One Kind of American

This holiday weekend I moved around to multiple locations, including a spell at San Jose's minor league baseball park to watch an open-air movie and fireworks, where country songs made up the soundtrack; one was Lee Greenwood's "Proud To Be An American."

It occurred to me that I'm an odd mix ofs an openly patriotic person who can dig a jingoistic song like that, but still be fiercely opposed to white nationalist BS like what drove those who attacked the capitol on Jan. 6th. 

I'm sure many of the insurrectionists like that song too but we couldn't be more polar opposites in other respects...So how can I explain this, let alone resolve it?

Well maybe I can't. Growing up in small cities in Michigan in the 50s, I did not identify with the coasts or with big-city life. My parents were naturalized citizens and we were not rich.

My value system included the stereotypical views captured in "It's a Wonderful Life," although I later learned that the guy who created it didn't have a wonderful one himself. Maybe ironic but not surprising.

My taste in music was my always own -- my Dad hated country songs and didn't care for rock 'n roll either.. But it was the story-telling in one and the beat in the other that hooked me, along with the schmaltzy emotionality of one and the rebelliousness in both. 

For whatever set of reasons, I always identified with underdogs and outsiders. At the University of Michigan, thanks to a scholarship awarded by Republican Gov. George Romney's administration, I was exposed to the burgeoning antiwar and civil rights movements.

I quickly converted into a student activist, then a journalist. 

Moving to San Francisco in my 20s and developing connections in New York, L.A. and Washington completed my transformation.

Eventually, you really couldn't have distinguished me from any other Bay Area progressive on the outside, but on the inside I never lost my small-town Michigan roots.

Fast forward to present tense, with a  nation and a culture so divided it hurts, people like me actually carry around divided hearts. When it comes to specific political issues I almost always come down on the side of progressives. When it comes to the places I prefer to hang out, it's big cities like the aforementioned.

Meanwhile, I *hate* the right-wing extremists and conspiracy theorists who have developed such a hold on some of the people whose lives I left behind when I moved away from the Midwest. 

But these are good people, patriotic Americans. They've just been sold a bad line of goods and a demagogue named Trump came along to take advantage of them. They also have trouble letting go of their biases against the coasts and big-city life.

I hold out hope that enough of them will come to their senses and back into the great middle of our culture, reject extremism and embrace the true meaning of patriotism. Then maybe we can all sing Lee Greenwood's song in the same tune.

[When it comes to patriotism and democracy I strongly recommend the first three articles listed below from The New Yorker.]

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THE HEADLINES:

* Among the Insurrectionists --The Capitol was breached by Trump supporters who had been declaring, at rally after rally, that they would go to violent lengths to keep the President in power. A chronicle of an attack foretold. (New Yorker) 

* What We Get Wrong About America’s Crisis of Democracy The interesting question is not what causes authoritarianism but what has ever suspended it. (New Yorker)

* This July 4th, Can We De-Adapt from the Pandemic and Trump at the Same Time? --Although 2021 is only half over, it has brought about two major restart moments—one in politics and the other in public health. (New Yorker)

* Post-ABC poll: Biden earns high marks for handling the pandemic, but many Republicans resist vaccination (WP)

* In Case Against Trump’s Company, Echoes of His Father’s Tactics on Taxes -- The first criminal prosecution involving the former president’s business hearkens back to Fred Trump’s $16,135 purchase of boilers in the 1990s. (NYT)

* GOP governors implore residents to overcome vaccine hesitancy as delta variant rises (WP)

* Demolition crews move in at condo tower amid storm fears (AP)

* Despite GOP attacks, Justice Dept.’s Gupta leverages her relationships with police -- The administration seeks to balance holding police accountable for bad conduct and supporting them amid a spike in violent crime. (WP)

* China Orders Ride-Hailing Company Didi’s App Removed From App Stores-- The government says it has serious problems involving illegal collection of personal data (WSJ)

* Climate change could cost condo boards billions. They aren’t ready for it. (WP)

* Are Masks a New Signifier of Social Class? -- Face coverings are coming off, though not for everyone. (NYT)

* What the ‘return to normal’ means for toddlers who no longer remember ‘normal’ (WP)

* Chinese astronauts make first spacewalk outside new station (AP)

* Vatican indicts 10, including a cardinal, over ‘reckless’ London investment scandal (WP)

* The Relics of America’s War in Afghanistan -- Just a mile from Bagram Air Base, where U.S. forces departed on Thursday, shops sell items left over from two decades of fighting. Each one tells a story. (NYT)

* The unseen covid-19 risk for unvaccinated people (WP)

* These Chinese Millennials Are ‘Chilling,’ and Beijing Isn’t Happy -- Young people in China have set off a nascent counterculture movement that involves lying down and doing as little as possible. (NYT)

* Outside magazine thrived on adventure stories. Now it has its own survival fight. (WP)

* Independence Day 2021 is an apt occasion to celebrate America’s liberation from Trump (WP)

* Inseparable: On their 75th anniversary, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter celebrate a record-setting love story -- On Wednesday, the Carters will be married 75 years, the longest marriage in presidential history. Jimmy, 96, and Rosalynn, 93, will mark the occasion in the town where they met nearly a century ago. (WP)

* Historians Discover Thomas Jefferson May Have Secretly Fathered Multiple Other Countries (The Onion)

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"Proud To Be An American"

Song by Lee Greenwood

If tomorrow all the things were gone I'd worked for all my life
And I had to start again with just my children and my wife
I'd thank my lucky stars to be living here today
'Cause the flag still stands for freedom and they can't take that away

And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free
And I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me
And I'd gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today
'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land! God bless the U.S.A.

From the lakes of Minnesota, to the hills of Tennessee
Across the plains of Texas, from sea to shining sea

From Detroit down to Houston and New York to LA
Well, there's pride in every American heart
And it's time we stand and say:

I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free
And I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me
And I'd gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today
'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land! God bless the U.S.A.