In a July 4 address from Annapolis, Gov. Wes Moore urged Americans to embrace service, reject nationalism and help build a stronger future.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland Gov. Wes Moore used a July 4 address from the State House to argue that patriotism requires service, sacrifice and a commitment to improving the country, while warning against efforts to blur the distinction between patriotism and nationalism.
Speaking before veterans, service members, military families, Maryland Corps participants and community leaders, Moore delivered what his administration called the “Work of Patriotism” address as part of the nation’s Independence Day celebrations.
“Patriotism is not simply pride in what America has been; it’s taking ownership for what America can become,” Moore said. “That is the work of patriotism.”
The Democratic governor used the speech to reflect on America’s founding ideals while acknowledging what he described as the nation’s unfinished work.
“The history of our country and the history of this state, it is powerful and it is painful. It is complex, but inside that complexity is something uniquely American: the strength for self-correction and the strength to self-heal,” Moore said.
Moore tied that message to his family history, recounting how his grandfather’s family fled South Carolina after being targeted by the Ku Klux Klan because his great-grandfather was an outspoken Black minister.
Most of the family vowed never to return to the United States, Moore said, but his grandfather came back and eventually became the first Black minister in the history of the Dutch Reformed Church.
“My grandfather was right,” Moore said. “And on this Independence Day, I want to be clear: America would be incomplete without all of us.”
A central theme of the speech was Moore’s warning that patriotism is increasingly being redefined.
“But today there are those who will use patriotism to justify pulling books from schools and rewriting history until it comforts those in power,” Moore said. “In reality, that’s not patriotism, that’s nationalism.”
Moore distinguished the two concepts.
“Patriotism asks you to fight for values and an ideal,” he said. “Today’s version of nationalism asks you to fight for a person or a group.”
The governor also acknowledged growing frustration with politics and public institutions.
“People worry about our economy, that it will leave them behind. People are watching their children work more, yet earn less. Americans are fed up with watching politicians profit off of public office,” Moore said.
“Too many feel that our politics has become tribal, that our political system once felt like a gift, but the politics of today feel like a grift.”
Moore argued that skepticism toward government is understandable but should not prevent civic engagement.
“The truth is, I still harbor skepticism and I’m the governor,” he said. “Skepticism can be our companion, but skepticism can never be our captor.”
He also criticized military conflicts that lack clear objectives.
“So starting a war without a purpose is not patriotic,” Moore said. “Ending a war without achievement is not victory, and telling soldiers and sailors and airmen and marines otherwise is not leadership.”
Throughout the speech, Moore highlighted examples of service, including Baltimore native and Medal of Honor recipient Major James Capers Jr., World War I Signal Corps operator Marie Edmée LeRoux and Prince Ames, a Black and Indigenous soldier who fought in the Revolutionary War.
Moore also spotlighted Maryland’s service year option program, launched in 2023, which connects high school graduates with public service opportunities, job training and mentorship.
“I believe deeply that service will save us,” Moore said. “Because when one neighbor gets involved and pulls in another, they do the hard work together, and that is where progress is made.”
The governor closed by recalling a Bible his grandfather gave him before he deployed to Afghanistan with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. Inside, Moore said, his grandfather had written four words: “Have faith, not fear.”
“Fear is the accelerant of nationalism,” Moore said. “Faith is the foundation of patriotism.”
“Let’s choose faith,” he added. “A faith that our best days are still ahead of us, and that is the work of patriotism.”