Look, this is something I'm extremely passionate about, so indulge me for a minute and let me tell you how this should have been done.
The RIGHT way to do this would have been to have a month-long event that went to twelve different cities, with Philadelphia hosting during July because that was our capital (insofar as we had one) in 1776; the other eleven stops could have their own significant-in-the-Revolution days (for example: Washington crossing the Delaware on 25 December, the start of the First Continental Congress on 5 September), and you could get commemorative items from your stop's specific event.
All fifty states AND FIVE TERRITORIES should have been invited to attend, not charged for it. And we should have done it Colombian Expo style: respected thinkers and educators speaking, concerts, "come look at our wild new inventions," and cultural events. If I was in the Oval Office my first thought for this would be to contact ethnic leaders to see who wanted to tell their story. Tribal leaders. Civil rights leaders. Local arts groups. Let us celebrate your food, your art, your dance, your place among our people; and let us also recognize that the flip side of the coin of amazing inventors and economic prosperity on a global scale has been devastation and exploitation. You can't tell the story without both. It's not fair to leave out things we've done for good (Mark Twain! Jonas Salk! Airplanes! Comic books! Musicals!), but it's equally unfair to leave out the lives we've taken and futures we've destroyed. We can't do better if we don't look at these things and say "no. Not again. Not on our watch."
The state fair format is extremely American; I think that was a good choice, I'll give credit for that where it's due. But "that was a good idea" is as far as it goes. Because this doesn't look like a state fair. It looks like a church revival on the third day when all the tents are out of food and everyone is hot and tired and wants less Jesus and more air conditioning.
It could have been so good. My only hope is that we have a Democratic president in 2037, and that they take the opportunity for a Constitutional Celebration Year (it'll be the 250th for the Constitution that year, and ours is the oldest constitution in continuous use in the world), and do it right.
