America is, in many ways, as much an idea as it is a country. And Americans have long marketed that idea around the world through our popular culture.

The Hollywood of Frank Capra's era, when Reagan became a minor star, sold the world an image of American pith and patriotism in many ways as defining as the moon landing or the A-bomb.

From jazz, the blues, country and rock to Hollywood movies, culture has in many ways been our greatest export (or our most obnoxious one, depending on your point of view).

Joy Reid Quotes