Why I Love America

A slightly expanded version of a City Journal symposium for the Fourth of July.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend. The Shapiro family marked Independence Day with out 11th annual “Happy Birthday, America” party. What started as a small get-together the first summer at our new house—actually a very old house, with the main part constructed before the Civil War—has become a grande fete hosting more than 200 friends and neighbors. That includes dozens of kids in the pool, such that it takes 48 hours for the water to clear up afterwards… Anyhow, I should’ve posted this ahead of the Fourth of July, but City Journal invited me and five Manhattan Institute colleagues to defend America from attacks coming from left and right. Here’s a slightly longer version—what I submitted before it was edited down to a standard length. —IS