In just over 18 months, the United States will turn 250 years old. Current turmoil only adds to the importance of the impending public pageant. In recent years, American political battles have grown toxic, with a widening divide between ordinary citizens and cultural elites. These conflicts often take on an all-or-nothing character and sometimes reveal an impulse for erasure, as exemplified by the 2020 wave of removing and destroying statues, from those of former presidents to those of Civil War soldiers. Ahead of our semiquincentennial, America needs a cultural initiative that affirms the profound range of our national life—call it a 2026 Project.
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