An Indycar race around the National Mall. Half-naked men grappling on the White House lawn. A new gold dollar coin featuring a glowering president Donald Trump. All to celebrate the founding of the United States.

Two-hundred-and-fifty years ago on Saturday – on July 4th, 1776 – the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia to sever all ties with Britain. In the Declaration of Independence, the Founding Fathers described a new kind of nation: a democratic republic based on the claims that all men are created equal; all enjoy the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; and the state governs only by their consent.

In 1976, America’s 200th birthday, we had tall ships in New York harbour, parades in my hometown, the musical 1776 at my school. Cool new coins in our pockets. The Bicentennial Minute, 60 seconds on an event or person from the past, was a little history lesson each night on TV. People talk about the unity and sense of purpose they felt after the attacks of September 11th, 2001. Me, I never feel so close to my countrymen, so American, as when I remember that summer.

This (waves hands at the current goings-on in DC and around the country) is not that.

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The United States, we keep hearing, is more divided than at any time since its civil war. Researchers at the University of Cambridge in the UK this year reported that social and political divisions in the US have increased 64 per cent since 1988. The US Pew Research Center has found that solid majorities of Democrats and Republicans believe members........

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