And yet…

“But mostly U.S.A. is the speech of the people”

John Dos Passos was the author of what, if “conventional wisdom” was to be a guide, would be the Great American Novel: the U.S.A. trilogy, a “tripartite” for The American Republic. An ambulance driver during WWI (for those so militaristic to be pacifistic to be privileged to be “rounders”), Dos Passos contributed to the New Masses, delightfully tacky and tastefully refined American leftist gigantism of a CP stripe: in later life, though, he ended up kvetching about everything for the National Review and was finally memorialized with the 1980 Lake Placid Olympic games hockey spectators chanting: “USA! USA!” To wit —

Only in America, and never again

A thought to be had.