The United States prepares for a significant birthday at a time of great division. Citizens wonder if the nation can struggle through another 50 years.
Ha ha! Do you see what I’ve done? I’m talking about the bicentennial, in 1976, not the semiquincentennial (or bisesquicentennial or sestercentennial) in 2026. The columnists’ favourite opening switcheroo does not quite work here, however.
The US believed itself to be in a very different place 50 years ago. As Breakdown: 1975, a fine new documentary on Netflix, demonstrates, Gerald Ford, the amiable transitional president who succeeded Richard Nixon, looked to be leading the United States away from the darkest valley and on to the sunniest uplands.
“Our long national nightmare is ov
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