Where is Matt Dillon?

As a student, Red Baron listened on AFN Munich to Gunsmoke and heard Sheriff Matt Dillon say, "I am the first man they look for, and the last they want to meet."

For me, Matt the sheriff, who practiced the rule of law in Dodge City,  embodied the USA. The US kept order in the world, called out wannabe spoilers, and locked troublemakers up.

Lately, some gossipers claimed that Matt was dead. Well, he is still around and keeps law and order in his Long Branch Saloon; however, he no longer cares what's happening within Dodge City.

When the inkeeper of the House of Israel, Nathanyahu, made a raid on the neighboring Qatar Saloon, killing some of his enemies, Matt did not brand that illegal action. He said that he was unhappy about the attack and was quick to emphasize that he had nothing to do with it.

Instead, Matt called in many deputy sheriffs to sit at specific tables in his saloon and keep them clean from people south of the border, although the latter were needed in the kitchen and so far had caused only minimal trouble.

In the eastern part of Dodge City, there lived a Russian, Potentate, who owned a vast saloon. Being greedy, he sent his gunmen to the nearby Ukrainian inn, trying to incorporate it into his empire. 

Matt admired the strong man; he invited him to the western branch of his Long Branch Saloon, rolling out a red carpet, hoping that Potantate would make peace with the Ukrainian innkeeper.

But Potentate's bullets kept on flying, and one day they penetrated into the Polish saloon on the other side of the street. Matt had an alliance with that owner, and he felt embarrassed issuing a statement:

Here we go? Matt went nowhere. Later, he claimed that Potentate possibly had men with poor aim whose bullets had gone astray. It is a Mad City instead of Dodge City.

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