The Founders built an impenetrable and impervious granite wall around the new Republic, keeping it safe from outside forces that might wish to destroy it, but they could not build a wall that looked inward, to the enemy within. Historians will note, some with regret, some with satisfaction, that the grand experiment, the American Republic, had come to an end at a known time, date and place, on the steps of the Capitol, at twelve noon, the twentieth day of January 2009.

They built a wall of granite blocks
Great oaken doors and cast iron locks
Guard towers musket shots apart
All guarded by the free man’s heart
The walls were sturdy, wide and high
In length horizons met the eye
Secure so long as ramparts stood
So long no granite turned to wood
Yet turn to rotting wood they did
As deep within the people hid
The enemy who crept unseen
Whose touch turned all to that unclean
The walls gave way, now worn and thin
Torn by the enemy within