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The Nation's Pulse
What I’ve Been Hearing
It’s Springtime in America.
It is Spring. In the last few months, I have been to Searcy, Arkansas, Clovis, California, Oxford, Maryland, Knoxville, Tennessee, Williamsburg, Kentucky, Spartanburg, South Carlina, and to many other small towns and cities across this country.
I have heard bagpipers keening in coal country in Appalachia, farmers planning about water in the San Joaquin Valley, cafeteria workers studying for college entrance tests in the high desert east of L.A. And what I hear and see, even in this nasty recession, is a Niagara of confidence that this America will come back better, stronger, more filled with opportunity than ever.
I have heard a single mother in California planning to send her daughter to the Ivy League college she could never afford as a girl. I have seen and heard businessmen say they will go without their salaries for as long as it takes to keep their workers employed and their businesses right side up.
I read the newspapers and take in the stories of gloom and doom and feel suicidal when I finish my reading. Then I go out into the real America and see and feel a gusher of hope.
The people I sit next to on airplanes and at Waffle Houses and Wal-Marts are not afraid of the future. They know, even if the newspaper editors don’t, that America is not so much a political and geographical state as a state of mind. And that state of mind is of optimism and hope. And that hope and that optimism are alive and well in Searcy and Williamsburg and Spartanburg and from that wellspring will come renewal, as it always does…not from planning and planners in the Treasury or the Executive Office Building. From the brave hearts of Americans. The recession will end as they always do. It will be morning in America again. That’s what America is: morning and Springtime, too.
About the Author
Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer living in Beverly Hills and Malibu. He writes “Ben Stein’s Diary” for every issue of The American Spectator.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (43) | Leave a comment
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frankg| 4.27.09 @ 8:03AM
Thanks for the inoculation against the swine news epidemic. I needed it.
Tim| 4.27.09 @ 8:32AM
A commenter at this site once described president Obama as a "Professor" , schooling America with his great intellect as we lurch from crisis to crisis. Good to see people are cutting class.
Gregory L. Jackson, PhD| 4.27.09 @ 9:16AM
Ben, I agree. This is the best year yet for us as a couple (39 years wed) and for our son's family (wonderful wife, 3 fabulous children). I am starting a new business and writing more books. It is morning in America for conservatives, mourning in America for the Left. The college kids still love you in Ferris Buehler. I teach them, and they join me in the chant, "Buehler, Buehler..."
Sincerely,
Pingback| 4.27.09 @ 9:20AM
Topics about America » Archive » What I’ve Been Hearing links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 4.27.09 @ 9:28AM
Topics about Finish | What I’ve Been Hearing links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
jw| 4.27.09 @ 9:51AM
I absolutely agree that the "real America" can overcome anything. However, anything is about to become an a major undertaking as Bush bet large and wrongly on bailouts and Obama didn't just double down, but went all in.
It will takes years of hard work to overcome this, even if there weren't three more years of guaranteed mismanagement.
jw| 4.27.09 @ 9:52AM
I absolutely agree that the "real America" can overcome anything. However, anything is about to become an a major undertaking as Bush bet large and wrongly on bailouts and Obama didn't just double down, but went all in.
It will takes years of hard work to overcome this, even if there weren't three more years of guaranteed mismanagement.
MattSwartz | 4.27.09 @ 10:12AM
Everyone who enjoys beer and free-market documentaries ought to purchase or rent the new documentary Beer Wars. The story it tells is worthy in it's own right, but then a Ben Stein-hosted roundtable with the principal characters is added as a special feature.
That alone is worth the price of admission. He's funny, well-informed, and willing to gently smack people down for misusing 5-dollar words.
Marc Jeric| 4.27.09 @ 11:14AM
Ben Steyn is right - to a degree. Today we have more than two generations of Americans "educated" by the union goons - they do not know history, they have feelings you see, they are full of self-esteem with no basis except ignorance, their feelings have no logic. They "think" that private enterprise and corporations are exploiters and that they kill their customers - while these are the only garantors of personal liberty; you see, if you don't like one private company you can always join another. When the government and its employees union is the only way to earn a living - you have in effect become a slave. I am not all that optimistic as Ben is.
Michael L. Hauschild| 4.27.09 @ 11:24AM
All those people so optimistically celebrating the USA (including Ben) had better take a deep breath and smell the coffee. First they all work for a living and therefore will bear the burden for converting our beloved Democracy to socialism and second, they had better realize that they have been disenfranchised by minority status to those who don't pay taxes and want it to stay that way.
ds80| 4.27.09 @ 12:19PM
Springtime in America? Not for the productive class. The only ones with hope and optimism are the moochers, who see their gravy train rolling along under neo-Marxist Obama/liberal Democrat policies.
Appleby| 4.27.09 @ 12:29PM
Don't you mean Springtime for Hitler?
For the real Americans who think that this is all going away -- and the Gen Yners who can't get away with stuff anymore -- there is a rude awakening coming when the sun comes up and they find out what happened during the night.
