Ten Reasons For Optimism In The United States

It's been an ugly, pretty discouraging month in some ways.

OS pleads guilty: He got caught up in it this week, the political
rope-a-dope, beating his fists endlessly into the pillow of the politicians' cynicism, ending up frustrated and exhausted, just as planned. The moment of insight came today on the golf course--when the mind was clear, humming a tune, enjoying the sunshine, the ball seemed to launch itself off the club. Greenside bunker? No problem! Putts rolled like they had eyes. Freddie Couples would be envious of some of those shots.

Then, distraction arrived, and thoughts of the world off the course interposed. The drive was a nasty pull hook into the ravine: No need to even search, it was gone.

The rest of the hole was seriously ugly...

Damn! Those guys need to give it a rest. Didn't pay green fees for them, by golly!

So, to chase the ghosts away, ten great things about living here that the politicians, bankers and other sociopaths can't do much about.

1. We're not Mexico, yet.

2. Baseball season is in spring training, and the season begins in April. Since the 1860's, in good times and bad, baseball has always been played, from the local sandlot to the majors. Not even crooks like Pete Rose and Mark McGwire have been able to destroy it.

3. It's a big, big country, with large parts of it still pretty much in the same condition as when the European settlers first arrived. Geography conspires on the side of freedom and prosperity. You can fit the entire UK into Illinois.

4. Churches, of all stripes and flavors, still dot the landscape throughout most of the country. People there, for all their failings and quirks, talk to one another and look out for each other and the people around them. Most churches are small and Protestant of some flavor, and the idea of freedom is larded throughout their theology.

5. Golf. Lots of it here, from humble county courses to places like Torrey Pines. It provides a quiet haven where people can think and talk. It runs on rules that assume honorable behavior from everyone.

6. Americans, for the most part, in most places, are outgoing and friendly. Wherever you go, you can make a friend if you give someone the opportunity.

7. This country, in addition to being huge, is breathtakingly beautiful, coast to coast. Not even the politicians can take away the sunrises and sunsets over the beaches that line the coasts, or the turning colors of the hardwood trees in the fall. That's God's bidness.

8. Americans know how to cook! Great food grows in abundance here, and great cuisine emerges from all parts of the country.

9. Jack Daniels. Same as it ever was.

10. America is generous. When calamity strikes somewhere else, checkbooks are pulled out, and volunteers saddle up. We git-'er-done like nobody else. And then we go home.

OK, that's better.

Back to that spring training game...