THE MOST HONEST 3 1/2 MINUTES ON TV

I raved you because my first thought was what yours likely was, or if not your first, close behind. Namely, "Okay, Big Mouth, what country is?".

That doesn't mean that I don't appreciate what I perceive as the essence of the message, that it is clearly a very open question today as to which country is the "greatest in the world". Fifty years ago, certainly, it was much easier to be dismissive of claims by others that X, or Y, or Z were the greatest countries in the world. And I don't mean sneeringly dismissive, the essence of Americanism is allowing others their own opinions and there were ample reasons for people to prefer other countries to America at any time in history. But just sticking to fifty years ago, there were certainly many things wrong with America at the time, and plenty of reason to want to divorce oneself from the intrusively commercial society America was quickly becoming. Just picking quality of education or sustainability of land use, it waseasy ot pick other countries as outperforming America in 1960. But, all that notwithstanding, it was easy to be proud of a country that, with all its shortcomings, clearly was protecting the world from something that appeared to be - and, indeed, proved to be - worse.

Now, who's defending what from whom - and at what cost - is a much more complex question. I still think America is the "greatest country in the world", but I can appreciate those who want to make sure I'm aware there are other opinions.