On Memorial Day, we remember those who took up arms because they thought their civilization represented something good and worth preserving. But we increasingly take up arms for the opposite reason: because we believe this society to be corrupt, failing, doomed. We half dread the possibility of breakdown and bloodshed — and are made half-giddy by it, too.
And that is a dangerous state of affairs. Americans don’t have a well-regulated militia — we don’t have a well-regulated anything.