President Calderon delivers Grito from balcony of National Palace

Just a note: When Jared and I were walking toward the Lerdo Plaza Saturday night we started talking about the whole premise of the grito. It seems like the US is the only country in the world that doesn't include somewhere in its national independence day tradition the screaming of "Long live...(shout name of respective country here)." Really, it seems like a sign of insecurity to have to run around shouting at the top of your lungs that your country's going to live to see another day. I mean, I would find it more than unnerving if tomorrow, Bush announced that considering our shattered reputation abroad and the growing military strength of those we deem as our primary 'enemies,' he has decided to set aside one day of the year when Americans would chant in support of the existence of our country. I can see him saying it now: "America, I just need your support here, I'm going through some times of, well their hard, I mean hard times, or maybe its rough...what I'm telling ya here is you better yell or I'll get chya." Whether it's because of our arrogant acceptance of our eternal place in the world, or just because 'Long Live the United States of America' doesn't quite have the same ring as 'Viva México,' we remain a country without a slogan that the whole world seems to have adopted.