America the Ridiculous, America the Glorious

Today is Independence Day, and I suppose it is a good a chance as any to re-hash all of the things that i feel and believe about America. I am so eager to head back to the States. I miss so much about the place. But the things I miss are absent from the public discourse. Instead, I get this to look forward to:

Politics by the corrupt for the ignorant

Economics by the corrupt for the desperate

sigh.

But I have been to so many 'hoods and towns in America that are vibrant, dynamic and creative unlike any other place in the world. So many people have a misconstrued notion of the States. They see our monkey politicians and watch our cracker TV and wonder to themselves how in the hell did the US become Numero Uno?

Well. Its cuz DESPITE these crackers and their incessant grasping for control of the nation, the people -- unleashed -- have made the world a better place. Americans today are reacting to an image others have, but in reality, the naive headstrong adamant moral American has the uncanny ability to wipe ignorance off the face of the blissful. (For better or for worse, through righteous acts and blundering greed alike ...)

The Yang to this benevolent Ying is that this same American can claim "inside every gook, is an American waiting to get out" and storm into the ancient places of the world blindfolded, wielding a club.

When i was a kid I played the game Fortress America a lot and I loved the idea of an America bent into itself, loving itself, cherishing itself and channeling the collective brilliance of a thousand ethnicities into a vibrant attempt at Eden on Earth.

I brushed away the idea that Russians, Chinese and Mexicans would storm across oceans and deserts to savage such a country. Because in my dreams Fortress America was no fortress but a Garden

"heavy laden with fruit that I might gather and give unto my friends"

I guess thats why i want to come back. I have some foolish notion that me and my little tribe can DO SOMETHING about it. I refuse to give up my dreaming ways, so i expect to be wife-less and periodically broke for the rest of my life. Very well then.

(Plus ... although Obama is not the man i hoped he was, he is still the best choice for President we have had in a long time. I think he is basically a Black Clinton, raised in a global village. Haha.)