America and Mississippi at 250

• In many ways, Mississippi’s story mirrors America’s story.

As America approaches its 250th anniversary, I have found myself thinking less about politics and more about stewardship.

Recently, Secretary of State Marco Rubio described America as “a story of perpetual improvement,” a nation where each generation leaves the next freer, safer, and more prosperous than the one before.

That’s the essence of stewardship.

The genius of America was never that we got everything right from the beginning, but that our founding principles created a framework for continual improvement. The Declaration of Independence established the radical idea that all people are created equal and possess rights that do not come from government and, therefore, cannot legitimately be taken away by government.

America’s failures to live up to those ideals are well documented. Slavery and Jim Crow remain among the darkest chapters in our nation’s history, and their effects are still felt today. But what is equally remarkable is that the same constitutional system that tolerated those injustices also created the conditions for their correction. Through free speech, political activism, religious conviction, self-government, and even civil war, Americans have repeatedly challenged the nation to better live up to its founding ideals.

That work remains unfinished and always will be. But the American story is one of progress, not perfection. It is a story of a free people willing to examine themselves, correct course, and continue striving toward a more perfect union.

In many ways, Mississippi’s story mirrors America’s story.

For much of my lifetime, Mississippi was known primarily for what it lacked. We ranked near the bottom of national measures involving education, income, health, and economic opportunity. Too many of our young people assumed that success required leaving the state. Too many families came to believe that the American Dream was something that happened somewhere else.

Yet over the last decade, something remarkable has been happening.

Mississippi’s progress is becoming impossible to ignore. What many now call the “Mississippi Miracle” has drawn national attention as our students have posted some of the strongest academic gains in the country, while our economy recorded the nation’s second-fastest GDP growth rate in 2024. New investment is flowing into communities across the state, workforce participation is rising, and more businesses are recognizing what many of us have long believed: Mississippi’s greatest asset is its people.

Just as importantly, Mississippi has demonstrated a willingness to confront difficult issues and move forward together. In 2020, Mississippians retired the state flag that had flown for generations and adopted a new one. Reasonable people approached that debate from different perspectives, but the decision reflected something important about our state. We are not frozen in time. We are capable of honest self-examination, meaningful change, and continued progress.

None of this means our challenges have disappeared. Mississippi still faces serious obstacles. Too many children attend schools that are not meeting their needs. Too many adults remain disconnected from the workforce. Too many young people are growing up without a father in the home. Too many families struggle with addiction, crime, and poverty. But for the first time in a long time, there is growing evidence that we are moving in the right direction.

The question now is whether that progress will reach everyone.

The true measure of success is not whether those already positioned to succeed continue succeeding. The true test is whether opportunity reaches neighborhoods that have too often been overlooked and children who have too often been underestimated. A healthy society creates pathways for people from every background to rise as far as their talents, effort, and determination can take them.

That vision is deeply connected to the American Dream.

Today, some people speak about the American Dream as though it were a promise of equal outcomes or guaranteed success. It was never intended to be either. The American Dream is the belief that through freedom, responsibility, hard work, and perseverance, people can build meaningful lives for themselves and their families. It is the belief that work has dignity, that strong families and communities are worth building, and that where you begin in life does not have to determine where you end. That is earned success.

That belief drives much of the work we do at Empower Mississippi. We want every child to have access to an excellent education, every adult to have the opportunity to experience the dignity of work, and every family to have a pathway to stability and prosperity. Those aspirations are not uniquely Republican or Democratic. They are fundamentally American.

As we prepare to celebrate America’s 250th birthday, we should reject cynicism and choose stewardship instead. We are the beneficiaries of generations who built, sacrificed, corrected mistakes, and expanded opportunity. Our responsibility is to do the same.

If we do, the next generation will inherit a Mississippi that is freer, safer, more just, and more prosperous than the one we inherited.

That is the American story. And it is still being written.