America at 250: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why It Matters.

Rick Jackson, Self-Funding, and How Funding Has Changed

This week's newsletter is dedicated to recognizing America at 250; the good, the bad, and what 250 years of American democracy looks like here in Georgia. We're starting with a question that goes back further than the country itself: who gets to run, and what does it cost them?

Georgia's most competitive State House races this year won't be decided by the candidate with the biggest bank account. Beth Fuller, Michelle Kang, Farooq Mughal, and Ethan Wolfe are running grassroots campaigns, funded by small donors, built on canvassing, postcards, and people showing up. That is a democracy driven by the people, earning one vote at a time.

Compare that to Rick Jackson. The Republican gubernatorial nominee who has poured over $100 million of his own money into his campaign, shattering fundraising records and turning the GOP primary into the most expensive in Georgia history. By pouring massive amounts of his own money into the race, he proved what the system quietly rewards: candidates who can self-fund.

In the earliest American elections, winning a campaign didn't require Super PACs, billionaires, or targeted digital ads. Sometimes, all it took was a barrel of whiskey. After George Washington lost his first campaign for the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1750, he began to “treat” voters with large amounts of liquor to help secure his victory. From the beginning, candidates largely funded their own campaigns, and influence could be bought, it just looked more honest. 

As the country expanded, that model shifted and the tactics got less obvious, but more powerful. Political parties replaced face-to-face persuasion with systems of patronage, where loyalty and money went hand in hand. By the late 1800s, corporations and wealthy industrialists weren't just participating in politics, they were shaping it.

The modern system began to take shape in the 20th century with federal regulation, including the Federal Election Campaign Act, which established contribution limits, disclosure requirements, and oversight through the Federal Election Commission. But the system was never fully controlled, because the courts kept protecting political spending as "free speech," opening the door for money to keep flowing in new ways.

Then came the turning point: the Citizens United decision. In 2010, the Supreme Court allowed corporations, unions, and outside groups to spend unlimited amounts of money on elections. The result wasn't just more spending, it was a complete shift in power. Billionaires and special interest groups gained unprecedented influence, while campaigns became increasingly dependent on outside money.

And the door keeps opening. This week, in NRSC v. FEC, the Supreme Court, with a 6-3 vote, struck down decades-old limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with their candidates. This decision gives parties the ability to funnel unlimited money directly into campaign strategy, messaging, and ad buys. It's the latest in a 20-year trajectory of the court chipping away at campaign finance rules, one ruling at a time.

250 years later, the system has become more sophisticated, but not more democratic. Methods have evolved from barrels of whiskey to billion-dollar networks, but the outcome is the same: money continues to shape who runs, whose voices matters, and too often, who wins. And that should raise a question that's long overdue: not whether money influences elections, but whether American democracy can function when so much of that influence is hidden.

Soccer, Diversity, and Immigration

Ninety minutes before the USMNT's June 19th win against Australia, the Department of Homeland Security posted a graphic on Twitter of three American players celebrating in front of an American flag. The caption read: "Defend the Homeland. One Nation. One Homeland. One Team." After the 2-0 victory, DHS followed up with an AI-generated image of the U.S. starting eleven standing behind a border wall, captioned "Built the Wall." Both posts were later deleted, but the messaging was emblematic of DHS's attempt to stoke division: immigrants vs. "real Americans," red vs. blue, us vs. them.

Here's what makes it worse. The three players featured in that first post were Chris Richards, Sergiño Dest, and Folarin Balogun, the team's leading goal-scorer. Dest, who plays defender, was born in the Netherlands. Balogun is an American citizen for exactly one reason: birthright citizenship. The same right that President Trump's executive order was, at that very moment, trying to end. 

This week, in Trump v. Barbara, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Trump's executive order was unconstitutional. Birthright citizenship stands. Balogun thanked the court in the only way an athlete can, scoring his third goal of the tournament in the 45th minute of last night's Round of 32 match to put the U.S. up 1-0 over Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was sent off in the second half on a harsh red card, but the U.S. held on for a 2-0 win and advances to the Round of 16 to face Belgium on Monday.

While DHS was trying to draw lines between Americans and everyone else, the World Cup has done the opposite. Take a survey of Georgia students, whose concerns for traffic weren't outmatched by their excitement to host people from across the world. Or the city of Lawrence, Kansas, which has welcomed the Algerian national team with open arms. Or the hundreds of social media posts, most notably those from viral German sensation Freddy, that depict foreigners enjoying American delicacies like Waffle House and In-N-Out.

Foreigners don't "put our culture at risk," like many parroting the Trump administration claim. Foreigners enhance our traditions. They allow us to enjoy them anew as we share them with a new group of people. Immigrants are the foundation of America's melting pot, and Trump v. Barbara is a reminder that the constitutional promise to include them isn't going anywhere.