L. Ross| 4.27.09 @ 1:51PM
I would like to agree with Ben, but I can't. Everybody, and I do mean everybody that I know has been hurt, and hurt badly by the recent economic crisis, and Bush's and BHO's attempts to ameleorate the situation have been utter failures.
Remember way, way back in September when we had to launch the TARP program, so that banks wouldn't fail, home values wouldn't plummet, stocks wouldn't tank, and eventually to keep the Big Three viable?
Guess what, banks failed, home values plummeted, stocks tanked, and the big three is looking to become the big 1.5. It's going to take years to recover, and in the meantime, we have an out and out socialist in the White House who wants to nationalize darn near as much of our Economy as Hugo Chavez has. Sorry, Ben, but I'm not feeling the hope.
Herman King| 4.27.09 @ 2:22PM
Unless we get a Third Party, we're screwed. The Republicrats have ruined us.
J David| 4.27.09 @ 2:52PM
Keep smoking the hope-dope Ben, and maybe the power of positive visualization and our Messianic Dear Leader will magically transform the end of Western civilization we are seeing into Utopia! Heil the Revolution!
Gebadia Washington| 4.27.09 @ 5:21PM
Wow, did Ben Stein get drunk and start watching Regan's campaign commercials on TV. Springtime in America? Morning in America?
Glenn| 4.27.09 @ 9:03PM
No, really. Ben is right. We are that different.
If things are really as bad as is being portrayed in the media, why, when I go down to the corner to buy wine, can I not find a parking spot? It's because Jersey Mike's and the Chinese joint and the UPS drop and drycleaners, et al, are full of customers. It's because Starbuck's is chock full of people spending four bucks for a cup of burned coffee and spending an hour on the sidewalk kvetching about the high price of gas which is back to half their cuppa. The parking lot at Lowe's and Walmart are full throughout the day - midweek. With the credit crunch, surely all these people aren't charging it.
Do we have breadlines? When was the last time you saw someone selling pencils or apples on the street?
I regret the loss of manufacturing more than most. That's what I do - I build things. But that's not the end of the world. I can learn to install things made elsewhere and I'm an old dog. Maybe a little watching old Reagan campaign ads is what you guys need. Especially you're "productive class?. If you're so productive, think your way out of the doldrums. I've been stuggling with the same damned thing since last November (I got laid off the day after Election Day - think I can't blame it on *I*bama?) and I'm slowly working into a new sector of the same industry I was in. Things are working out for the better for me because I'm not giving up. I'm an American who believes in free markets and voting with my feet AND my brain. Oh, and I smoke. Did I mention that I make under $250,000 a year and my taxes went up?
Pingback| 4.28.09 @ 7:28AM
General Confusion links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Daniel H. Fernald| 4.28.09 @ 8:18AM
You are absolutely right, Ben. America has thrived, in spite of her native-born naysayers.
I pray that you will continue to enjoy God's many blessings. You are a fine man, and a great American! I am truly and deeply proud to call you my countryman.
scythe| 4.28.09 @ 8:33PM
America is indeed a state of mind. Americans are STILL filled with optimism (are they really?) because up until NOW we have had our history to go by. We have never experienced a president with the fascistic impulse so much a part of his narcisstic personaity disorder. In other words - we have always had a reason to be hopeful. The emphasis is on the past tense. Our optimisim and politics are inextricably intertwined. Let's see about next year. America is a state of mind whose collective thoughts are being bent by a man who has spent his LIFE studying how to psychologically manipulate people in the service of Marxist evolution. Get used to it.
Paul Crowley| 4.28.09 @ 9:04PM
=>"that America is not so much a political and geographical state as a state of mind." [“What I've Been Hearing” By Ben Stein on 4.27.09 @ 6:07AM].
Who says so?
Who says that the United States of America is not "so much a political and geographical state as a state of mind?"
By whose authority?
Define this saccharine-sounding rubbish, precisely.
This is a rehash of the Greater Britain theme of late Victorian England (circa 1871-1914), out of which grew the Littler Englander theme.
These two have already been plagiarized in recent years, modified to the U.S.A..
When American citizens come to accept that the United States of America "is not so much a political and geographical state as a state of mind," then they have lost their birthright, have become docile as DOGs and they have been reduced to slaves.
This political essay is pap.
Stein is a cheap political hack.
Paul Crowley| 4.28.09 @ 10:04PM
=>“Against All Enemies, Foreign and Domestic.”
Conservatives? Don’t make me laugh.
A bunch of Marxist, ex-Marxist and social-revolutionary mal-formed "conservatives.”
Contradictions in terms.
The United States of America is a Union of fifty sovereign states.
A politically and geographically-defined nation state that is a federation of fifty sovereign politically and geographically defined states.
No American, born prior to 1989 grew up under this wage-&-debt-slavery dubbed “fiscally conservative.”
No American born prior to 1965 grew up under this institutionalized eugenics and female-wage-slavery dubbed “socially liberal.”
