Those of us who watched the Super Bowl (or tuned in just for the highly-anticipated commercials) probably saw the Chrysler ad featuring Bob Dylan.
If you were able to rebound quickly enough from the idea of the master of folk music hawking a car – despite previous instances of “selling out” – you heard his opening question: “What’s more American than America?”
My high school history teacher would reprimand us every time we referred to this country as America. Apparently it was reflective of an imperial past and connoted an unquestionable hubris. After all, the U.S. is but one country in the two vast continents home to all Americans. Now I’m the history teacher explaining to students how referring to the U.S. as America won’t earn them friends in Canada, Mexico, or South American countries.
BUT, if you take the question “What’s more American than America?” and attempt to make it more politically correct, you will find yourself in the midst of an incomplete task.
Go ahead, fill in the blank: What’s more __________ than the United States?