Societies will at times construct an edifice as a herald of great accomplishments, ideals, or spirit that embody the essence of a nation. The Statue of Liberty is one example, the Washington Monument another, and the Lincoln Memorial yet another. These are gifts of reverence to or from the American people.

Recent discussions proposing the construction of a Triumphal Arch to sate the ego of a privileged man feasting at the trough of infamy is in a word; madness.

This honorific by fiat is not sanctioned by the people and harkens back to the days of Rome when emperors sought to glorify their military victories with Triumphal Arches built on the backs of captive slave labor. Those who have stood near the Forum in view of the carved arch reliefs of captors in chains may, to this day, get a sense of the cruelty exalted in such a structure. This is not the American way.

It is my hope that if such a structure is built without public sanction, that it be torn down and removed in its entirety. In due course, when history has settled and the American people have processed the legacy of the subject, an appropriate edifice can be considered. Until then, neither block nor timber should stand as an edifice.

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Kevin Deeny

This was originally published in the Bucks County Herald on 3/5/26.