The Magic Forest amusement park, Lake George Village, New York. Here in this sweet-but-ridiculous little roadside attraction we see all the aspirations of a post-World War Two middle class -- the wish to feel good about our country (having just won a victory over manifest evil) and the secondary belief that we were now entitled to all the goodies that the universe had to offer. We can look at this kitsch panorama and wonder at the innocence of the nation we were back then. We have become something else now, something both scary and pathetic. What will be the icons of our country in The Long Emergency?
     Happy birthday, United States of America