Quote:
"Americans were supposed to continually reinvent themselves, as a kind of self-styled Chosen People, writing constitutions for liberated colonies, defeated foes, or Iron Curtain countries whos Communist rulers had been ground into the mud. Our own '60s protests had alarmed the establishment yet achieved their goals without ripping the body politic."
Response:
In Edward Hoagland's article The Gravity of Falling: having hurtled through the American century, we are distracted and confused. But can we find out way again? Hoagland uses this quote as a way in which to explain how the American people used to be able to always bounce back. Hoagland has lived a long life, born at the end of World War II and writing for nearly 60 years he has seen and written essays on many things. This quote is truly his view of what America was, and how it should remain. Today Hoagland has fears of an America which has lost its power not of military force, but through the respect of surrounding nations, and the faith of the people who live in the United States. Where people stood up for what they believed, and if someone stood in their way they would make sure they were heard, also, if our American way of life was threatened we would find a way in which to prevail. Things such as the the dismantling of Communism, or the 1960's protests the American people and government were a force to be reckoned with. Today this government and people in an economic recession live in fear of the future, rather than excited for what is to come and how they can shape it with their own two hands.
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