India, July 3 -- Happy 250th, America! Thank you for existing as a beacon of hope that stands tall against hopelessness. Never have your contradictions been so obvious, and as life-affirming, as today. Countries, like individuals, contain multitudes and the act of balancing everything one is constituted of is not easy. Take, for example, the idea of family. America, the biggest champion of the individual, wants its elections fought in the name of family. Or, think of religion. The special constitutional place religion has both in letter (Article VI, section 3 and in the First Amendment) and spirit in the US sits uneasy with the uniquely American idea of "Civil Religion". It's another story that the political chasm between religious conser...