America a quarter of a millennium ago was where the words of the European Enlightenment became flesh. In the 13 colonies’ declaration of independence, the dreams of the new age’s rationalists, free thinkers and anti-monarchists were made actual. Power comes from the people, they said. Rulers must govern with the consent of the governed. “We hold these truths to be self-evident,” they asserted. They were right, which is why Britain had lost the battle for America’s soul before the first cannonballs were exchanged. Little is self-evident today to Americans, except that they cannot agree on what they are celebrating.
250年前的美国，是欧洲启蒙运动思想化为现实之地。在13个殖民地发表的《独立宣言》中，新时代理性主义者、自由思想家和反君主制人士的梦想得以实现。他们说，权力来自人民；统治者必须获得被统治者的同意才能治理国家。“我们认为这些真理是不言而喻的，”他们宣称。他们是对的，这就是为什么英国在第一发炮弹射出之前，就输掉了争夺美国灵魂的战斗。对当今的美国人来说，几乎没有什么是不言而喻的——除了他们无法就自己在庆祝什么达成一致。