You're gonna have a lot of fun watching television

And so it begins. Again.

ONE WAY TO MARK the combustion and decline of the American empire is to visit the memorial to its greatest president. Make it a bright but bitter day, as it was in the second week of January when I saw for the first time Abe Lincoln enthroned in his immense melancholy. Turn north in lowering light, and between the colonnades is the entire text of his se…