This America “as a state of mind" rubbish has only been widely propagated in about the past nine years.
rckmom60| 4.30.09 @ 2:13PM
I agree that America will see the morning again! However it won't be under Obama's watch! The sun had better rise before the socialism does or we're all in trouble!
rckmom60| 4.30.09 @ 2:13PM
I agree that America will see the morning again! However it won't be under Obama's watch! The sun had better rise before the socialism does or we're all in trouble!
rckmom60| 4.30.09 @ 2:14PM
I agree that America will see the morning again! However it won't be under Obama's watch! The sun had better rise before the socialism does or we're all in trouble!
Shamballa| 4.30.09 @ 2:39PM
Man, I really needed this. Thank you so much Ben! There is hope and optimism is Indianapolis too.
Charles Fobert| 5.1.09 @ 12:44AM
Ben, thank you
K Simms| 5.1.09 @ 2:02PM
Ben, please just go away.
DMCVEY| 5.2.09 @ 9:06PM
THERE HAVEN'T BEEN HUSTLERS IN THE WHITE HOUSE BEFORE. OBAMA'S POLICIES ARE GOING TO GET MORE OF US KILLED. THE JIHADISTS ARE NOT 'ENCHANTED' WITH HIM THEY WAY THE MEDIA IS.
scott| 5.4.09 @ 6:58PM
Yes, morning will come again. As will Spring, Summer and Fall, but it will be a very different morning, spring, summer and fall.
The destruction being done will last for many, many years.
Too many Americans are so ignorant to what is really going. Examples:
One poll shows over 65% of people think the govt is too big and yet Obama has an approval rating in the mid to high 50's / low 60's?
One poll shows Gov Patteron's and Corzine's approval rating in the 30's (they both agree & support Obama's agenda) and yet look at Obama's approval ratings.
Remember those Americans who were against the Patriot Act? Well now those same people think it is okay for Obama to keep instituting the Patriot Act.
Remember Obama saying 800 billion in earmarks was a very small part of the budget. Chuck Schumer said that the majority of Americans don't care about earmarks. I guess John McCain is a fool for not wanting earmarks.
Remember how the Surge is Iraq was going to fail. War was over. USA Lost Senator Reid, Pelosi and their liberal followers said? Remember General Patraeus was called General Betrayus in the NY times? That was really cool and trendy to liberals.
Now all the sudden, the Surge in Afghanistan will work. Wow I guess all liberals are born with Military Combat expertise.
The funny thing about Gen. Patraeus is how many liberals were against him. Remeber the NY Times ad by moveon.org? Remember Hillary called him a liar before he testified? Then you see the General get a standing ovation at the Superbowl when his named was announced.
I can go on and on and on but you get my point.
This is the problem with America. So many people have so much hatred, so many are liars, so many are greedy and corrupt it will only get worse.
Just ask yourself, When was the last time a feminist group supported a woman that was for traditional marriage or was pro life? Why were the feminists MIA when Jamie Foxx blasted Miley Cyrus for being white and successful? Can you imagine if a white person said those things about a black person? Imus comes to mind.
Yes we will wake up but we will wake up to a cold wintery day.
The bigger govt gets the fewer civil liberties we all have.
BillinFlorida| 5.6.09 @ 11:49AM
Ben, I think you may be right or at least I hope so. I don't think the morning will come as soon as you say. I, like many others out there lost a good job in the construction industry (project manger) so instead of just retiring (I am 66), have a real estate license, now I am trying to sell commercial real estate. One my friends said when I sent him an e-mail and told him what I was doing, stated, "tough time to be in Real Esate". Actually, I hope he is wrong.
I am reading a biography on Ben Franklin and the one thing he was concerned about and what he told people coming to America was it is a country of producers and tradesmen not a country of elites and lazy moochers, sadly he would be turning over in is grave if saw what is happing now as we are becoming a socialist country of elitist made up of academicians, professional politicians and estate landholders (you can through in a lot of non-productive hereditary rich-such as the Kennedys, etc). We are not the country now that Franklin visioned.
I do think that those that see Obama as their saviour or there way out like that lady in Florida that wanted a house and car paid for by Obama are in for a rude awakening because this massive spending is going to create massive inflation. Even Warren Buffet is predicting it. When inflation hits, and it will, the people that live in rented apartments, that live on food stamps, that live day by day and sadly those of us on fixed income and I am sad to say many retired that were mislead are the ones hit the worst. The rich and elite will only slightly feel the pinch. Many of the unemployed, and there will be many, will get hit hard.
Then and only then will the productive class and those young fools (when their I-pods, cell phones and online cost skyrocket) will know what they did by putting a socialist in power. Maybe then they will join the 58 million that did not vote for a socialist country will help us slowly get it back. Hopefully, it will not to late to overcome the damage.
colleeny | 5.9.09 @ 5:51PM
Just finished Atlas Shrugged and immediately had to come back to Ben's article for a cool refreshing drink of American optomism. GBBS and all who read him!