To the Journal editor:

Marquette knows how to celebrate the 4th of July. We decorate our streets, homes and businesses with flags. We have a land parade and a boat parade, a food festival, picnics and family gatherings. The fireworks are fantastic!

The first time I went to our parade, I was surprised that people put their folding chairs along the parade route in the morning and came back to find them in the same place in the afternoon. It seems that everybody who isn’t marching or riding in the parade turns out to watch it. Nearly every aspect of our community is represented in the procession. We get to cheer for our favorite activities and public services, and the volunteers who make our community strong.

I don’t think we can improve on our way of celebrating Independence Day. But, somehow, President Trump has used the 250th anniversary of Independence Day to justify a lot of spending on his pet projects. He has taken entry fees meant to maintain our National Parks around the country and used it to dress up Washington, D.C., by painting the reflecting pool and covering lion statutes located on a bridge with gold leaf.

President Trump is also using this as an excuse for his own self-aggrandizement. He is trying to create a $1 coin, a 24-karet gold coin and a $250 bill with his picture on them, even though law prohibits putting the faces of people who are alive on our money. He is trying to put his portrait on new passports over his gold signature, as well as on National Park passes. He has already put large banners on federal buildings with his face and name on them.

About 10 years ago, Congress established an organization called America250 as a bipartisan nonprofit to plan for this year’s national celebration of America’s 250th year. However, this was not sufficiently obsequious to President Trump, so he established a competing organization called Freedom250. He then diverted millions of dollars in taxpayer funding from America250 to Freedom250 and took control of what is now a partisan political show.

All this can make a person feel queasy about celebrating the 4th of July because you are afraid you are being manipulated into showing your approval of the way President Trump has co-opted the holiday. How do we navigate these tumultuous times?

Those who live in Marquette know what is real and true. Our 4th of July holiday brings us together as a community to show respect for our history and for one another. We won’t let a narcissistic president and his loyalists in Congress take this away from us. Let’s show up and celebrate!