We send this issue to press as the 2012 presidential election draws to a close-an election that puts before the American people radically different visions of the future of these United States. It is by good fortune rather than by predetermined plan that the essays in this issue speak to questions that are front and center in the political landscape-the character of democracy, the role of government, the nature of the public-and that will remain so regardless of who is elected the next president. Your editors recognize the merits of publishing planned special themed issues, but this is not one, even though it may seem as if it ought to have been. We trust that you, as dedicated vernacularists, will appreciate the decision to find and underscore common themes in what were conceived as independent investigations of public culture in the United States.
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