I grew up in the San Francisco Bay area in the 1960’s. One of the icons of that time and place was the great Art Hoppe, columnist for The Chronicle. In the early seventies, as we were emerging from the pit of Vietnam and entering that dark place known as Watergate, he wrote a grand piece titled “The Mightiest Nation“. I remember reading and discussing it with my family, and we kept a faded and yellowed copy around the house for years.
The fine folks at truthout.org, an indispensable resource for progressive news and critical commentary, have reprinted the full article. It is funny, provocative, very timely, and well worth reading (or rereading).
Once upon a time, there was a country that was very small and, on the whole, very good. Its citizens were proud and independent and self-reliant and generally prosperous. They believed in freedom and justice and equality. But above all, they had faith. They had faith in their religion, their leaders, their country and themselves… (more)