Our Own Parthenon
When Jeffrey Rosen was the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, he would open events in the Center’s stunning Great Hall Overlook by asking the audience to pause and look out the windows. There, across stretches of park lawn, stands Independence Hall. That is where Washington was sent out to lead the revolution. It is where the founding documents were debated and signed. That is where the nation began. And the building is still there for us to see. I have been to Independence Hall more times than I can remember; whether it was one of many class trips as a kid, or a “Sunday father” day when my father came to visit once-a-month, or even now on a nice day when walking around the historic section of Philadelphia actually makes the city seem like a pleasant place. Perhaps I have taken that for granted, and perhaps that is why it is such a remarkable thing to look out the windows at Indep...