Subject: Almost Half of US Cannot Answer the Question
Before the fireworks fade into memory and the bunting is folded away, America should ask itself a simple question: what exactly are we celebrating?

It’s a stunning question to ask on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, but it’s a necessary one because it reveals the depth of our civic amnesia. According to a Cato Institute poll, nearly half of Americans can’t identify what the nation’s 250th anniversary commemorates. That isn’t merely an embarrassing statistic. It’s a warning flare. It tells us that something foundational has slipped away. The inheritance has become detached from the heirs. The meaning of the day has become obscured by spectacle, commerce and politics.

Stephen Schmidt