The USMNT is led by Argentine head coach, Mauricio Pochettino, who has coached across Europe. More than half of the roster holds dual citizenship, and six were born outside the United States. The US won their group for the first time since 2010, and last night's win came largely on the shoulders of a birthright citizen.

The World Cup is a perfect example of the struggle between our country's identity and the leaders who seemingly fight against it. Trump rallies around the call to "protect the homeland" against the foreigner. On the field, the defenders are foreign-born. On the world stage, the foreigners are the ones doing the protecting for Team USA. 

The Obama Legacy

Ten years after his presidency ended, former President Barack H. Obama opened the Obama Presidential Center in his hometown of Chicago, IL on June 19, 2026. The center includes a library, event spaces, an athletic center, and public gardens. Ten years after his presidency ended, former President Barack H. Obama remains a visual representation of hope, class, and change.  

Before he became president, no one ever thought that a Black man would be president of the United States of America. When he won his campaign, he introduced a standard for our country. Instead of divisive, hateful politics, he included people from all walks of life; even the ones who weren’t fond of him. Years later, we find ourselves reminiscing on the pure bliss that Obama’s presidency brought to the daily lives of the American people. So much so that the older generation had a closet’s worth of Obama merchandise and regalia. The decision to open his presidential center on Juneteenth was a special reminder to the Black community of what our ancestors experienced, how they survived, and how we will continue to prosper in honor of their memory. 

As we continue to navigate these tumultuous times in our country, Obama hasn’t abandoned the people he vowed to work for. Installing a public center in his hometown of Chicago is one step closer to improving the quality of life and inspiring the young people of Chicago. Outside of Chicago, it’s an inspiration and reminder to public officials all over the country that their vowed duty is to protect and uplift the American people.

As a young Black woman, I’m beyond inspired by the grace the Obama family radiates upon us. Amidst tensions and racial challenges in this country, President Obama and his family are a constant, visual reminder that yes, we can reach higher places and help my community. As a citizen of the United States, I hope that President Obama and his family continue to be a beacon of hope to American citizens, young and old. 

Congratulations to President Barack H. Obama and his family. You continue to make us proud and remind us that “yes, we can” and we will overcome this. 

-Azha M.

250 Years of Georgia’s Legacy

Since its founding, Georgia has always been a rather strange state. The youngest of the thirteen colonies, it sat on the periphery of the Revolutionary War, with Savannah falling to British occupation in 1778 and Loyalist sentiment running deep throughout the colony. In the 250 years since, Georgia's history has been defined by contrast: economic development alongside often lethal racial tensions.

Native American. In 1832, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Cherokee in Worcester v. Georgia, with Chief Justice John Marshall defining them as "distinct, independent political communities retaining their original natural rights." Still, in 1838, Cherokees were forced from their native lands in Georgia's northwestern territory during the Trail of Tears, as no executive body enforced the Court's decision. Those who survived the brutal journey were resettled in Oklahoma. The Cherokee are still fighting for their sovereignty and land, but Worcester v. Georgia remains a key case for indigenous rights groups.

Civil War and Reconstruction. On January 19, 1861, Georgia became the fifth state to secede from the Union to maintain chattel slavery, though the delegates were deeply divided. Nonslaveholding whites and the state's geographical diversity made the vote closer than the outcome suggests. After the war, planters had land but no money, and formerly enslaved people had labor but no land. Sharecropping became the new name for slavery. The Ku Klux Klan rose at the same time as the Freedmen's Bureau.

Jim Crow. Following Reconstruction, Georgia codified white supremacy through legal segregation. The state became a crucible of racial terror, marked by the 1906 Atlanta Race Riot and the second-highest number of documented lynchings in the nation. Yet beneath that weight, Black Georgians built resilience. Neighborhoods like Atlanta's Auburn Avenue, dubbed "the richest Negro street in the world," became self-sustaining hubs of business, faith, and higher education that would eventually alter American history.

Civil Rights Movement. By the mid-20th century, Georgia became the epicenter of the fight for human dignity. Born on Auburn Avenue, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. co-founded the SCLC from Atlanta, projecting a vision of the "Beloved Community" to the world. John Lewis marched across bloodied bridges. The student-led Atlanta Committee on Appeal for Human Rights desegregated local commerce. Georgia was a battleground where segregation collided head-on with a moral revolution, ultimately forcing the nation to rewrite its laws.

Today. Two and a half centuries in, Georgia's core duality remains unchanged. It is a cinematic epicenter, an international logistics titan driven by Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, and a cultural beacon that continues to project global influence three decades after the 1996 Olympics. It is also, once again, a place where the fight over who belongs is playing out in real time.

