When are you people going to realize that there are PLENTY OF COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD WITH PEOPLE LIVING FREE WITHOUT ALL YOUR BULLSHIT???

Sorry about the all-caps, I know it's lame, but you people are so narrow-minded to think you're the only ones to live in 'freedom'. Put down the flag and start focusing on what's important - like your CITIZENS.

I do honestly think it's too late for your country - what's a Democrat going to do in the White House after Bush? Seriously? Isn't the American Experiment kind of over? You can't see it cause you're in it but from here things don't just look dire - they look done.

Course I love your TV and your movies. That, you do VERY, VERY well! Please keep making them!

Politics, nationhood, justice, equality...well, like I said, I do really love your TV and movies!!

Don't rain on our red, white, and blue parade Mr. Trudeau. Get Elizabeth II's picture off of your currency before you start chiding others about freedom.

it is hard to think about the founding of this country as a humanitarian endeavor when its ruling class sought - exactly - to define "human" as white/wasp/male/heterosexual/land-owning. everyone's good intentions are bound by the sociocultural context in which they live, but for those guys? jesus! blacks and women had the right to vote, to own property, etc and it was taken away when it became economically inconvenient for the ruling class. to divorce anything that has happened in this country from the economy in which it developed - enslavement - is invalidating at best and revisionist at worst. perhaps im overreacting, but it just makes me worry a little bit. seems ripe for misappropriation.

not that im not happy for vito. then again, he didn't really actualize his new-found freedom, did he?

I agree with Mr Trudeau. Utterly.

The fiction wherein the United States inhabits the centre of the world's dreams of social and political perfection is fed by Mr Greil's self-satisfied commencement speech. Here is savoir-pouvoir at its discursive best, yet even the mouth spinning out another fibre in the mythic web of American exceptionalism appears unaware of his contribution and, some might say, shared culpability.

The wealth and relative ease of a middle-class life in America is beguiling to many who want to ratchet themselves up the ladder of material comfort. And there are laudable freedoms under the American system, though they are far less numerous and not nearly so unique as most Americans presume. But I think you'd be hard pressed to find even small minorities in prosperous countries who believe that the "Life" offered in contemporary America has much to recommend itself over small-case life at home; ditto for the "Pursuit of Happiness".

America is irrefutably a great nation today, and a nation that still offers much for the future. But the combined ignorance and power of its national myths contribute to making it a frightening and dangerous presence in a world made less stable by its ideological sense of mission, more volatile by the icy cynicism of its politico-corporate leaders.

In weaker moments I guess I too have been a little cynical about the prospects we have for our little experiment here. Our elected government is comprised of vicious thugs, and fear is rotting the soul of the citizenry. Perhaps the former poster is right (However I think that the smug and cynical stance he takes is a cop out. Oh how easy and small it is to be cool and cynical). What he doesn't seem to understand is that the great thing about America is not the reality of America, but the IDEA of America. The reality of America has always been violent and embarassing. But the idea of America has taken on something much larger than what is here in the United States. America is not in the Presidency, the congress, or even the heartland. It trandsends boundaries and and nationalities. It is the realization of the enlightenment. And that will never die.

I like the letters titled "Sour Grapes" and "The American Dream" but the rest of them so far are terrible. You people sound like you didn't understand the piece at all.

Anyway it's nice to see Greil Marcus in Salon again, if only for a minute.

Every nation has an idea at its centre. That's part of what makes it a nation - the imagined community that fills the contours of the state. The idea of America is unique, just as the idea of Australia is unique, or that of Indonesia.

And no, the myth (idea) does not exist in a political or power vacuum. THAT's the important thing. The American Myth is a product of power, just like those of other states -- though there are few OECD states with as developed or culturally ubiquitous a civil religion and national mythology as the US. No national myths speak of the reality of national history unless forced to by outside circumstances (Germany, Japan). The challenge is to understand the myth and the dynamics of its construction and maintenance.

I truly enjoy reading the responses to the Salon articles. I am glad to hear that you are leaving, Spector Growl. This way, I don't have to be confronted with such useless prose. Most letter writers try to enlighten, dispute or in other ways expand on the subject of an article. I appreciate it and usually feel like I have learned something new. I hope you find a news site that you enjoy.

I happen to like it here.

1. You can get as sick as you want, and even die without worrying about how you're going to pay for it.

2. You can have a same sex marriage, and it won't be revoked

3. You can have an abortion, and no one will harass you

4. Chances are, King Albert is probably not listening in on your phone calls

5. You can drink a beer in the park, on the bus, or walking down the street and not get arrested

6. You can get a university education without paying anything more than the cost of books

7. The streets are too narrow for cumbersome SUV's

8. If you have a baby, it doesn't cost you anything, and a private nurse will come to your house once a day for a week to teach you how to care for your enfant (for free!)

9. It is legal to possess marijuana for your own consumption

10. The national legal minimum number of vacation days per year is 20 days, for everyone, whether you are a lawyer or work at McDonald's

These 10 things contribute greatly to my pursuit of happiness. To me, these things represent liberty and independance. Although many of these don't pertain to me, I like the idea of living in a place that accepts that just because it may not be right for one person, doesn't make it wrong for another.