Where to from here?
We Americans entertain the notion that we are unlike other peoples. It’s a seductive thought. The American system of governance is emulated, our society is knit together by fascination with sporting events, our economy is a Capitalistic paradise, etc. One could go on and on about American Exceptionalism.
The myth has worn very thin. There is a rip from top to bottom of this threadbare fabric. The candidate of the Republican Party for the presidency of the United States is revealed to be a serial molester of women. The dial is thus moved an increment lower than mere garden variety misogyny.
We like to believe that we as a people are special. Who doesn’t? All people do, and rationalize their sense of privilege in history with stories, myths. This is nostalgia, a construct of the imagination. It becomes high octane, when gussied up by the media, — three piece suit, against patriotic red white and blue background, with a patronizing introduction from a talking head, etc.
High octane nostalgia: Americans relish avarice, ugliness and banality interspersed with raw energy, transcendent beauty, and spiritual grace. With luck the roads lead us home and our pictures prove we survived the trip. —-unknown
Is our luck about to run out?
