US 250th Anniversary Celebrations to Highlight National Decline
Unlike past centennial celebrations marked by optimism and unity, the upcoming 250th anniversary of the United States is expected to underscore the nation's current decline. Historical markers suggest the way a nation marks milestones reflects its character and current state.
There is a long tradition of reading a nationβs character in the way it marks its own milestones. When the United States turned 150, Philadelphia raised an 80-foot-tall luminous replica of the Liberty Bell and hosted a six-month Sesquicentennial International Exposition. When it turned 200, a country shaken by Vietnam, Watergate and political assassinations nonetheless found in its bicentennial a moment of genuine collective catharsis: a million people on the National Mall, the Freedom Train...