USA has always been an ambivalent place, both committed to equality and liberty in an idealized manner and also committed to perpetuating inequality, particularly across racial, ethnic and religious lines. A child of the 1970s I like the version of America I was taught about in-between Saturday morning cartoons via School House Rock. No more kings!

Edit: before anyone else points it out, the video depicts racism against native americans and the colonists were crazy religious zealots. But it’s also about rejection of the English king. So all the ambivalence seems to be there.