America Blows!

 

Just look at the chart.

Here we are, on the eve of what they are calling the 250th anniversary of America.  I kind of get why they call the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence that.  But that is kinda not really an accurate and honest description.  The United States of America was still years away.  Pending not only a good outcome in the war against Britain.  But the joining of independent colonies into something that resembled a nation.  

And here in 2026.  This nation is failing.  We really don't have much to celebrate, thanks to Republicans.  Current POTUS has greater power than King George III had.  

Not good!

Now I am not in the mood to go long.  So let me set up the remark.  Following the SCOTUS decision to actually follow the language of the 14th Amendment.  A friend from law school days segued from his remarks of appreciation of that to his personal declaration.  His faith that one day even if only merely possibly being able to sit on that court himself, lead to my reply:

Better you than me.

But my fantasy ambition is to be on the panel that rewrites Article III. And Articles I and II as well.

Be aware. My desire is to eliminate the office of full time Associate Justice and expand the circuits and have temp AJs rotate on and back off after one year assignments.

I believe the US Constitution has failed, and needs a major rewrite.  Love the Declaration all you damn well like.  You do you, boo.  But I have little time to waste on that, when the actual government if the nation is morphing into something the signers and the framers would find utterly repugnant.

JMO.

But I live in the NYC area,  And there will be tall ships.  They are already slipping into the city up the mighty Hudson River.  I like boats, ships. I will go look at them, if only for a few hot minutes.

But other than that?  I am skipping this party.  Likely will take in a Broadway show, instead.

I need more a proper distraction, as opposed to a delusional mythology about the greatness of America.  America blows!

Pre 4th of July Post #1. Linking a Really Awful American Spirit Essay.

I call this one #1 as who knows? I might find some other stuff on line that will follow in the American Spirit (or what not) theme.

So here is the awful essay. I call it awful as not only is the compositional style rather poor (it seems more like a series of sentences, rather than a cogent essay.) But the point of departure and where the essay ends up, and the points raised are sort of silly. I could wrack my brain for a better descriptive. I have already called the essay awful. I don't need to escalate. Anyway.

Oddly posted under the category of " POLITICAL COLUMN," the essay is titled,"Fanfare for the Common Man." I confess that when I saw the headline/link, I sorta groaned, but decided to check it out to see if it was as bad as I instantly expected. And what I expected was a garden variety, anti elitist, rednecky, distorted account of the American Mythology. And it turns out it wasn't exactly that, but it was distorted, in it's own weird little way.

Oddly enough, the writer chose as point of departure some tale about some statewide Miss America competition (Wisconsin.) He romanticized that, even before drawing a weird conclusion that led to the rest of his essay. But before I get to that, let me briefly mention my experience with "The Pageant System." I was on the fringe of that scene, years ago. My friend has been designing gowns for contestants for decades. I have been his photographer. And at one time he was running a local pageant. He never let me judge (likely because he suspected that I'd pick which ever contestant flirted with me more. That's likely, I admit.) So back in those days, I just helped out with production and ran the video cam. And yes, I have been back stage at the national competition, although not on broadcast night. It's a multi day event, really.

Anyway, point is, I know that there's nothing common about the pageant system. The amount of money it costs to buy a (make that several, actually) custom made gown, like my friend used to make, means that the pageant system is basically closed to the daughters of the common man. For the most part. And since the whole thing is about finding an exceptional young woman (under the rules and standards) the last thing the pageant system can be called is common. Sorry I went long there, but that is where this guy started; with an analogy that is dead on arrival. And it gets no better.

Let's see. After that he goes on some weird tangent. Not the ordinary common man theme, but actually the America was founded and built by failures, theme. Sure, that was part of it. But to describe America generally as a country built by failures? That's some messed up shit. I really don't get his point. And I really don't get why Politco published that shit. I do not intend to celebrate America's Failures this Independence Day. I will celebrate it's successes. And by that I mean at the meta level, and as well, at the personal level. Yes. I mean yes, it's totally obvious to note that the heavy lifting gets done by the common man. But we also have been advanced as a society, and as a nation, by our exceptional citizens. I won't go long, but what would the American Mythology be without Ben Franklin, Robert Fulton, the Roeblings, Samuel Colt, Thomas Edison, and on and on and on.

Putting aside the weird "failure" line of argument, I have to say I really hate this simplistic sort of either/or thinking in this particular context. Not because of the falseness of the class war angle (what's with these wing nuts and all that bullshit anyway?) Here, the class war angle is less the point. But what offends me more is the reductionist, revisionist, delusional rape of the actual facts behind the American Myth. America is far from perfect. But shit. America deserves to have the record accurately, and truthfully told. Let's show her that much respect on her holiday weekend. Please?