America at 250: Democracy’s greatest experiment?

On the two hundred fiftieth anniversary of American independence, Chris Hedges takes stock of the nation's democratic project. In a reflection published by Al Jazeera, he traces the gap between the American ideal—liberty and self-governance for all—and the historical record: centuries of structural contradictions, exclusion, and conflict. Hedges doesn't offer an easy verdict, but instead asks a harder question: what has this grand experiment in democracy actually delivered? The commentary examines whether America has moved closer to or further from its founding promise as it looks ahead.

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