Summary: Burns still writes like a 7th grader.
Commentary: Instead of complaining about Burns, I'm going to complain about how we don't talk about Columbia enough anymore. Columbia is (more was) a personification of the United States. More specifically, I think she represents the values of the US. Freedom, liberty, equality, etc. While we don't always look up to those values, I think it's good to have aspirational symbols to remind us of who we want to be. Today, the dominant national personification of the US today is Uncle Sam. I've talked a fair amount about the value of shared cultural symbols, values, identities, etc. and I think that he's not really a great example of that. What does Uncle Sam want you to do? Enlist in the army, pay your taxes, buy war bonds. He represents concrete actions you can take to support the Unites States as a country. His Wikipedia page says, " the figure of Uncle Sam specifically represents the government, the female figure of Columbia represents the United States as a nation," and I think that hits close to the issue. It's good to support your country materially, but Columbia gives us something to fight for, something to aspire to, something we want our country to be. Uncle Sam just wants it to still exist tomorrow, and is less concerned with whether it's the best country it can be.
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