What Is the AWOL Anyway?

I’ve been trying to figure out what this “American way of life” (hereafter AWOL) we’re so exercised about defending is. For a while I had it narrowed down to either the right to eat fast food in front of the television set at any hour of the day or the freedom to drive your car from one parking lot to another in search of said fast food, but I’ve come to think those are too simple. Lately, I’ve come to believe that the AWOL must be something far more basic to our collective sense of identity, something that reflects a deeper component of our being, something that’s a more essential part of how we conceive ourselves. Unfortunately, not everyone has a fine collection of souvenir baby spoons, so that’s ruled out, too.
So what is the AWOL? Perhaps it’s many things to many people. To suburban homeowners, it may be the liberty to paint their lawns green with a pesticide-nitrogen guache. To urban clubgoers, it may be living under the convenant that they are never more than half a block away from the nearest latte. To elderly living on a fixed income, the AWOL may be the government’s solemn promise to ensure that the pharmaceutical industry remains ever able to secure double-digit profits.
To me, the AWOL surely involves some sort of assurance that I am free to embody the elemental characteristics that make me who I am…but then again, I doubt I’d have many constraints against being a smug know-it-all and a holier-than-thou pedant under any system.
Could the AWOL, then, be something more universal, something—unlike the supersized meal consumed on the dashboard of the SUV—less uniquely American? Could it be a way of life available to people living in cultures that reject not only capitalism, consumerism, but even drive-thru banking, as well?
I for one, sure hope so; if Bush gets re-elected, my American Way of Life won’t be found anywhere in America.