What is the United States?

“The United States was the best of nations; it was the worst of nations. Harvard’s halls bloomed with wisdom; Corporate headquarters overflowed with greed.

It was a nation of faith; it was a nation of barbarism. It shined light forth to the world; It was wrapped deep in darkness.

America offered eternal hope; America drove us to despair.

We had everything we could want; We had absolutely nothing at all.

We were sure we were doing Heaven’s will; We were all heading straight to Hell.

In short, America was so contradictory, so attractive and repulsive, so pure and yet blasphemous, that its loudest authorities insisted on being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”