American Issue Publishing Co.: Liquor Problem: United States.
A "wet and dry" Map of Temperance Reform in the U.S.:
"Wet" and "Dry" Map of the United States, January 1, 1912:
Areas shown in white are areas in which
the sale of alcohol is prohibited by law.
(1912)

"I wonder if we can survive until the curtain rises on our next performance."

This year's 4th of July, coming on the day our incumbent signed the most repressive bill in American history, didn't hardly seem worth celebrating for many, me prominently included. I moped around the place, grieving for a fictional America I still believed in, for that's what makes me an American. This new bill seemed too gawd-awful cynical to accurately represent actual American interests. It seemed unworthy of even any Banana Republic, and might be evidence that we've finally gone and done it, become the very opposite of our Founders' originating intentions.

There was always much contention between the pretensions necessary to maintain governance and what are widely considered to be rights and freedoms. Give an unenlightened person latitude for self-governance, and you take the chance of undermining your experiment, for the unenlightened tend to be at least equally undisciplined. They're apt to interpret figurative language literally and reach conclusions never evident in the founders' intentions. They mistake their interpretations as mirroring the originals. The louder you disagree, the greater the resulting disparities will seem. Common Sense was apparently a work of fiction that helped encourage our revolution. Reading it did not result in instant understanding.

I become wary whenever I encounter a reference to UnAmerican, for, as near as I can determine, American rightfully includes every possible variation of human preference. We are not necessarily a noble people, though we have been known to display situational nobility, sometimes to the surprise and delight of our allies and enemies. We never were a melting pot, or, if a melting pot, one that has not yet rendered its contents into any uniform whole. Our pot includes much variation. Whenever anyone declares someone or some action UnAmerican, they're just disclosing in which imaginary America they maintain their belief. We, as Americans, have proven ourselves perfectly capable of supporting the worst imaginable atrocities, and even have committed them on occasion. We might be most skilled, like the children of abusive parents, at not seeing some of what occurs in our name. We might be trauma victims, refugees from oppressive regimes, and veterans of unjust labor practices. Each of our families has known the injustice we each now swear defines UnAmerican, even though much trauma occurred and still occurs under an American label on American soil.

Our country used to be no better, although we might have dissociated better in our past. The great gift dissociation brings reinforces our better nature, which sometimes visits us as a direct result. I recently saw an interview with Mel Brooks, who insisted that the only truly American institution has always been our Musical Theater. From The Gershwins through Cole Porter and right into and including Lin-Manuel Miranda, American Musical Theater has represented the America to which each of us deeply relates. We imagine ourselves breaking out in encouraging dance and seamlessly harmonizing slightly ironic lyrics. We're preternaturally self-deprecating. We are inclusive, too, with Snidely Whiplash just as American as Little Eva. We're also Rocky and Bullwinkle, forever outwitting Boris and Natasha. We're suckers for Schmaltzy ballads.

Mary Cleere Haran, a cabaret singer who tragically died in a bicycling accident at an early age, very well represented this attitude, to which I believe every genuine American easily relates. This introduction exemplifies what I believe it means to be an American. We can not only make a joke, but take one, too. We're tenaciously light-hearted and just as kind-hearted. We tell our truths as if they were self-evident, and we share our perspectives as if they actually matter. Our current incumbent seems humorless and too easily takes offense. I can't imagine him committing self-deprication. Irony endlessly escapes him. He thinks far too much of himself to seem very much like a real American. He lacks more than the requisite humility; he seems to hold no concept of charity. Consequently, he seems the most unworthy incumbent in the history of this country, which never actually was. I wonder if we can survive until the curtain rises on our next performance. The current regime seems not merely UnAmerican, but anti-American in comparison.
©2025 by David A. Schmaltz - all rights reserved

Tags: #FollowingChapters, #PureSchmaltz