A quintessentially American list:

>> Ken Burns - Highlights include baseball, the Congress, Jazz, Mark Twain, Brooklyn Bridge, the Civil War, Frank Lloyd Wright, the Statue of Liberty, the West, and Thomas Jefferson. If he could stretch it out enough, he would have done a documentary on apple pie, too. He pretty much covers my bases.

>> The Onion - Or rather poking fun at ourselves in general. Headlines say it all: Small, Dedicated Group Of Concerned Citizens Fails To Change World and Man Who Used Stick To Roll Ball Into Hole In Ground Praised For His Courage. Or from the Onion Radio Network: A 'Get Poor Quick' Scheme

>> Pixar - Okay, I may be in a biased position after seeing WALL-E over the weekend (it was phenomenal), but Cars, Toy Story, Monsters, Inc.? All very American. All very good. I know, Ratatouille and Nemo, not American, but great flicks, nonetheless. WALL-E was Charlie Chaplin meets Johnny Five. Go see it now. Or very, very soon.

>> Wikis - The word itself, wiki, is Hawaiian for "fast." But the idea, the knowledge management system is American at heart. Locally grown, but globally manifested. It's creator called it, "The simplest online database that could possibly work." Even sounds American.

>> Woodward and Bernstein - (Alternately, twofold: 1. the power of the press, and 2. checks and balances.) They took down a crooked world leader without bloodshed and without toppling the government itself. It is proof that the system can work. It should work more often. See also: impeachment.

>> Spelling bee - From a source on the wiki, "Examples [of alphabetic writing systems] range from cases such as Italian or Finnish, where the match between letter and sound is rather close, to English, which has notoriously complex and arbitrary spelling." English was a borrowed language, but now we own it. It's the epitome of the melting pot. Is it ironic that the spell checker is also American?

>> Rage Against the Machine - The ability to petition your government for grievances is now in the Constitution. Question, protest, and action. The dissenting voice. And they're back. Two underrated songs off of their "Renegades" album of covers, these by two more quintessential Americans: The Ghost of Tom Joad by Bruce Springsteen and Maggie's Farm by Bob Dylan.

Everyone, enjoy your independence this week. And please, add some of the quintessentially American things in the comments. Thanks, tjc.