[SANTEE Sat July 4, 9:00 p.m.] Two hundred fifty years. That number sounds impressive until you remember Rome, or China, or basically any civilization with actual mileage — but here’s the thing nobody mentions: countries are old, governments aren’t. The Constitution we’re still arguing about was ratified in 1788 and it’s the oldest written national charter still running anywhere. France, in that same window, has burned through five republics, two empires, and a rotating cast of kings and provisional whatevers. The Soviet Union made it 69 years. Hitler’s thousand-year plan came up 988 short. So yeah, the machinery creaks, but it’s the longest-running show of its kind, and that’s genuinely weird when you think about it.
And consider what 250 actually looks like on a country. The republic has been eligible for the Denny’s senior discount since before the Civil War — it was pushing 90 when Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address, over 125 when the Wright brothers got a plane off the ground, and comfortably past 190 by the time anyone walked on the moon. Most of what we think of as “American history” happened to a country that was already old by government standards. There are photos of the 100th anniversary celebration in 1876, grainy shots of Philadelphia crowds in stovepipe hats, and here we are a century and a half past that, still doing the same thing: dragging chairs out to a parking lot, tilting our heads back, lighting the sky up. Enjoy are some photos from tonight, taken in Santee, CA.
