Washington Examiner Op Ed 02Jul2026 Note this is behind a paywall, following is the full text
Reflecting on the Reflection Pool
What Stains a Nation More Than Algae?
Author’s Note
The following Reflection was originally published as an op-ed in THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER on July 2, 2026. I am grateful for the opportunity to reach that audience and pleased to share it here.
The Reflection Pool in Washington has suddenly become the object of national attention. News reports focus on the appearance of green algae spreading across its waters, turning one of America’s most recognizable landmarks into a subject of concern and debate.
For many Americans, this is the first time they have given the pool any thought at all.
My own reflections go back fifty years.
Imagine the spectacle during our Bicentennial celebrations half a century ago. Marijuana smoke drifted across portions of the National Mall. Protesters and counterculture activists gathered in large numbers. Some openly used drugs. Others jumped naked into the Reflection Pool itself. What was intended to be a place of quiet contemplation became a stage for rebellion against the institutions and traditions represented by the surrounding monuments.
The Reflection Pool was designed to mirror the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. Instead, during those years it often reflected a nation in cultural turmoil.
Today, attention has returned to the pool because of algae. The irony is difficult to ignore.
Algae is visible. It discolors the water. It offends the eye. It can be measured, treated, and removed. A few applications of chemicals and proper maintenance can restore clarity in a relatively short period of time.
Cultural toxins are far more difficult to eliminate.
The ideas that emerged from the counterculture movement did not remain confined to college campuses or protest gatherings. They challenged authority, dismissed tradition, eroded respect for institutions, and promoted a philosophy that prioritized personal liberation over responsibility and obligation. Many of the assumptions born during that period continue to influence American culture today.
One may debate whether those changes represented progress or decline, but it is impossible to deny their durability.
The green algae covering the Reflection Pool will eventually disappear. Maintenance crews will clean the water. The surface will once again mirror the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument as its designers intended.
The deeper question is whether America has been equally successful in cleaning the cultural waters that became clouded decades ago.
Some of the young protesters who once gathered around the pool are now among the nation’s leaders, educators, journalists, and cultural influencers. Their ideas have passed from one generation to another. Their effects are not measured in water quality reports but in attitudes toward family, faith, patriotism, authority, and civic responsibility.
The Reflection Pool was designed to invite contemplation. It asks visitors not merely to look at monuments, but to look at themselves and at the nation they have inherited.
Perhaps the current concern over algae offers an opportunity for a different kind of reflection.
What is truly toxic? What merely floats upon the surface, and what penetrates deeply into the culture itself? Which problems can be solved with chemicals and maintenance, and which require the more difficult work of restoring values, rebuilding institutions, and renewing civic virtue?
Algae can cloud water. Ideas can cloud a civilization.
The water in the Reflection Pool will become clear again. Whether the same can be said about the reflections of our national culture remains a far more important question.