God Shed His Grace On Thee: July 4 Open Thread

The real power in America is held by a fast-emerging new Oligarchy of pimps and preachers who see no need for Democracy or fairness or even trees, except maybe the ones in their own yards, and they don’t mind admitting it. They worship money and power and death. Their ideal solution to all the nation’s problems would be another 100 Year War.

Hunter S. Thompson, Kingdom of Fear (2003)

So here we are. I was all set for a nuanced “America the Country is not good but America the Idea is worth fighting for” column. It was actually kind of stirring, full of high-minded rhetoric and clap-if-you-believe-in-Tinkerbell idealism. Yes, the crusty black-hearted pessemist was waving at least some version of The Flag.

You’d have cried a little. Even you godless Canadian bastaurds.

Then- for the second time in 42 days- I had to throw out a draft because of a mass shooting in America occuring in the middle of drafting.

At first that seemed like a curse. What are the fucking odds, man?

And then I realized the odds are pretty fucking good, which made me sadder.

We Americans still live in one of the greatest times in one of the greatest countries ever to exist. We are going the wrong direction. We continue to hold 3.6 million citizens without a national vote, including our 30th largest state (Puerto Rico).  We’re watching rights that have been in Constitutional Law textbooks for 70 years be sacrificed on the altar of minority ideology. We went through a presidency that was essentially a four-year-long car crash and half the (voting) population is ready to do it again because gas prices are closer to what the rest of the world pays.

And yet I still believe. Because I have to believe. Because giving in to despair that the worst might happen will actually bring the worst about.

American ideals- the ones spouted by those hypocritical rich white landowners (and sometimes slaveowners) 250 years ago- can only exist if we believe in them and work to bring our reality into line with them. Ragequitting does nothing except clear the way for the very shitholes who are making you crazy.

We snicker at Peter Pan imploring us to clap for Tinkerbell because we are cynical and we know it’s not real. But we need to understand the power of belief. To understand that believing in ideals like justice and equality is the necessary precondition to their existence in the real world.

HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.

-Terry Prachett, The Hogfather

So I guess I haven’t scrapped the idealism in the first post entirely. I hope you can celebrate the concepts of Independence Day, even as we recognize how short we are falling at the moment.

NFL NEWS: None. As it should be.

NON-NFL “SPORTS” NEWS: Umm..not much. Basketball free agency is in full swing. LeBron the GM has once again failed LeBron the Player. Kevin Durant once again wants to leave a situation he specifically crafted. Rudy Gobert is somehow worth four first-round draft picks in a world where I would have laughed at someone who wanted two for him.

Golf is imploding, which is nice.

WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:

Very little. The Most Glorious Beisbol Blue Jays take on the shitbum A’s. There’s apparently minor league soccer.

WHAT SHOULD YOU SHOULD WATCH:

Rocky IV!

It’s a beautiful but loving critical metaphor of America! Apollo takes the fight against Drago out of jingoistic pride, comes out dressed as Uncle Sam in an over-the-top orgy of capitalist excess and is subsequently killed for his hubris!

Then Rocky redeems America by returning to the Core Values: hard work and revenge.

It also ends with perhaps the most profound line of movie dialogue ever recorded: “If I can change and you can change, everybody can change.“

True enough, Mr. Traumatic Brain Injury Man.