Friday, July 02, 2004
Goodnight, moon
Philadelphia is where many important sites of the Revolution are located. For awhile, I used to use the terminals at the "Independence Branch" of the Philadelphia Free Library—so called, because it is next door to the house, then located in what we would today call the suburbs, being located all of 10 blocks from the riverfront, where Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. The house is a national park, the smallest one in the entire country, and it has a national park Ranger all its own.
Of course, Independence Hall is also in Philly.
It, too, is a national park, but here the influence of the Rangers is not nearly so benign. Citing terrorism, they've gradually begun to cut people off from Independence Hall. Now they are channelling people through these incredibly ugly steel barriers, but what they really want to do is hide the entire Hall behind a high wall.
That's crazy. This is building where the Constiution that expresses our liberties was written. It's crazy to cut the people off from it; the same impulse, but more grotesquely, is channellling visitors to the Capitol in DC into an underground, bunker-like, museum, instead of letting them see the real thing.
Yes, it's crazy. A building is just a building. So, the terrorists blow it up. You know what? We'll build another one. The Germans have done that for Dresden. But our liberties, and the Germans know this too, once destroyed, will be far harder to rebuild than any building can be. Night, all.
Of course, Independence Hall is also in Philly.
It, too, is a national park, but here the influence of the Rangers is not nearly so benign. Citing terrorism, they've gradually begun to cut people off from Independence Hall. Now they are channelling people through these incredibly ugly steel barriers, but what they really want to do is hide the entire Hall behind a high wall.
That's crazy. This is building where the Constiution that expresses our liberties was written. It's crazy to cut the people off from it; the same impulse, but more grotesquely, is channellling visitors to the Capitol in DC into an underground, bunker-like, museum, instead of letting them see the real thing.
Yes, it's crazy. A building is just a building. So, the terrorists blow it up. You know what? We'll build another one. The Germans have done that for Dresden. But our liberties, and the Germans know this too, once destroyed, will be far harder to rebuild than any building can be. Night, all.
