As we reflect this year on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, our thoughts and feelings can seem so incongruent. The parades, the fireworks, the t-shirts, and - yes - even our super cute tote bags celebrate with such flourish our bold declaration of an ideal that has been imperfectly executed.  A bold declaration that was written by imperfect people, but a declaration that can provide the stability to support the next revolution of thought, the next progression to a more perfect union. 

Despite the fractured times it feels like we are living in, we can build a better world together. We can “build and rebuild the types of organizations and movements and found families and community centers and faith-based organizations that reknit the social fabric back together…”  as Dustin Wright (MO # 821) so beautifully said in the sermon delivered at the Semisesquicentennial Mass at Messiah Lutheran Church. 

Inspired by a potential future of mutual flourishing, one that continues to build on the unfinished work of democracy, this month's Food for Thought by Elizabeth Walsh (MO #613), Declaring the Next 250 Years: Choosing Love over Like, was published as a Guest Column in Friday's Daily Gazette.

 Declaring the Next 250 Years: Choosing Love Over Like

Two hundred and fifty years after the Declaration of Independence, we find ourselves navigating a revolution shaped as much by technology as by politics. In that world, I find myself wondering what democracy asks of us that neither technology nor popularity can provide. 

In a culture shaped by social media, many of us are conditioned to seek approval. We want reassurance that we're getting it right, that we're being seen favorably, that we measure up. Yet the pursuit of likeability can quietly become a limitation. When our deepest need is to be liked, disagreement feels threatening, conflict becomes something to avoid, and our capacity for collaboration begins to shrink. 

Love asks something different.

Not romantic love, but civic love—the revolutionary practice of remaining wholeheartedly present with one another, especially when being in relationship becomes uncomfortable. Love does not promise comfort. It asks us to approach one another with open minds, open hearts, and open spirits, trusting that vulnerability is not weakness but the doorway to genuine relationship and shared freedom. As Maya Angelou wrote, "[L]ove costs all we are and will ever be. Yet it is only love which sets us free."

Those reflections came to mind while listening to Schenectady City Council President Carl Williams conclude the council meeting on July 13, 2026.

That evening, he welcomed Councilmember Carmel Patrick upon her return to a fully seated council, celebrated Councilmember Kim Wiggins' courage in leading the Housing Stability Task Force, thanked residents willing to host community conversations about the proposed aquatic center, and even acknowledged an agenda oversight as his own responsibility. He closed with a simple reminder: "We are the city that lights the world, and our ability to do that remains in our connectiveness to one another."

He also reminded us that we do not have to like one another—or agree on everything—to keep working together.

That strikes me as a profound vision of civic leadership.

If the first 250 years of the American experiment were devoted to expanding the promise of liberty, perhaps the next 250 will depend upon expanding our capacity to love one another across our deepest differences. We will also be called to distinguish cheap substitutes for belonging from the practices that actually create it. 

Universal human rights do not depend on universal agreement. Neither does a healthy democracy. Democracy flourishes when free people recognize their differences as sources of strength and weave those differences into a more perfect union. That requires the courage to remain connected through disagreement, the humility to admit mistakes, the willingness both to lead and to follow, and the discipline to place the common good above our individual need for affirmation. These practices free us from the death grip of forced uniformity and invite us into the generative abundance that emerges from our differences.

The unfinished work of democracy is not primarily institutional; it is relational. Institutions can protect rights and distribute power, but they cannot by themselves cultivate the courage, generosity, humility, and joy that make pluralistic self-government possible—or even desirable. Those are practices of the heart. They are the foundation of a politics of mutual flourishing. 

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. understood this when he wrote from a jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama about the "creative tension" that helps communities grow beyond prejudice toward understanding. Democracy is strengthened when we engage one another with enough courage and compassion to transform conflict into deeper understanding, shared purpose, and the living currents of revolutionary love.

As we continue important conversations about housing, public investment, neighborhood vitality, and our shared future as Electric City Recharged and ONE Schenectady, the most important question is unlikely to be whether we like one another.

Perhaps it is whether we are willing to love this community well enough to keep showing up—for the conversations, for the disagreements, and for the shared work of becoming something better together.

That may be the declaration worthy of our next 250 years.

Perhaps, in the Electric City, we might discover that the most renewable source of energy has been here all along: our capacity to love one another into a more perfect union. 

And that may be what it means to become the Electric City that truly lights the world.

As a community and regional planner Dr. Elizabeth Walsh works to advance walkable, vibrant cities and climate resilient regions where everyone can thrive. In addition to being Electric City Community Grocery's Communications Committee co-chair, Elizabeth currently serves on the Advisory Committee of the City of Schenectady’s Electric City Recharged comprehensive planning initiative.