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| Marilyn Monroe and her favourite pin-up boy Abraham Lincoln in her brand new Cadillac in Los Angeles in 1954. From a series of photographs by Milton Greene. |
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
– The U.S. Declaration of Independence
"Say, can you see
By the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed
At the twilight's last gleaming?
...
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave"
– The Star-Spangled Banner, national anthem of the United States
"E pluribus unum"
[Out of many, one]
– The United States motto 1776-1956, still on the Great Seal.
• First permanently successful overthrow of monarchical colonial rule
• World's first federal republic founded on the consent of the governed
• Beginning of the Age of Revolution
– Wikipedia key talking points
AA: Today we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, which was the first to overthrow colonialism, monarchy, aristocratic privilege and religious persecution. Government by the republic instead of monarchy, by the many instead of the few, based on ideals of equality and liberty, inspired all subsequent revolutions.
A classic case of "already and not yet". The commitment to the aspiration was firm, but the reality did not always match the principles. "Nobody's perfect".
The nightmare in the White House looks like a counter-revolution attempt to a European: back to the worst excesses of the Sun King, complete with the tariff-maniac mercantilism of Colbert, but without the great style and taste and commitment to high culture of the grand siècle.
Nothing could be more anti-American.
Nothing could be less worthy of the land of the free and the home of the brave.
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