Yesterday I went to Circuit City to buy some electronic equipment, and while I was there, I decided to look around in the music department. As I walked down the aisle where the country music CD's were, on my way to the rock section, I was taken aback to see that the section had been renamed Country/Americana.  My first reaction was to be offended, and then I realized Circuit City was on to something: In the 21st Century, country music probably does best represent the American culture.

I am not referring here to the musical roots and styles of country music, some of which I like a great deal. I am referring to the culture surrounding country music in the United States: the NASCAR, bomb-the-terrists, Bush-Cheney, Amurica-love-it-or-leave-it, good-Christian-folks, why-don't-you-move-to-I-raq-if-you-don't-like-it crowd. 47% of Protestants and 13% of Roman Catholic Americans now identify themselves as born-again Christians, and at least half of the country thinks that the lying idiot in the White House is either a god, or--at the very least--competent to run a major country.

Hence, we have performers like Toby Keith, who actively participated in fueling the death threats against the Dixie Chicks and their children, and Darryl Worley, whose song, "Have You Forgotten?," actively promoted the White House lie about Iraq:

Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbors still inside
Going through a living hell
And we vowed to get the ones behind Bin Laden
Have you forgotten?
 
Americana indeed.