Posted on 03/17/2008 1:59:14 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A FEW years ago I joined some colleagues on an academic conference jaunt to a large private university in the American northeast. The approved conference itinerary was to take us directly from our swish Chicago hotel to the campus gates, in the hygienic manner of the modern business traveller.
For reasons too complicated to retell, on the return trip we found ourselves becalmed in a village in the backwaters of rural Indiana, in the old American heartland. The streets we strolled down were lined with wooden bungalows, and there was a flagstaff with the Stars and Stripes in every other front yard. We ate in rural diners by the highway with orange-tinted windows, stained wooden cubicles and waitresses with chequered aprons.
Much like Columbus, we had voyaged in search of streets paved with gold, and instead we had accidentally discovered America.
It's a pity more Australian observers don't discover heartland America in this fashion, especially in this historic election year. Because we have more to learn from the rambunctious drama of American democracy than we are prepared to admit.
Many Australians believe they know all about America. On business trips they sidle through the galleries of New York, or amble down the boulevards of Los Angeles, and imagine that they have gained some essential insight into the American character. Back home they watch American TV and movies, and teach themselves that American society is gaudy, individualistic and lacking in decorum.
(Excerpt) Read more at theaustralian.news.com.au ...
Nice article but I don’t know why the jolly swagman thinks Chicago is in the northeast.
si, se puede?
Of course you know, it’s not a democracy, it is a republic. And that is good because I don’t have to take up all of my days trying to figure out what to vote for and against. We just elect some (in the most part) Hollywood types and then they do the voting for us.
That takes the burden off of us and allows us to go about our daily work but it has the distinct problem that some of the people that represent us are going to Lie to Us. Just to get power and money. It’s kindof a thing that they do on an ordinary day, and so as a Republic, the USA needs informed citizens.
Most of the people on this web site are in that category.
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