How home became homeland

News Type: Opinion — Seeded on Mon Sep 8, 2008 2:39 AM EDT

Article Source: International Herald Tribune

bush, terrorism, america, collapse, infrastructure, imperialism, empire, roger-cohen

Roger Cohen laments what the American nation is quickly becoming, and what it could have been.

Whatever happened to Lincoln's "last, best hope?"

It got frayed. Let's stop talking about an infrastructure bottleneck, sounds too like something in a Soviet 10-year plan, and start talking about collapsing bridges, crawling trains, dilapidated airports, potholed roads - the great national failure to build a network of public transport worthy of a modern state in the age of $120 oil.

We've been spending too much on fear while others have spent on the future. And now JFK looks like LOTH - Lagos-on-the-Hudson - while Hong Kong airport shimmers the way American promise once did.

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{"commentId":2814053,"authorDomain":"atticusmullikin"}

Atticus Mullikin

It may seem boring, but I think it's accurate to say that you can see what a nation is becoming by how well its infrastructure is cared for.

In 2000, at a time when it was still possible to address the problems facing the United States, we allowed a soft coup d'etat to take place. An incompetent corporatist puppet was installed in the Presidency by Reagan-appointed ideologues on the Supreme Court, and eight years later the American nation is tottering on the edge of collapse.

{"commentId":2814053,"threadId":"351933","contentId":"1840009","authorDomain":"atticusmullikin"}

6 votes

#1 - Mon Sep 8, 2008 2:47 AM EDT

{"commentId":3349098,"authorDomain":"aperspective"}

David C. Kanz

Barack Obama put the situation this way: "America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better country than this."
I reckon everyone - Democrat, Republican or independent - can agree on that. Certainly the rest of the world can. Its thirst to close the Bush chapter is bordering on the feverish.

Excellent seed, Atticus!

Thanks---for the "illiberal..."

{"commentId":3349098,"threadId":"351933","contentId":"1840009","authorDomain":"aperspective"}

4 votes

#1.1 - Mon Oct 6, 2008 10:31 PM EDT

{"commentId":2814635,"authorDomain":"Meloney"}

Meloney

"Sorry, honey, you cut out, WHAT?"

; )
Before the clamour dwindles to decrepit silence the connection is restored.
"What's for dinner?"

For many of us this Homeland is our only gig. Transcending fear is like opening the windows, clearing the air. In the coming post-fear era we'll shift through the wreckage, salvage parts, re-purpose, re-cyle, and hobble together the next flame to light the way and warm our bellies.

{"commentId":2814635,"threadId":"351933","contentId":"1840009","authorDomain":"Meloney"}

4 votes

#2 - Mon Sep 8, 2008 7:00 AM EDT

{"commentId":2814994,"authorDomain":"seward"}

Sandie Seward

Barack Obama put the situation this way: "America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better country than this."

How very true. I am just waiting for one of our British politicians to call Britain a "homeland".

Just where the hell did this expression originate from, anyway?

{"commentId":2814994,"threadId":"351933","contentId":"1840009","authorDomain":"seward"}

3 votes

#3 - Mon Sep 8, 2008 8:16 AM EDT

{"commentId":3348980,"authorDomain":"ianfwalter"}

Ian Walter

Just where the hell did this expression originate from, anyway?

Some terrible fever dream, I'm guessing. Or maybe a really bad acid trip. Some dark and unpleasant place I never want to see. Who knows?

It probably came from a fair-haired Ivy-league neocon frat boy's sophomore term paper. Which is diabolical enough.

{"commentId":3348980,"threadId":"351933","contentId":"1840009","authorDomain":"ianfwalter"}

2 votes

#3.1 - Mon Oct 6, 2008 10:22 PM EDT

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ATTICUS MULLIKIN

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How home became homeland

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