Gene Policinski: Let’s keep the Fourth going all year long

  The red, white and blue bunting is down, the flags are furled and the last of the fireworks have been sent aloft. And for far too many of us, that surge of patriotic fervor and effort found around July Fourth goes back into metaphorical storage for another year.

  Not that millions of our fellow citizens suddenly turn anti-American on July 5 — far from it. Americans wear their love of country on their collective sleeves all year long, and on license plates, t-shirts and knickknacks galore.

  But there is a sudden, dramatic falloff in the depth of attention we give to our nation. Back to work, back to play, back to the daily grind — and largely out of sight, out of mind are the spectacular, amazing, literally revolutionary messages that these United States have proclaimed since 1776 in the Declaration of Independence, since 1789 in the Constitution and since 1791 in the Bill of Rights: A respect for “inalienable” rights, a commitment to a strong central government restrained by the rule of law, and a profound pledge to honor the basic rights of its citizens.