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| Cannon left over from the US Civil War |
What lies might those be? There is the great white washing of history, where we are told everyone came here of their own free will in pursuit of freedom and success. Well, sort of, except for all of those slaves that were imported, and all of the political exiles over the years, and what about the native populations that were already here... We are told that the country was found for religious freedoms, when in reality that was only a small segment of the early settlers, the rest were looking for economic gain both for themselves and their crown. We are told that the US has never lost a war, but what about the war of 1812, where we invaded Canada for not real reason other than our own expansionist ideals and were beaten back by the Canadians and the local Amerindians. That one has been expunged from our memory so much that even if you read the Wikipedia entry about the war it tells of US victory, although not as triumphantly as other wars, when the reality is more complicated. If Jefferson hadn't stated that the conquest of Canada would be a mere matter of marching, do we really think that just 40 years after our own independence we would feel competent enough to invade someone else? And these are just the historical fallicies that we pass down generation to generation as a matter of building patriotism. I find it sickening.
The worst of all the American cultural lies is the idea of supremecy over every other people on the planet. "We're #1" is the rallying cry of the brainwashed in this society, and it only gets worse during election season. How do the political parties try to make the opposition loose favor with the general populace? By showing them as making us less than the greatest by their standards of course. This politician is making us too european, and you don't want that because who would want to be like them? That politician will let all of the untrained, hapless rubbish from other countries that somehow managed to make it here citizens, which will dilute our greatness. The scapegoating of minorities gets to an all time high, whether it be ethnic or social minority makes no difference - if you are not part of mainstream consumerist USA you had better watch out or during election season the problems of the country will be placed squarely on your shoulders; by the way which is why we should limit your freedoms to preserve those of the mainstream. Or at least that is what the attack adds would have you believe.
This is the time of year that I avoid watching television because all you see during every commercial break is hatred and fearmongering. You rarely, if ever, see a positive add for a candidate that does not denegrate the opposition. It speaks a lot to the depravity of the political parties that they refuse to admit that there are multiple good people for the job, or even multiple viable solutions to our problems. No one person and no one ideology will save us from self destructions, which is essentially the problem we are having right now. The economy is sluggish right now because we believe in the power of capitalism, but if the masses don't have the resources to buy things, capitalism can't keep surging our GDP upwards. The solution? Give people more money to buy things, either through tax cuts (which just makes our federal cash flow problem worse) or by raising minimum wages (which makes those with the money mad because they feel like they earned their millions and don't need to share it with the workers who helped them make their millions) or through incentives (buy this new car and receive tax credits for the purchase).
All this reminds me of my favorite Sting song, "Russians", and in particular, a certain line that floats about my head each time I hear political banter: "There is no monopoly of common sense on either side of the political fence." While written about the historical Cold War between Russia and the West, particularly the US, I find the sentiment applies to any political stalemate. If only the mass populace would see it, or be allowed to even broach the idea, it could have a lot of good. At the very least we may be able to have a rational, educated debate about our problems instead of resorting to hysteria and gut reactions. The rash of gun violence in this country? Maybe that means we need to reexamine our gun laws to see if there is something we are actively doing that is making the situation worse. The unemployment rates? Maybe cutting all of the education funding wasn't such a good idea as we now don't have enough training centers to get people retooled for the jobs available, and the ones we do have are overbooked and overpriced to the point that the unemployed can't afford to retrain. Immigration? Maybe if we started seeing those coming here as human beings instead of "illegals" we might take a different approach. That doesn't mean no punishment for breaking the law, but it also doesn't mean treating them less than human which is part of our current practice along the desert borders. Social security nets, such as medicaid and welfare? If would be nice if both sides would agree that being poor is not a crime - they are not leeches on society that need to be treated with the same reproach as parolees from prison with constant drug testing and supervision. They are people that have not being able to acheive the American ideal due to a variety of factors, including being born into poverty with no social ladders to get out of it.
As a nation and as a culture, we have real problems that need attention. It would be nice if we could stop infighting and admit that our diversity makes us stronger instead of being a liability. The more entrenched we become, the more rigid the battle lines, the more we will be torn apart. That is how nations fall - they get stuck in rigid programs with rigid decision making models that do not allow for change and adaptation. You fail to adapt you fail to survive. Simple evolution.
