> > Peter K. quoted Hitch:
>>
>> >America is the greatest of all subjects for a writer, in the first
>> >place because of its infinite
>> >space and depth and variety, and also because it is ultimately
>> >founded upon an idea.
>>
>> It's rather sad to see someone of his talent descend into this kind of
>cliche.
>>
>> Doug
>
>If it was meant as a cliché, that is. America -- the country filled with
>people, not the state -- is indeed a great subject for a writer. Below the
>pop culture/corporate surface exists myriad stories and complex lives that
>are unique to a massive, multiethnic, relatively free society. I don't know
>if Hitch is alluding to this specifically, but as I get older I find it to
>be the case, and it never ceases to fascinate me.
>
>As for the "idea," it depends on what you're talking about. If you mean the
>Bill of Rights and the Constitution, then no, I wouldn't consider it a
>cliché, especially now.
Hey, I caught some shit in the weeks after 9/11 for saying that there were things to admire in the US. And I still don't have much time for the kind of univocal denunication you see here. But one of the things that makes the place so fascinating is the contradictions - conformity vs individuality, provincialism vs cosmopolitanism, hierarchy vs democracy, superstition vs secularism, etc. A lot of left America-haters simply take the cheerleading of the America-lovers and invert it: America is the best/worst place in the world; the US is a beacon of freedom/a uniquely repressive horror, etc.
But really, America "is ultimately founded upon an idea" is about the oldest one in the book. Even the phrasing is straight out of the reference manual.
Doug