Would my Italian grandparents recognize this version of America?

Among the few possessions I inherited from my grandmother is a sepia-toned picture of her and my grandfather, taken a few years after they had left Italy and settled in a small town in upstate New York.

My grandmother looks quietly elegant in her ostrich-plumed hat. She holds an infant — my mother — on her lap. My grandfather, in his bowler and three-piece suit, has his hand on her shoulder. They look directly into the camera, new Americans, ready to pursue their dream.

My grandparents came to this country more than a century ago, because, in their native Italy, income inequality was vast and rising. Fascism was taking root as progressive movements became ever more harassed and vulnerable. It was becoming a failed state.

Unlike many of the millions of Italian immigrants who came to this country to escape poverty, my grandparents had education and resources. They used both to help their fellow immigrants assimilate and participate in this great experiment of self-governance. He became the town’s naturalization officer. She helped teach English to Italian newcomers.

My grandparents believed in this country’s potential. Would they even recognize the United States today?

This Independence Day weekend is a good time to reflect on our nation and view it with un-blinkered eyes. Is America a failing democracy?

The nonprofit Freedom House monitors the health of democracies across the globe, using a set of metrics to assess their status. Those standards include “regular, free and fair elections,” a media landscape where “journalists are free from excessive interference by powerful political and economic interests,” and a government and national economy that is “free of excessive corruption,” with “strong conflict of interest” rules.

America is not living up to those standards:

· In far too many states, citizens, particularly Black Americans, are denied access to the vote through strict voter ID laws, the mass purging of voter registration rolls, the closure of polling places, and stringent requirements for casting absentee ballots, even in the throes of a pandemic. A nation where citizens have to risk their lives to select their leaders is a failing democracy.

· Journalists have been called “the enemy of the people” who peddle “fake news” by President Donald Trump. They have been arrested while covering protests, and often harassed at Trump campaign rallies. A nation in which even an anchor for Fox News calls Trump’s actions “the most direct sustained assault on freedom of the press in our history” is a failing democracy.

· Numerous federal agencies are run by people with blatant conflicts of interest. Andrew Wheeler, administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, used to lobby for the coal industry, one of the country’s largest polluters. David Bernhardt, who lobbied for the oil industry, heads the Department of Interior. Venture capitalist Moncef Slaoui now co-leads the federal team assessing new COVID treatments and vaccines, despite his investments in and ties to the very drug companies that stand to profit from the team’s recommendations. No ethics rules govern what he does because he has been designated a federal “contactor.” Little respect for ethics and integrity is another mark of a failing democracy.

And there are other signs of decline. The Fund for Peace annually measures the fragility of democracies. With its rising income inequality, racial and ethnic divisions, and political polarization, the United States has become “a democracy under pressure,” the assessment found.

My grandparents’ decision to leave Italy helps me understand that there is nothing written in stone that says that the U.S., once a beacon of hope to those seeking freedom, will continue to be that place of refuge, where equality is a dream to which we can at least aspire.

Indeed, when the National Italian American Foundation held a recent webinar on how to gain Italian citizenship, it drew well close to 1,000 participants.

What will July 4, 2021 look like? Will the pandemic be a memory or at least a condition we can tolerate while resuming our normal lives?

Will we be able to regain our standing in the world? Will we rebuild a civil service now demoralized by attacks on whistleblowers and truth-tellers?

Will mayors, governors, and members of Congress pass legislation that begins to repair income inequality and systemic racism?

I don’t know. I am heartened that more Americans seem engaged and ready for change.

But just in case, I’m trying to see if I qualify for dual citizenship. If things don’t work out, I’d like to have another country in my back pocket.