{"id":202975,"date":"2026-07-05T01:43:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T08:43:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=202975"},"modified":"2026-07-05T01:43:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T08:43:32","slug":"250-years-young-howdy-america-matthew-mcconaughey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=202975","title":{"rendered":"250 Years Young, Howdy, America! ~ Matthew McConaughey"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Austin, TX&#8230;To a lot of people, 250 years might sound like a long time to be a country. But it\u2019s really not.  Because America isn\u2019t just a country \u2014 it\u2019s an idea. A land that has never quite been \u201cyet.\u201d And that \u201cyet\u201d we keep chasing? That\u2019s the whole point.  <\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"655\" height=\"491\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ezs9h7Td8Zg\" title=\"Matthew McConaughey - Howdy America 250\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re never going to fully arrive. And that\u2019s not failure. That\u2019s by design.  We didn\u2019t found this nation on proof. We founded it on a belief worth fighting for \u2014 a wager worth betting on \u2014 an act of faith that a self-governing people could become something extraordinary.  <\/p>\n<p>Here we are, 250 years later. The bet is still on the table. We haven\u2019t cashed in\u2026 and let\u2019s pray we never do.  We need skeptics \u2014 people who care enough to question. We don\u2019t need cynics. The cynic has already quit.  <\/p>\n<p>So today, as we celebrate 250 years of independence, let\u2019s look around:  What have we built?<br \/>\nWhat have we restored?<br \/>\nWhat is still standing?<br \/>\nWhat has fallen by the wayside?<br \/>\nWhat\u2019s gone forever?  <\/p>\n<p>In the best of us, I see 250 years of showing up \u2014 arguing, loving, losing, forgiving, starting over, and believing in who we are and who we can still become. That\u2019s the \u201cyet\u201d we\u2019re chasing.  <\/p>\n<p>So light the fire. Break the bread. Raise a glass to your family, your friends\u2026 and maybe even to the neighbor you don\u2019t agree with.  Let the kids run barefoot after dark.  <\/p>\n<p>This celebration isn\u2019t about arriving. It\u2019s about still being on the journey.  Take inventory \u2014 with the person in the mirror and with each other.  Here\u2019s to more dancing in the home of the brave.  <\/p>\n<p>Happy 250th, America.  Just keep going.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Austin, TX&#8230;To a lot of people, 250 years might sound like a long time to be a country. But it\u2019s really not. Because America isn\u2019t just a country \u2014 it\u2019s an idea. A land that has never quite been \u201cyet.\u201d And that \u201cyet\u201d we keep chasing? That\u2019s the whole point. We\u2019re never going to fully [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":202976,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-202975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-life-style","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Fullscreen-capture-752026-13301-AM.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=202975"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":202977,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202975\/revisions\/202977"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/202976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=202975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=202975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=202975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}