The Fourth of July weekend is an especially fitting time for patriotic displays. It is meant to celebrate the nation’s Founding and its principles on the anniversary of the occasion of its self-declared separation from England. Ostensibly animated by this spirit, many on the left have spent the past few days protesting Donald Trump’s actions as president on the basis that we have “no kings” in this country, echoing similar protests just a few weeks ago.
That they are doing so nearly 250 years after the Declaration of Independence shows the endurance of the Founding era as an essential part of our politics. The left is welcome to attempt to invoke it. But the nature of this attempt, weighed against both immediate and more distant history, makes it awfully convenient — and fundamentally flawed.
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