By Peter Lemiska

Proud Americans across the country have already started celebrating America’s 250th birthday. They know that America is not a perfect country; still, they’re bursting with pride over our country’s countless accomplishments.

In a relatively short time, America grew from a ragtag group of British colonists to the most powerful nation on earth. Today’s patriots are proud of so much, like the incredible advances made in civil rights. At our inception, slavery was an accepted practice here and around the world. We ended it more than 150 years ago. But there was more to do. In 2009, we reached another milestone, electing our first African-American president.

Patriotic Americans are also immensely proud of the advances we’ve made in medicine — the elimination of diseases like smallpox and polio — and the awesome technological achievements, especially the lunar landing.

And, yes, they’re proud of America’s might. Soon after helping to defeat the ruthless and aggressive enemies of World War I, America was drawn into another world war in December 1941. While so many today casually toss around epithets like “Nazi” and “fascist,” it was America — our fathers and grandfathers — who helped defeat the real Nazis and fascists bent on world domination.

Americans are also proud of our country’s generosity. Every year, we provide tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to countries in need. And our generosity doesn’t stop there. Over time, our generous immigration laws have admitted tens of millions of foreign citizens, who eagerly assimilated American customs and ideals, creating what’s become known as America’s melting pot.

And they’re also thankful — thankful for the abundant opportunities America offers. In recent years, more Americans have been condemning wealth, often hypocritically suggesting that it is somehow shameful to be rich. But wealth is created by ambition, hard work, and the right opportunities. If America has more billionaires than any other country, it’s because America provides the opportunities while encouraging ambition and hard work.

But most Americans are especially thankful for freedom — freedom to worship as we please, freedom to speak our minds, and all the freedoms guaranteed in our Bill of Rights.

There’s one other freedom that is never mentioned. American citizens are free to travel at will — something that is denied citizens of totalitarian countries.

That’s why people around the world are literally lined up to come here. It’s why today’s World Cup visitors from every corner of the world are singing America’s praises.

But not everyone here is celebrating. Not everyone is grateful.

Among those who aren’t celebrating America are recent immigrants — not the kind our country once welcomed with open arms. Many today come here, legally or illegally, for nefarious reasons. They have no interest in pursuing the American Dream.

Nor do they have any intention of merging into America’s melting pot. They come to greedily exploit the opportunities America offers, and they bring with them the biases, the hatred, and the anti-American ideologies that divides our country.

Particularly repugnant, though, are the homegrown ingrates — especially those American citizens who find untold fame and fortune thanks to the opportunities that exist only in this country. Then they whine that their “country isn’t so lovable right now.” They tell us that they were once patriots, that they used to love America. But no more.

What changed their minds? It’s because of one man, a man they’ve labeled a racist, misogynist, and xenophobic tyrant. That’s an awful lot of pejoratives — all of them nothing more than unfounded opinions. Nonetheless, because they despise the man, they despise the people who elected him, and now the country he leads.

It’s clear that their rage has twisted their thought process and given them a distorted view of reality. In their minds, the courageous men and women who have taken on the dangerous job of enforcing our immigration laws are seen as “masked militias” with no other purpose than to “shoot citizens in the streets, torture our neighbors, and separate families.”

While patriotic Americans across the country are busy celebrating the greatest country on earth, those who have only contempt for America will be wallowing in hatred and despair. But while they wallow, they might ask themselves, “Is there any better place to live?”