Last December, I got the privilege of visiting the home of the World’s Largest Retailer in lovely Bentonville, Arkansas. This little trifle from the BBC is spot on in its description of the home of Sam Walton and his mega-mega-superstore. The public face of the town shares a lot with the fictitious town of Pleasantville in the movie of the same name. This is what America wants to be remembered as: friendly, slightly naïve, a little bit tacky, but all around good-natured.

I have been to the establishment as described in paragraph five—the Station Café. They really do have great burgers, among other good stuff. They have license plates on the wall from all over the country. Oddly, they didn’t have any from North Carolina.