Monday, May 07, 2007



What I Love About America

During the Republican debate, Mitt Romney got tripped up when asked what he disliked about America. He refused to go there, and gave some syrupy claptrap about rivers and streams, and good hair care products or something instead. If he was really as quick on his feet as people say, he would have said he hated our crime rate, and generational poverty and he had plans to fix them.

I often bitch and moan about things here because it's my place to vent. However, I love this country alot; just not it's leadership. Much of what is great about this country is actually passing us by which is a pity. As a child, a road trip was a chance to see different people living in different areas flung far apart, with their own stores, their own dialects, and a locally based way of doing things.

Homogenius takeover is changing some of that local character. The dialects are not as thick as they once were. The local stores have often been replaced by a Wal-Mart, McDonalds, Starbucks, and a Home Depot. I love diversity. Not in the syrupy PC way meaning that I'm ok, you're ok. Diversity to me means different ways of life coming together to form the collective whole of this nation.

It's one reason why we need more of it. When you get a chance, and you have the financial ability to do it, please go out of your way to go to a local diner, pick up some hand crafted jams, breads, buy local agricultural products. Those of us who remember the strength in the unique experiences offered when traveling across this great land will leave just a little of it to your kids and grandkids.

This is a value that ideally crosses all political lines. We love our families, our communities, and our country. Let's celebrate it's greatness, while at the same time righting it's wrongs.