After watching for months as President Donald Trump and his henchmen trampled the rule of law and wiped their feet on our Constitution, I decided to skip the traditional Independence Day flag-flying at the house this year.

There’s something about calling out active-duty military into our streets, intimidating universities and news outlets, and vilifying immigrants and sexual minorities while wrapped in the flag of false patriotism that takes the wholesome sentiment out of the Fourth of July for me.

Add to that the Senate’s passage of a spending bill that cuts funding for Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) an estimated $1 trillion, leaving nearly 12 million Americans without health care in the coming decade, and there’s not much to light a sparkler about. But at least the nation’s wealthiest citizens will receive the multitrillion-dollar tax cut they were promised by the man who adores oligarchs and fascist strongmen.

Nevada rural counties are already a health care wilderness. In the best of times, its hospitals and clinics struggle to keep the doors open. Many residents rely on Medicaid and the ACA, and the deep cuts threaten to make matters much worse.

Urban areas will also be devastated. Hospitals, nursing homes and community clinics have long lines of patients who rely on Medicaid for care. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” figures to blow up state budgets and return to the days when hospital emergency rooms and first-responder paramedics are the only health care options for an entire class of citizens.

The annual celebration of a nation led by its people free of any king rings pretty hollow these days with the Trump administration issuing edicts and open threats to citizens and trading partners alike. And, so, I thought I’d pass on the whole stars-and-stripes thing.

It turns out I am not alone in this sense of patriotic ennui. Pride in America has trended downward for the past two decades among registered independents and Democrats, according to a recent Gallup Poll. A high majority of Republicans, according to the analysis, remain “extremely” or “very” proud to be an American. Combined, however, the nation sits at a record-low 58 percent of the adult population feeling very patriotic.

Republicans have morphed into a party of reality deniers in thrall to a strongman. Democrats have largely become one large complaint department. At this point, those identifying as independent are in group therapy as they seek their true identities.

The poll provides an interesting talker story this time of year, and its finding that the younger generation’s sense of pride in the country continues to crumble is intriguing, but none of it is much of a surprise.

The Republicans’ spending bill’s tax cuts will add $3 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, the Center for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates. Paying the interest alone on the mounting debt is calculated to cost $78 trillion over the next 30 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

So, what does Gen Z have to celebrate?

Certainly not the prospects for a cleaner environment — not with the elimination of electric vehicle tax credits and the phasing out of tax credits for solar, wind and geothermal energy.

Any of this sound like a bad idea, Nevada? Our place as a center for renewable energy is about to be severely tested. But at least big car companies and oil-and-gas giants will enjoy the ride.

To make matters worse, I spent much of Tuesday night watching CSPAN as the House Rules Committee lined up the Democrat-sponsored amendments to the spending bill and watched each one predictably shot down by party-line votes. The pleas of ranking member Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts (D) and fellow minority party members Reps. Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania, Joe Neguse of Colorado and Teresa Leger Fernández of New Mexico made for compelling political theater, but little more.

All that and much more contributed to my decision to forego the fireworks and flag ceremony at the house. There were plenty of others in the neighborhood who would pick up the slack. I felt like an old Cubs fan, murmuring, “Wait ‘til next year.”

But then something happened.

Going through Costco the other day, the red, white and blue caught my eye. It sounds schmaltzy to admit it, but I was reminded of all the good feelings I’ve enjoyed over the years on the Fourth of July. Thoughts of family, friends, old neighborhoods came to mind. Summer smells, hot dogs grilling, the acrid but irresistible scent of firework smoke. Even the burned bare feet I had as a kid growing up in Henderson seemed alive.

No one, not even the grand deceiver in the White House, gets to take away the deep, sincere feeling we share about our country. Not because we’re feeling patriotic or particularly proud of the direction the country is going, but because we are still blessed to live in a place capable of changing for the better.

I knew in that moment I had changed my mind about sluffing off a favorite tradition. I put the Valley Forge All-American United States flag kit complete with pole and mounting bracket into the cart.

And, yes, I’ll admit it. I even double checked to make sure the flag kit was stamped “Made in the USA.”

John L. Smith is an author and longtime columnist. He was born in Henderson and his family’s Nevada roots go back to 1881. His stories have appeared in New Lines, Time, Readers Digest, Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast, Reuters and Desert Companion, among others.