USA! USA! USA!

AND NOW.. the last installment of the D.C. adventure:  The Big Buildings.

THE WHITE HOUSE:  My fondest wish for this trip was to get a White House tour.  I contacted my Congressman's office in late June because that was the soonest we knew we were traveling to the East Coast.  As it turns out, I was far too late to get inside the White House.  Applications are taken 6-8 months ahead of a visit to D.C. in the summer.  So, we stood outside and took pictures through the fences.  My heart pounded like I was sighting a rock star.  I am a political junkie and most especially for presidential politics and most especially I have deep regard for this president, Barack Obama.  Our hotel was close to the White House so we ended up walking past it frequently.  One day we watched a heated and rather scarily escalating protest outside the gates between people from Saudi Arabia and Yemen.  Security forces moved the tourists out of the area but before we shuffled  along a safe distance away, I felt a sense of pride for our Constitution which affords the right to gather and engage in free speech, no matter who you are or what you have to say.  This was also in great evidence at nearly every public monument we visited where Christians with bullhorns took to their "pulpits" to preach to passersby at high decibel levels.  I may not agree with their religion, but I was happy they could do it.

THE SUPREME COURT:  Tears welled in my eyes as I approached the stairs to the iconic Supreme Court building.   I don't know why my emotions were so raw.  I do know I am a sucker for pomp, circumstance, history, and tradition.  I guess because the Supreme Court, in theory, is above the political fray, it holds a place of esteem in my mind as the branch of government we can count on to get it right.  (But not always....Bush did not win that election and Citizen's United is a blow to our democracy.)  Sitting in the chambers of the court -- rather a modest room -- moved me deeply.  The tour guide was full of inside information, historical facts, and an obvious love for the Court.  I bought a pocket Constitution in the gift shop.

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS:  Oh, I do love a library!  This is a big, beautiful one.  The
building itself is awe-inspiring.  It epitomizes all the architectural wonders of our capital city.  Stone, marble, sculpture, relief, stained glass, murals, wood, soaring ceilings, wide swooping staircases...and a collection from Thomas Jefferson's personal library on display.

THE CAPITOL:   Our consolation prize for not getting into the White House was a private guided tour of the Capitol building by an intern from our Congressman's office.  She is a fine young woman, who aspires to a job with the State Department.  (I'd advise her to lose the sorority girl "vocal fry" speech and the habit of ending every statement with a question mark?)   We found the Capitol building to be confusing, noisy, hard to navigate, requiring lots of backtracking and winding down long and institutional looking corridors, emerging into big beautiful rooms, then ducking again into the abyss of confusion.  The rotunda is encased in scaffolding for restoration, both inside and out.  So we didn't see that.  Maybe that is the centering feature of the place, and with it being hammered upon, entropy and chaos have ensued.  I don't know.  I did leave wondering if the anger, partisanship, animosity, back-biting, and ineffectual lack of meaningful legislation is the cause or the effect of the building's chaotic nature.  I wouldn't want to work there either.

Everywhere we went, on every street, stood huge government buildings we hear about but never really visualize -- The FBI, The Treasury Department, The State Department, Health & Human Services, Department of Agriculture, all the Smithsonian Institute buildings -- even a National Botanical Garden which I'd never heard of and it's fabulous!  I felt like a backwoods girl in her first visit to the "big city".  I told you I'm a sucker for this stuff.  I'd like to have the marble concession (so beautiful!) as well as the security contract for government buildings.  We were searched at every entrance to every building; all had barricades of some type surrounding them; often gates, dogs, and armed guards were in evidence and sirens wailed 24/7 as police, fire, and ambulance sped to some disaster or another.  Big city.  Big city trying to protect itself.  It made me sad.

Opinion:  In my first D.C. post I posed the question:  Can a die-hard Liberal Democrat actually succumb to feelings of patriotism?  This is a no-brainer.  Questioning our leaders and the policies they enact is the mark of a Democracy.  But one would think that any criticism of the Conservative status quo these days is tantamount to treason.  I, for one, am a patriotic optimist.  I believe that progressive ideas, compassion for others, reason, intellect, and emotionally literate people of integrity will win the day -- regardless of party affiliation.  Walking around Washington D.C. I was filled with pride and hoped desperately that the virulent contentiousness of the past couple of decades will subside soon so we can all embrace this Grand Experiment in democracy with humility and hope.  This country is mine too.  And I love it.

At least, that's the view from here...©