City Journal: Wilfred M. McClay on the significance of the Declaration of Independence. An excerpt:
We are thinking a lot about remembrance, with the 250th anniversary of American independence approaching. How, in this contentious time, should we remember this event? How should we observe the occasion? Do such things really matter?
The last question is the easiest to answer. Yes, they matter, because looking forward necessarily entails looking backward. The two vistas are symbiotically connected in the human soul. Edmund Burke captured this truth when he famously remarked: “People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors.” We must connect with both if we are to have a stake in either. We are better able to imagine, and work toward, a future for our children when we remember, with gratitude, that we ourselves are the embodiment of our predecessors’ tomorrows.
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