Last week, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and Syrians, opening the door to mass deportations. Georgia is home to one of the largest Haitian communities in the South, concentrated in metro Atlanta and Clarkston, where a generation has built lives, businesses, and families under TPS. The pattern from 1832 repeats itself, just in a different direction. Then, the Court protected the Cherokee and the executive ignored it. Now, the Court clears the way for the executive to remove people from homes they've built here. Different populations. Same result.

If I could write you a love letter for Georgia, it would be this:

It is easy to fall in love with Georgia. Her swampy, humid summers grow the sweetest peaches and the best pecans in the South. The sweet smell of magnolia trees and the ashen swinging moss in Savannah almost makes you forget whose bodies the cobblestone is paved over. The lines and lines of farms in South Georgia where you drive through cotton fields in heavy silence. The northern entrance to the Appalachian Mountains, where Native American folklore mixes with old West African slave legends, is haunted by sundown towns and the Color Line. A trip to metro Atlanta feels like another world, economic bustling and never-ending traffic on I-85. Shotgun houses sitting just below skyscrapers on cracked pavement and old train tracks.

Our people, no matter their background or race or religion, are some of the toughest, most pragmatic Southerners around.

The land, our land, is built with bodies and curses, and still, it flourishes. But imagine what Georgia could be if we allowed her to flourish without being bound to hatred and injustice.

Georgia is home, and it is because it is home that we must fight hard for it to be what we envisioned her to be. The past 250 years must be our blueprint for the next 250. We must take the lessons we have learned and the hope for our future to build a Georgia worth fighting for.

Candidates Fighting for Georgia’s Future

Over the last 250 years, the United States has developed from a disjointed group of coastal colonies to the most influential nation on the planet. Central to this development has been the quest to answer questions of power: who gets to participate, who gets to lead, and who gets to decide what comes next?

When the Constitution was first ratified, political power was reserved for landowning, white, Christian men. After two and a half centuries of hard-fought progress, political participation has become an inalienable right held by all American citizens.

Yet our democratic institutions are under threat unlike any other time in American history. The current administration is consolidating power in the executive branch, denying election results, and undermining the very principles the country was built on.

A quarter millennium into American history, there is no more important time than now for capable Georgians to step up and defend the values that have carried the country this far.

Among them:

Beth Fuller of Sandy Springs, a public health professional with over 25 years of experience advocating for healthy communities. She is running for HD-53 because the chaos coming out of Washington is hurting her community, and she refuses to stand by while hardworking Georgians lose their jobs and their health care. She wants to bring that expertise to the Gold Dome to take on the cost of healthcare, community safety, and investment in students.

Michelle Kang, a first-generation Korean American who has called Georgia home since 1992 and built her life in Gwinnett, the most diverse county in the state. She is a small business owner and community organizer running for HD-99 because she believes Georgia should be a place where working families can thrive, not just survive. In 2024, she lost her race by just 621 votes. She decided the fight was too important to walk away from, and she is running again.

Farooq Mughal, the son of Pakistani immigrants who arrived in Lawrenceville in 1995 and raised him on the values of hard work, integrity, and service. In his single term representing HD-105, he passed ten pieces of bipartisan legislation. Ten bills both sides agreed on, in this political climate, from a legislator whose family story is the American story. He lost reelection by 80 votes, and he is running to return to the Gold Dome more determined than ever.

Ethan Wolfe of Americus, who served his country for 30 years in the Air Force. He is running for HD-151 in rural SW Georgia, where resources are scarce and families are too often forced to choose between groceries and doctor visits. His approach to the campaign is the same one that carried him through three decades of service: showing up when it matters, one door at a time.

The American experiment doesn't continue on its own. It continues because people like Beth, Michelle, Farooq, and Ethan show up here in Georgia, now in 2026, because their districts deserve better representation. The courage to fight for change is the only way this country has ever moved forward.

How Trump Represents America at 250

As America approaches its 250th year since the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, one would be remiss to look back on this time without acknowledging the Trump Administration. Across his two terms, Donald Trump has contributed to the continual undermining of constitutional law, historic levels of deregulation, and the enforcement of hardline immigration and mass deportation policies.

To many, these tactics stand out as radical change from prior political campaigns, especially within the past few decades. Yet, when looking back at the past 250 years of the United States, the pattern Donald Trump follows is not unfamiliar.

Andrew Jackson built his political legacy by presenting himself as the voice of "real Americans" while expanding executive power and dismissing the institutions that challenged him. Woodrow Wilson used the Sedition Act to prosecute political dissent and resegregated the federal workforce. Joseph McCarthy weaponized fear of a hidden enemy to justify sweeping attacks on civil liberties. Richard Nixon compiled enemies lists and pushed executive power to the edge of constitutional collapse.

