Whenever someone asks the question "how are you?" most people quickly answer "fine" or "ok" or something like that. We often do it out of habit, but not because it is accurate (and, in case you do not know: you should not do that). Maybe on a day when you are doing wonderfully, you might go out of your way to tell someone the truth. Or, sadly, you might be specific with someone if you are having a horrible day (especially if you need someone's help).
Think about those days when you are not feeling horrible, maybe a few things went wrong but nothing that is disastrous. How would you respond if you were telling the truth? "How are you?" "Ok, but not great." Possibly? That is essentially how I feel right now about celebrating America's 250th. I have never been very much into celebrating that revolution of protestant politics that occurred back in 1776. Today when I am encouraged to celebrate the fact that America has been around for 250 years, I feel "ok, but not great".
How are we doing today? Is there really much to celebrate? Are we as a nation growing in holiness? Are we at peace? Is the Catholic faith proclaimed loudly and clearly? The answer to those is really "no". Let us be honest, 250 years is not really that long. Rome was around for almost 1000! And here we are at 250 on the verge of moral and societal collapse. We may last a bit longer, but not if we keep up the immorality of the past few decades.
So then, am I happy that we have not been destroyed? Of course I am. I cannot, however, celebrate the spiritual state of our nation (as that would be immoral to do so). I can celebrate that God has shown us enough mercy that we have a chance to turn things around. I can also celebrate that there are places where people are coming to the faith, and committing themselves to our Lord (like at St. George parish).
To celebrate America, just because it is America, is like saying we should celebrate a day because it is a day (which actually is not a reason). I will, however, give God thanks for His patience, and ask Him to continue to help our nation to see the truth so that we can have something really good to celebrate.