America Welcome

So I just met Anna of annatopia (she's also been doing some great guest blogging over at majority report radio), and it occurred to me that I haven't been entirely clear about something.

I'm a New Yorker (by immigration, not by birth - like so many New Yorkers). And I am fiercely protective of my city, and suspicious of those who come here from other parts of the country in bad faith.

But I am also an American, and I believe (maybe foolishly, but I don't think so) in the redemptive possibilities of this nation. And when I meet a person like Anna, this amazing woman from the great (yes, great) state of Texas, who is working to shift the tides and turn America around, it inspires me, and all my New Yorker snarkiness ("look at the rubes trying to figure out the subway") evaporates. I firmly believe that, within ten years, Texas will turn around - and when it does, it will be thanks to people like Anna, fighting and sweating, even though every day must be so frustrating, so unrewarding. We liberal New Yorkers have it easy - we can coast along in our own little mainstream, safe in the knowledge that everyone around us more or less feels the same way we do. But if this country is to be saved, it will be thanks to those doing the real work, deep in the red heart of America.