From one point of view, the most interesting political event is the foundation of a community. For example, we celebrate the Fourth of July, remembering 1776. Our admiration of our founders is part of our orientation to the past—to what’s real and to human experience, to greatness and misery, and hard-won achievements. To found, however, is to innovate, to concern oneself with human possibilities as yet unrealized, reminding us that the orientation of action is to the future—we hope and fear, we expect good things or bad, pleasure or pain. Putting future and past together is perhaps the most difficult thing for us, such as educating children with a view to their future happiness as adults.
