Letter from Salon.com --- "Grown up" America

[Crankie Avalon]

"Not to get all Lady Bracknell on your Yankee asses but to choose G.W. Bush once is a tragedy; to choose him twice is utter carelessness. Bush and the rest of the junta have moved America forward for sure, but maybe not in the way you Americans had hoped. America is finally all grown up.

America has often been seen as a bit of an adolescent by the rest of the world. Awkward and prone to making silly mistakes, America seemed to make a mess of a lot of things but did so with such enthusiasm and hope that the world gave America a pass.

America embodied everything good about the young -- a fervent belief in potential and what could be; idealism and a sense of forward purpose. America had that "can do" attitude, doing things because they were hard, because they were exciting, because they were for the future -- stuff that the rest of the world could only wish they had the balls to do.

Sure, there was a dark underbelly and everything was not perfect, but for the most part America was the America of Elvis, of Utah Beach, of "On the Road," of the Jetsons, Mickey Mantle and Ford Thunderbirds.

But America has aged over the last four years. And it ain't pretty. America is now the beer-bellied ass who tells everyone else how to run their lives, kicks the cat and makes jokes about his spouse's butt in front of the family. America is the big guy on the block whom everyone tries to duck away from but can't because he's out there every day loudly telling everyone what he's going to do to so and so, and if anyone has a problem with that then they are gay. America is now a middle-aged oaf. America is now the America of Ashlee Simpson, porn, Abu Ghraib, NFL Sundays and gas-guzzling SUVs.

Yes, America is an adult now. Welcome to the neighborhood.

Kevin Hill"

http://www.salon.com/opinion/letters/2004/11/03/defeat/index.html


I think this is a pretty compelling way of putting things. Once we were Louis Armstrong...now, we're Toby Keith.

About my username--I took my it because I thought I would only check in once in a while to ridicule Bush "in character" during the election. At some point, I realized I liked posting to this site enough to become more than just the occasional novelty I originally envisioned myself being. I intended to re-register with the name "Crankie Avalon" once the election was over, but new registrations are still not being allowed due to high traffic.

I've tried to wait it out and just lurk because I think my novelty name is now in sort of bad taste, but reading this letter made me really want to post so I couldn't resist. Sorry, hope it's not too big a problem.

[prayin4rain]

1. That stings.

[Vickers]

2. I don't think we're grown up...I think these are the teenage meth years

Who else but a tweaker would act the way we act?