Americans should reclaim our freedom, optimism and spunk

"Where is America?" Peggy Noonan, the brilliant essayist, asks in a new book. And she answers that America is in line at the airport, in its socks, carrying its shoes in a bin, shuffling along, watching as a TSA agent removes and sniffs America's mascara.

"Why don't you put it up your nose and see if it explodes? America thinks, but does not say," Noonan writes.

Exactly. She has captured the mood exactly.

Only now it has gotten worse because of the panic on Wall Street, and people are beginning to lose their heads around the country.

America acts whipped, dispirited, worried about the costs of the far-off war and everything else, fretting about fuel, equally unable to pay its bills and nervous about trying to borrow more, wondering how long its old way of life is going to go on, or whether it has already disappeared.

Despite all these discouraging signs, Noonan has hope for America. She hopes that one or the other presidential candidate will prove capable of turning things around. But she has a nagging fear - and she says everybody else has it too - that neither man is up to the job.

But even if the next president flops, all is not lost, because it's not up to him. Once we realize that and begin to believe it, the election becomes less crucial, and the solutions may seem closer at hand.

What do we have a Congress for except to pass reasonable laws? Why is it that among 535 members of the House and Senate, there cannot be found a majority of sensible men and women who recognize that - to take Noonan's example - all that rigmarole at the airport is demeaning and not worthy of a free country? If they see it, why don't they stop it? And if they won't, why don't we make them act to stop it? We could, you know, by electing somebody else.

Why is it that in this election as in all others, nasty lies in television ads pass for campaigning? These ads would not run if they did not work. And they would not work if voters used their smarts and ignored them.

Large trends in a big country may be hard to stop and reverse, but it's never too late to start trying.

We can let office seekers know that we want them to be civilized and serious - or better yet, civilized and humorous - instead of paying for lying ads. And if they don't listen, we can vote for the other guys.

We can quit clamoring for Washington to solve every problem. States, counties, cities, colleges, families, interest groups and even individuals can try solving their own problems first without looking to the government for help.

And we can push for stopping the stupid harassment at airports by refusing to fly until the government calls it off.

Electing a new president won't do anything useful in the long run unless Americans make up their minds to reclaim some of their freedom, their optimism and their spunk. (hh)