July Fourth Oh You Betcha

You want America? Do you even speak American? Would you know America if you saw it? Has the thing itself become so obscure and argued over that it’s lost its meaning? Can I possibly write another sentence with a question mark at the end of it and get away with it?

This is America:

Declaration of Independence. Panama Canal. Hoover Dam. Empire State Building. Cure polio. Put Tojo and Hitler in the cold cold ground-simultaneously. Man on the moon. Wear out the Soviet Union. Broadway. Wall Street. Main Street. Hollywood and Vine. Four young ladies playing The Stars and Stripes Forever, all on trombone.

You name it, we got it. In spades.