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It’s Time to Save America
We can’t depend on a president to save the country any more than we can allow a president to destroy it
A virus and violence converged to give the early weeks of 2021 a familiar feel. Terrorists stormed our most sacred spaces. The New York Times told us 400,000 people are dead from the pandemic. Thousands of troops stood outside (and slept inside) our most precious landmarks. It was all unprecedented. The new felt known because the real-life footage looked like scenes from the “End of America” movies I grew up watching in the 1990s.
The villains in those films varied: Sometimes they were from outer space; sometimes they were from Russia. But the fix was always the same — one man would save the country. Often that man was Harrison Ford. I was a kid when Air Force One came out in 1997. R-rated movies were off-limits, but I was certain any movie starring Indiana Jones was a must-see. When my dad added Air Force One to the weekend’s Blockbuster rental run, I blessed my luck. My parents watched it after we all were supposed to be in bed, and I watched it with them from the top of the stairs. It kind of worked. I couldn’t hear much. And whenever my parents shifted on the couch, I panicked and tiptoed back to my bedroom. I’d wait a few minutes and then sneak back out. Plots from the ’90s are forgiving to the inattentive, so I got the basic story.
Ford plays a U.S. president who will not negotiate with terrorists and can kick ass. That conviction and skill come in handy when terrorists take over Air Force One while he’s on it. They plan to force the president to free a dictator from U.S. detention. President Harrison Ford foils them with his fists, and also at one point, a parachute strap. He saves the day and democracy. I remember the movie ending with a salute from Ford, but that might not be accurate. Even for a ’90s movie, that seems a little overwrought. [Editor's note: It does end with a salute!]
Since the Democrats nominated Joe Biden, I’ve been waiting for one person to save America. America does need saving. Not from outsiders but from ourselves. We are a country riven by systemic racism. We’re a people unconcerned by increasing poverty; a culture devoted to death and carelessness with the living. As I watched the inauguration, it was…
