"America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship--you've gotta want it bad. Because it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say, 'You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil who is standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Now show me that! Defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms! Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free."
--Michael Douglas as President Andrew Shepherd in The American President, 1995
What with our country's semiquincentennial occurring this weekend--which is just a fancy way to say that the country is 250 years old--I, like a lot of Americans, have been reflecting on what it means to be American and my/our place in it.
Without getting too political, I've often said that America is not a country. It's an ideal. It's something we strive to be every day. We don't always live up to that ideal. Our country's past is full of vile and repulsive moments from slavery and later Jim Crow to the slaughtering of indigenous peoples to Executive Order 9066. We still try--and even frequently succeed--in passing laws throughout various regions of the country designed to repress anyone who's "different" from the majority or those in power, frequently citing God and religion as reasons for that repression, even though one of the reasons for founding this country was to escape religious persecution.
And don't get me wrong--there are plenty of things to be proud of in this country from the beauty and majesty of our national parks to our culture which includes film, television, jazz, blues, rock 'n' roll, baseball, and hot dog eating contests on the 4th of July. This country has always been referred to as a "melting pot." Immigrants come from all over the world to make a better life here, bringing elements of their culture with them and weaving it into a larger cultural tapestry that is unique and special and... well... American.
"We're all very different people. We're not Watusi. We're not Spartans. We're Americans--with a capital A! And you know what that means? Do ya'? That means that our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world. We are the wretched refuse. We're the underdog. We're mutts!... But there's no animal that's more faithful, that's more loyal, more loveable than the mutt."
--Bill Murray as John Winger in Stripes, 1981
For all of its faults--and we do have them--I would probably find it difficult to live in any other country. Our nation's founding documents alone make it worth my while. As long as I'm not harming others, where else can I legally criticize my country's leaders, peaceably assemble, and even pursue something as intangible as happiness?
Yes, we can be loud and boorish and jingoistic. We have a tendency to oppress others who aren't like us. But we're constantly working on it. We're constantly trying to be better, whatever that may entail, whether we admit it or not. But I would rather have the right to stand up and exercise my right to refer to our President as a loud, boorish, jingoistic snowflake and the Less-Than-Great Pumpkin than live in a "perfect" country.
We're a complicated nation with a complicated past and a complicated citizenry. Personally, I think that's worth celebrating as much as anything else. At least we're not boring.
Around this time of year, I always reflect on what may have been the most American thing I ever did over Independence Day. In the summer of 2000, my father and I took a cross country road trip. We drove the length of Route 66--what's left of it--from Chicago to Los Angeles. We left on Saturday, 1 July, and basically traversed a state a day until we reached California. We saw many wondrous things, both natural and man-made from the Petrified Forest and the Grand Canyon to Mother Jones's grave and the Will Rogers Museum. I can even say that I once stood on a corner in Winslow, Arizona. We ate in local diners and restaurants and stayed in local motels. All in all, not a bad way to spend a couple of weeks at the start of the new millennium.
We spent the 4th crossing the Texas panhandle which is--and I mean this as a tremendous compliment--the most eccentric place I've ever seen. There's a leaning water tower--which is exactly what it sounds like. You can see what is purported to be the largest cross in the western hemisphere. It's a giant cement cross that's visible for easily 20 miles in each direction.
Perhaps my favourite attraction is the legendary Cadillac Ranch outside of Amarillo--ten Cadillacs lined up and buried to their front windshields in the ground. Tourists visit to take pictures next to the cars and even spray paint them. It's one of Route 66's--I would even say one of America's--most endearing attractions.
This year not only marks our country's 250th anniversary, it also marks the 100th anniversary of the famed highway, also known as "The Mother Road." So this week, I wanted to celebrate both of those things with what I think is one of the most American albums ever made. I actually feel like this album is a perfect reflection on what it's like to be a citizen of this country. Please enjoy Bruce Springsteen with his 1980 double album The River featuring his first Top 5 single, "Hungry Heart," as well as such timely songs as "Independence Day" and "Cadillac Ranch."
I'll be taking next week off to spend time with family. Until I return, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and please remember that if at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isnt' for you.
Yours in peace, love, and rock 'n' roll!
The Reverend Will the Thrill
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