None of these were anomalies. Each was a president or political figure who tested how much American democracy would tolerate before it pushed back.

Trump has embraced a similar political formula: portraying himself as the sole representative of "the people," vilifying the courts, the press, and political opponents, and insisting that any institution that limits his power is fundamentally illegitimate.

American history is filled with leaders who have exploited fear of outsiders, racial resentment, and nationalist rhetoric for political gain. Some of the nation's greatest failures were not the product of one extraordinary individual but of political leaders who saw an opening and took it.

Trump did not create these impulses. He inherited them, amplified them, and built a political movement around them.

As the United States commemorates 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, the greatest mistake would be to treat Trump as a historical anomaly. What we are living through is less a revolution than a revival, drawing on traditions of exclusion, executive overreach, and grievance politics that have surfaced throughout the nation's history.

America's next chapter will not be determined by whether Donald Trump fades from public life. It will be determined by how strongly the country's institutions, its courts, its press, its state legislatures, and its people, respond when the pattern shows up again.

American Dream or American Nightmare?

The American Dream is older than the country. It began as land, a homestead, room to build a life on. Then it became a job, a factory shift, a union card, a paycheck that could raise a family. By the middle of the last century it had become a house, a suburban lot, a college degree, a desire to have a life better than your parents'. At each turn the Dream was refined, but the promise stayed the same. What has changed for young Americans today isn't ambition. It's the rising cost of reaching the same goals.

Major milestones once considered normal parts of adult life, buying a first home, paying for college, starting a family, now often require years of financial planning and strain on households. The American Dream has long been associated with opportunity, but the economic realities facing younger generations have turned optimism into anxiety since the early 2000s.

Nowhere is that shift more visible than in the housing market. Between 2005 and 2024, the number of people living in U.S. households grew from about 288 million to nearly 332 million. During that same period, the number of vacant homes available for sale fell from roughly 1.3 million to fewer than 850,000, tightening the market despite continued population growth. The median age of a first-time homebuyer has risen from 32 in 2000 to a record 40 today. Homeownership, long considered a cornerstone of building wealth, is now harder to reach than it was just two decades ago.

The effects of these economic pressures extend far beyond homeownership. For much of the twentieth century, the American Dream was not only about individual success but also about building a family and creating a stable future for the next generation. Many immigrants arrived in the United States with little wealth but found opportunities to secure steady employment, purchase homes, and raise larger families. While their journeys were often marked by hardship and discrimination, the possibility of upward mobility made those sacrifices feel worthwhile. 

Georgia families are feeling that squeeze as sharply as anywhere in the country. In May 2020, the median home sale price in metro Atlanta was about $254,000, and the average monthly mortgage payment on that home ran about $873. By 2024, the median had climbed to nearly $400,000, and the average monthly payment had jumped to $2,128. That is a 60% jump in home prices and a mortgage payment that has more than doubled in four years. For a young family in Sandy Springs, Gwinnett, or Lawrenceville, the math has shifted from difficult to nearly impossible.

📢 Call to Action

Venezuela Earthquake Relief – Here's How You Can Help:

Venezuela is facing one of the deadliest natural disasters in its modern history. On June 24, the country was struck by two powerful earthquakes measuring magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 just 39 seconds apart. The rare "earthquake doublet" caused widespread destruction across northern Venezuela, including Caracas and the coastal state of La Guaira, collapsing buildings, damaging hospitals, and leaving entire communities in crisis.

Rescue crews continue searching for survivors as the death toll climbs. As of July 1, at least 2,295 people have been confirmed killed and more than 11,200 injured, with tens of thousands still unaccounted for. The earthquakes were the strongest to hit Venezuela in more than a century, and ongoing aftershocks have complicated relief efforts. Aid organizations warn that the country's already strained healthcare system is struggling to meet the overwhelming demand for emergency care, shelter, and essential supplies.

For many of us, Venezuela is more than a headline. It is a home to families, friends, and communities now facing unimaginable loss. In moments like these, politics takes a back seat to humanity. Behind every statistic is a child without a home, a parent searching for loved ones, or a family wondering how they will rebuild.

This country has a history of stepping up to help when tragedies occur outside our borders. It is one of the most patriotic things about America. If you are able, please consider supporting relief efforts. Every donation, no matter the size, can help provide emergency medical care, food, clean water, shelter, and critical supplies to those affected by the disaster. Together, we can help Venezuelan communities recover and remind them that they are not facing the tragedy alone.

If you can, please join us in donating to one of these verified organizations making efforts to help communities in need. 

Donate Here:
UNICEF
Convoy of Hope
World Central Kitchen
Project Hope
Caritas Venezuela
GEM

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