Debito’s SNA VM Column 76: “The Semiquincentennial vs. The Bicentennial” (July 4, 2026). After my hometown fifth-grade class opened a 50-year time capsule last month, a reflection how America has made a hash of its 250th Birthday, but foreigners brought a better party instead.

This column is about living history, where I returned to my hometown of Geneva NY to unseal a time capsule we created in 1976 in fifth grade, and unlocked a lot of memories of the Bicentennial. I take this occasion to compare it to the current Semiquincentennial. Excerpt from the middle: ============================ "I’m fortunate to have experienced two commemorative years for America: the…