It's Not a Hell Hole

A love letter to America

Jul 04, 2024

We’ve talked a lot on Pantsuit Politics over the past week about Joe Biden’s poor debate performance and what that means for the Democratic Party and the Presidential race.

But. There is one thing that has stuck in my craw about last week’s debate. It’s not the fact that Donald Trump refused to answer basic questions, lied about late-term abortion and infanticide (again), totally disregarded questions about Gaza, and talked about firing more people instead of how to make childcare more affordable (although those things did all happen and are worth some outrage).

What I’m still mad about is that he said we’re living in a hell hole.

Mr. Trump, America is not a hell hole.

He is not the only one out there with doom-and-gloom prophecies about our nation. Some of my very favorite people in the world regularly suggest we move to a better country and secretly (or not so secretly) think being an American is cringe-worthy.

At risk of being sus, I would like to lean into my cringy affection for The United States of America on this, its 248th birthday.

Not to pretend we don’t have real problems (we do), a problematic past (to be sure), but to remind myself (and hopefully you) that this is a place worth loving. It’s a place worth working on. It’s an idea worth believing in.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Here is a long and incomplete list of things I love about America:

Americans give a crap about righting past wrongs.

Yes, the wrongs in our past are heavy and will haunt our country until we face them and make a real effort to repair the wrongs done, especially to Native Americans and the descendants of Enslaved people.

And. We are working on it.

Last December, the Department of the Interior concluded a decade-long project to return 3 million acres of land to Tribal Trusts and contributed $60 million to the Cobell Education Scholarship Fund for Native Students.

Just this week, the State of California passed $12 million of reparations funding for the descendants of enslaved people.

Also, we’re generous.

In 2023, American individuals gave $374 billion in charitable giving (10 times more than corporations and three times more than foundations). We give our time, lend our voices to causes that matter, and speak up for our values. We don’t always know what to do, but we try.

We have SO MUCH Freedom. Like, seriously.

Do we sometimes do dumb things with our Freedom, like elect Donald Trump to be our President?

Yes. Yes, we do.

But on Pantsuit Politics this week, Sarah and Beth called for the President of the United States to step down from his re-election campaign.

They are not in prison. No one took away their microphones. Some of you disagreed with them (vehemently). But we get to have another conversation.

Donald Trump, a convicted felon who attempted a coup, was allowed to debate the President of the United States (which undermines his argument that he’s being persecuted politically, but I digress).

In case we forgot:

For all of Donald Trump’s talk about political persecution, he’s allowed to be on the ballot. He’s allowed to make his case to the American people. (This is not how political persecution works in Russia and Iran.)

This year, thousands of students and citizens have protested our government and the government of one of our strongest allies. (And people have protested those protests) There has been vigorous and heartbreaking debate about what our country’s role and responsibility should be in the world. And Americans are showing up to have the conversation.

Yes, sometimes those people get arrested. But they are not arrested the way Evan Gerskovich has been held in Russia since March 2023. They are not missing the way Austin Tice has been missing in Syria for more than a decade.

And do you know what else?

If you are an American who is being wrongly held in a foreign country, The United States will work to get you back. (If you’d like to hear more about how we got the slogan ‘no man left behind, ‘ our 4th of July episode from last year is a great place to start)

THE ART

There’s too much to share. I wanted to share Michelle Obama and Jon Batiste playing the piano, Ocean Vuong reading poetry, Inside Out 2, Dolly Parton…but we’d be here all day. So, here’s Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copeland (I realize this performance is by the London Philharmonic, but I make the rules, and it’s allowed)

Our Government can GET. SHIT. DONE.

I realize that we don’t have universal healthcare yet. I realize we haven’t solved homelessness or the opioid epidemic. And I would like us to work more on those things and less on having the 10 Commandments in schools.

AND - I-95 collapsed and (as you’ll hear on our podcast soon) was up and running 12 days later.

The Teton Pass was closed three weeks ago due to a mudslide, but this key route connecting Idaho and Wyoming is already open again.

Also, did you know that NASA recovered a sample from an asteroid and brought it back to Earth?

We’re still getting data back from Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 45 years after they were launched into space, and they are over 12 trillion miles from Earth.

We can do HARD things.

Americans love their dogs. and their cats. and their turtles.

You guys, there’s an ancestry.com and DNA testing for dogs (like, more than one).

What country other than America would do that?

Also, if you lose your dog or cat, people on Facebook will find it in 30 minutes. Tops. (And I could go on a long digression about people being willing to try when they know what they’re supposed to do and can see a finish line, but this note is already ridiculously long)

This is ADORABLE. (I’m not sure it’s uniquely American, but it will make you smile)

Sports. CAN YOU EVEN?

The Olympic Games in Paris are starting on Friday, July 26.

If you need a pick me up on this 4th of July, I suggest watching some Olympic trials. Here are a few of my favorites:

America is going to absolutely slay at the Paris Olympics.

Americans can Change

90% of us wear seatbelts. 90% of us stopped smoking. We’re fixing the Ozone layer (okay, the whole world gets credit for that, but we’re part of it!). We’ve reduced our carbon footprint. We’re buying electric and hybrid cars. We got vaccinated for covid.

Sometimes, we’re slow to change. But give us time, and we’ll come around.

We’re HILARIOUS

Did you know that Mt. Saint Helens has a Twitter account? You do now. (You’re welcome)

I manage the social media accounts for Pantsuit Politics, and you send us the FUNNIEST comments, memes, reels, clips, and ideas.

I know it feels like a dumpster fire some days, but honestly, there’s no group of people I’d rather face the end of the world with.

Stephen Colbert

Sorry/Not Sorry, but every time I need a boost, I listen to this clip from Stephen Colbert and Anderson Cooper about love, loss, and grief.

This place is BEAUTIFUL.

I adore Maggie Smith’s poem “Good Bones,” that ends:

Any decent realtor,
walking you through a real shithole, chirps on
about good bones: This place could be beautiful,
right? You could make this place beautiful.

There is so much that we could make beautiful. So much to make beautiful again. So much to do.

But I planted (and thought I’d killed) these blanket flowers in my yard last year. And this year, they came back. They just popped up after a few weeks of rain.

I know it feels some days like we’re in a dying nation, but we have so much lying fallow waiting to bloom.

There is so much goodness that we can water. I’d love to see what grows.

I talked to Alise while I was writing this, and she pointed out that there are alarming parallels to places - lovely places, great places - that have descended into fascism, and it is foolish to pretend that America is somehow exempt or immune to authoritarianism.

She is correct.

We are not immune, and also we get to write the ending of this story. And I hope taking a moment to remember what we are for, what we can do, what we have done helps us remember why it matters.

So today, I wish you the very best July 4th Available to you.

Happy Birthday, America.

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