American decline is all in your cyncial amerikan mind

[Terrance]

Days before the historic student protests at Tiananmen Square
rocked the world, culminating in the slaughter of hundreds of
pro-democracy demonstrators, the Goddess of Democracy
was unveiled in the heart of the ancient square. 

No statue of Marx. Not the Eiffel tower. Not Buckingham Palace. 
Not Ronald McDonald. Not Jesus. 

The Statue of Liberty. 

But Americans who see only American decline or hegemony are not moved by
this. 
They are so cynical they can only feel shame after a brief chill of
satisfaction 
vibrates through their wormy backbones. 

In Prauge, in 1989, it was not Pynchon or Marx or the Bible that was
being read aloud in the streets. It was Jefferson. 


Grin and bear it. America is not in decline. She is still on the rise.