The overarching issue is the deconstruction of the Mall. Washington’s formal design is mostly neo-classical. The Mall is no exception. The Smithsonian does have the Castle and the Arts and Industries Building, red brick Victorian structures that play well with their neighbors. Modernism, however, is slowly eroding the harmony of design. In my opinion, this started in the 1960’s with the National Museum of American History, which is ugly in the utterly characteristic 1960’s architectural fashion. It’s been downhill since then. The most recent museums clash architecturally with their surroundings. Too much — memorials as well as monuments — is being crammed into an already overbuilt space. The powers that be seem intent on destroying classical unity of design in favor of a collage of deliberately discordant elements.
“The overarching issue is the deconstruction of the Mall”
There is no need to honor every president with a memorial costing hundreds of millions of dollars. Our country was founded on the principles of individual liberty and equality of opportunity. The goal was a classless society, not one in which some men (and women) are more equal than others. Let’s return to the concept of the citizen servant in government. Serve for a limited time, leave office with honor, and return to your home community to gradually fade away.
Building and maintaining monuments and libraries to ex presidents, at taxpayer expense, is insanity for a nation with a crumbling infrastructure and $20 trillion in debt. If private money can’t fund these activities, they should be scrapped.