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Your faithful co-hosts decided to share some reflections on the nation’s 250th birthday on July 4.

We begin by looking back at four of our Lost Prophets with something to say about the 1976 bicentennial: James Baldwin, Hannah Arendt, Dorothy Day, and Christopher Lasch. All were pretty somber, as was the case with the two other celebrations, in 1876 (Reconstruction is being dismantled) and 1926 (the Klan is ascendant).

We then take up several authors with theories about the Founding, the need for a re-founding, and even a recommendation for a change in the national anthem — let’s ditch the unsingable Star-Spangled Banner for the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro & announcements

06:45 James Baldwin, "Looking for the Bicentennial Man"

09:30 Hannah Arendt, "Home to Roost"

16:00 Dorothy Day, "Bread for the Poor"

21:00 Christopher Lasch, "The Narcissist Society"

27:15 Arendt's On Revolution and the social question

32:15 Garry Wills on Lincoln at Gettysburg

36:15 Kermit Roosevelt III on The Nation That Never Was

39:45 Fred Dewey, "Calling All Freedom Ancestors"

44:15 The World Cup comes to Lawrence, Kansas

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