Worshipping

Like in every country around the world, the American population is divided between two main political trends, we all know that. Their constitution attributes to their president an exceptional status since he physically embodies the nation, the country and its inhabitants.

Thus, as a private person, the president may be loathed or admired; he's not above any criticism. But when it comes to the symbol he represents, he's next to out of reach and unassailable. Somehow, he's the American people per se. 

Yet, the respect and admiration Americans generally show toward the very image of their president (that is themselves in the end) sometimes seems rather going a bit too far.

One of the many worth visiting monuments in the US are the Mount Rushmore sculptures carved in the cliffs of South Dakota by an American sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, trained in Paris where he met the famous Auguste Rodin.

It's a great piece of work indeed and very impressive. As a matter of fact, it was meant to be so. Big is beautiful in the New World... I certainly would like to visit, should I travel over there.

But I was wondering, what's the difference with the ancient Egyptians erecting giant statutes of their gods and divinities? Or any tribe of South America or Asia regarding their leaders?

Isn't there a certain totemic relationship between the Americans and their elected president? And is the narcissistic dimension of all this lost on everyone?

Just for French readers. Can they imagine 60 foot high sculptures of Vercingétorix, Clovis, Louis XIV and Napoleon in the Alps? Having been set up there only 80 years ago?