"Hitler? Who mentioned that madman? Oh no, Roland, we are
dealing with an enemy far more cunning and insidious than that
deluded psychopath out to conquer the world with bombs and bullets.
No, even while this war rages on against the Germans and the Japs,
the other war against us has already begun, the invisible war,
the silent assault upon the very fabric that holds us together
as a nation. You look puzzled. What does hold this nation together,
Roland? The stars and stripes? Is that what men talk about over
a beer, how much they love Old Glory? On the streetcars, on the
trains, on the jitneys, what does one American say to another,
to strike up a conversation, 'O say can you see by the dawn's
early light?' No! He says, 'Hey, how'd the Tycoons do today?'
He says, 'Hey, did Mazda get himself another homer?' Now, Roland,
now do you remember what it is that links in brotherhood millions
upon millions of American men, makes kin of competitors, makes
neighbors of strangers, makes friends of enemies, if only while
the game is going on? Baseball! And that is how they propose to
destroy America, young man, that is their evil and igenious plan
- to destroy our national game!"
Angela Whittling Trust
The Great American Novel
Philip Roth