instruction at its core” can help schools rediscover their civic purpose. They argue that doing so would help to “sustain a high quality of leadership and produce resourceful, self-reliant citizens.”

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Europe remains Christianity's historic homeland, but declining religious practice, speech restrictions, and demographic change have prompted questions about whether America is preserving parts of Europe's Christian inheritance more successfully. These five developments deserve attention.

1. Americans Still Practice Christianity at Higher Rates

Americans remain significantly more religious than most Western Europeans. According to the latest Pew Religious Landscape Study, 62% of Americans identify as Christian, 44% pray daily, and one-third attend religious services at least monthly. In Western Europe, weekly church attendance is below 25% in every country surveyed except Poland, and in several countries it is in the single digits. Public expressions of faith also remain commonplace in American political life (offering prayers after disasters, wearing faith-based jewelry in Congress, discussing Bible verses during debates, etc.)

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On July 4th, the United States will turn two hundred and fifty years old. It’s a birthday worth marking with more than fireworks, though I’ll enjoy the fireworks too. This week at Restoring the West, our five pillar columnists will come together to celebrate the occasion with “America at 250,” our next Deep Dive series. They’ll look at what makes America great, what this country has been, where it’s going, and what it has given us.

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Why this conversation matters: As trust between men and women erodes and digital platforms increasingly shape how human relationships are understood, Trent and I discuss whether new media is clarifying truth or amplifying confusion. We also explore whether shared moral language around love, commitment, and human dignity can survive in an attention-driven media environment.

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One thing is certain: the Whatever podcast demonstrates that the West is full of lost sheep. Too often, it features people who make pornography and thereby debase themselves. Whatever viewers witness the spectacle of people trying and failing to defend their choice to monetize their own objectification, tragically denying their inviolable dignity as image-bearers of God. Perhaps the greatest symptom of our cultural lostness is that so many find that entertaining. Seeing others discredited by Christian arguments as they sit there helplessly does not edify us.

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WHY IT MATTERS

In 2002, prostitution became legal in Germany. There were many purported reasons for supporting this reform, but chief among them was that this change would supposedly protect women. It would legitimize sex work, pull it out of the shadows, and give sex workers protection under Germany’s generous employment laws. They would now have access to courts and employment benefits. Just over two decades later, the president of the Bundestag, the German federal parliament, has called Germany the “brothel of Europe.”

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WHY THIS PODCAST MATTERS

The Whatever podcast, hosted by Brian Atlas, is not just entertainment; it is a cultural alarm bell. With 4.66 million subscribers, it places viewers face-to-face with the lived consequences of a generation formed more by social media than by faith, family, or moral tradition. These 5+ hour episodes can serve as a diagnostic tool, allowing stories to unfold slowly, revealing deeper wounds and contradictions. It is a front-row seat to what happens when we fail to pass on a vision of love rooted in sacrifice, permanence, and truth.

THE STORY

Each episode stages a confrontation: one or two male guests, with well known figures such as Charlie Kirk or Michael Knowles, alongside recurring voices like Chase, sit opposite a panel of women, made up of sex workers, Only Fans creators, and influencers. Conversations begin with superficial questions such as dating preferences, income, and lifestyle, but as it progresses, something deeper emerges. Stories unravel. Contradictions surface. What initially appears confident and emblematic of a “liberated” feminist ideal gives way to a level of longing and brokenness that begins to seep through the cracks of their stories.

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If you are over forty, you probably haven’t heard of Whatever; if you are under thirty, you almost certainly have. Each week, host Brian Atlas convenes a panel—usually half a dozen young women, and occasionally a few men along with them—to spend four or five hours debating sex, money, dating, and gender roles. The female panelists are typically in their early twenties, and the show’s audience is predominantly young and male. Periodically, celebrity guests join; Lila Rose, the late Charlie Kirk, and Candace Owens have all been on the show. Episodes are live-streamed on YouTube, where the channel has accumulated more than four million subscribers, and clips from Whatever regularly go viral on TikTok, Instagram, and X.

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Periodically, our pillar editors will spend a week discussing a single theme, each from the angle of his or her distinct pillar. Ayaan will introduce each topic herself, and by the end of the week, you’ll have something the news cycle rarely delivers: a multifaceted analysis of a subject that really matters. Our first series is coming up this month, focusing on the Whatever podcast; look out for the following series, America at 250, coming in July.