"I'm a Little Bit Country" is the fourth episode of Season Seven, and the 100th overall episode of South Park. It aired on April 9, 2003.[1]

Synopsis

The boys join some anti-war protesters because it's a free pass out of school for the day. Their simple plan to protest their way out of class goes south when they find themselves in the middle of the two opposing sides of the issue. Meanwhile, Cartman attempts a flashback to 1776 to avoid studying for his American History assignment.

Plot

This episode originally aired during the beginning of the 2003 United States invasion of Iraq. When Mr. Garrison agrees to let anyone protesting the war out of school early for a rally, all the kids say that they are against the war and then leave, even though they know little about the war, terrorists, or the founding fathers. They are then interviewed outside the school for their views on what the Founding Fathers would think about the conflict and show their ignorance by not knowing who the founding fathers were. Angered by the embarrassment, Mr. Garrison gives everybody an assignment to figure out an opinion on the Founders' view of the war. Stan, Kyle, and Kenny begin to study for their projects; Cartman however decides to take a different approach, trying (and failing) to induce a flashback of the colonial era first by saying a cliched flashback inducing dialog, and then by dropping a large rock on his own head.

Meanwhile, the people of the town are divided about the war, and after splitting in two, they both plan rallies: one pro-war, one anti-war, both on the same day in the same place. They wind up having a great argument during both rallies, and in the end, they get into a huge fight where they begin to kill each other. They later decided to use the boys to get them what they think about the war. Meanwhile, Cartman electrocutes himself in water with a TV OH! full of colonial documentaries from The History Channel in order to induce a flashback. He falls into a coma, and having a dream, he travels back to the colonial era in Philadelphia. With a single murder, he manages to get the job of delivering the Declaration of Independence from Thomas Jefferson's home to the Continental Congress for a vote; there, a great argument breaks out about whether or not to go to war against United Kingdom, paralleling the events in town, which Cartman recognizes as being "very, very relevant".

During the concert, Stan and the others tell everyone that they didn't do their report because they really don't know what's going on about the world. This caused everyone to kill each other.

Benjamin Franklin shows up, as voiced by famed TV producer Norman Lear, also creative consultant for this episode. Franklin believes that the new country must not seem to be a war-monger to the rest of the world; at the same time it cannot seem to be weak either. Therefore it must go to war, but allow protests. The United States will go to war on one hand, and use protest to oppose the war on the other. He refers to the this as "saying one thing" and "doing another". One member refers to this as "having our cake and eating it too". Cartman wakes up and delivers his message to the town, who see the truth of that statement and then break out into song (a version of "I'm a Little Bit Country" by Donny and Marie Osmond). In it, they celebrate their differences and their achievement (100 episodes); ending the song with the line, "For the war, against the war- who cares! One hundred episodes!". The 100th episode of the series ends with Kyle in disbelief that it was Cartman who saved the day and then saying "I hate this town. I really, really do".

References