The blog post that will shortly follow the posting of these photographs says all that I have to say about the march and the issues it raised. This is heavy stuff for the July 4 day of celebration but I think the times require a more serious reflection on what our independence means and what it requires us to do.

As Benjamin Franklin was leaving Independence Hall at the end of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, he was asked: “Well, Doctor, what have we got — a Republic or a Monarchy? HIs answer: “A Republic, if you can keep it.”