OPINION — After the 1787 Constitutional Convention, American socialite Elizabeth Willing Powell asked Benjamin Franklin whether the founding leaders had just created a monarchy or a republic. Franklin famously answered, “A republic, if you can keep it.” OPINION — We live in an era of normalized boorish behavior. OPINION — When the Continental Congress adopted its “Declaration of Independence,” officially published on July 4, 1776, there were reasons laid out in detail in that declaration.