Are we still a serious people? Really?
A weary, incredulous voice asks me this question some Friday nights. It would be easy to dismiss it as the caterwaulings of an irrepressible cynic, but I always think there's more to the story when I hear Bill Maher talk about America.
He sounds like a man who'd very much like to be proven wrong.
Or are we still patting ourselves on the back for things our grandparents did 60 years ago? We consume too much. We don't make anything anymore. We don't eat healthy food. We don't teach our children math and science. We're not ambitious. Are we still a serious people? Do we still have the political willpower to do important things in this country?
I don't think my answer would be snappy enough for his show. I'd get a few sentences in, and then the music would turn on and Bill would cut me off with a smile, and my point would be forgotten by the time he was halfway finished with the week's New Rules. In fact, I don't think I'd give him a point as much as a story.
