United States: Essays 1952-1992 - "The State of the Union: 1980" (1980) Summary & Analysis

This Study Guide consists of approximately 129 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of United States.
Study Guide

United States: Essays 1952-1992 - "The State of the Union: 1980" (1980) Summary & Analysis

This Study Guide consists of approximately 129 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of United States.
This section contains 377 words
(approx. 1 page at 400 words per page)
Buy the United States: Essays 1952-1992 Study Guide

"The State of the Union: 1980" (1980) Summary and Analysis

As a follow-up to his earlier essay on the state of the union published in Esquire in 1975, Vidal offers this piece to clarify and expand on some of his earlier ideas. Everyone in the United States—politicians, corporations, generals—works for "the Bank" or the owners of the country, "the gilded 4.4 percent who own most of the United States and owns 27 percent of the country's real estate, 60 percent of all corporate stock." Indeed, Vidal calls the Bank "the Cosa Nostra of the 4.4 percent. The United States government is the Cosa Nostra of the Bank."

Vidal says there have been three republics in America, but a fourth is needed for the union to survive. The first republic ("a loose confederation of 13 autonomous states") began with the Revolution in 1776 and ended...

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This section contains 377 words
(approx. 1 page at 400 words per page)
Buy the United States: Essays 1952-1992 Study Guide
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