Every four
years our presidential candidates engage in the loftiest and least
attainable of all political ambitions – validating the present by
associating themselves with the past. I suspect even if time travel
were possible, I doubt very much that Doctor Franklin and his brothers
in insurrection would attempt to bolster their standing amongst their
constituents by making a similar connection with the future generations
of the American politicians.
In fact any suspension of those inherent properties that seem to keep
us operating in our own time and space might have caused them to
reconsider the merits of rebellion. But this trivial rite of
electioneering does serve its purpose. Any gesture that motivates us to
better understand the people and events that gave substance to the
American experiment strengthens the overall constitution of the
republic.
During the month of July our correspondents will exercise their rights
of peaceful, and on occasion spirited, assemblage by visiting a number
of taverns and location that were instrumental to the founding of this
nation. And while we may not be able to think like our forefathers, we
will make a concerted effort to at least drink like them.
The staff and editors of AMERICAN PUBLIC HOUSE REVIEW
wish our fellow countrymen a celebratory 4th of July.
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