Americana Made In China

Yesterday I went off on the Chrysler Super Bowl ad that, in my opinion, dissed American beer. This morning I was in a store selling Americana made in China. There is nothing illegal about retailing our past, but it rubs me the wrong way to see our dollars going overseas for “signs” of our past made last year by people working in a foreign country.

In my teen years in New Jersey I remember going to some small towns where relics from the road (gas station, movie and diner signs, for example) were sold as semi-antiques. This was the real stuff that now serves as the model for knockoffs made in China. The only mementos I have now are a hubcap found along one of those country roads, an old wooden crate with a NRA (National Recovery Act) stamp on it and an American flag with 48 stars. My mother tossed my Army uniform or I would still have that to remind me of where I’d been.

As Bob Dylan sang in that Chrysler ad, nothing is as American as our back roads. What would his line be about the stores selling road signs made overseas? This isn’t an issue to die for, but it is worth noting pride is not for sale.