Happy Birthday, Venn!

As our Venn Diagram of a Nation nears its 250th birthday, it helps to remember that this particular Venn is dynamic, not static.

That both circles are actually the visible endpoints of two distinct pendulums, swinging on a single axis.

That each circle is often captive to the gravitational pull of two separate loose clusters of beliefs, each exerting its influence so powerfully that the circles sometimes cease to overlap.

But each circle is - sometimes - receptive to the gravitational pull of “We,” that animating shared belief that, by muting our differences, we might yet achieve that “more perfect union.”

A union which, at its best, will still be imperfect.

After all, we are a Venn Diagram nation, for which one day becoming a perfect circle is just not in the cards.