Hey America, You’re Not Doing So Hot

A central tenet of rabid nationalism (erroneously called patriotism by some) is a blind insistence on the superiority of the nation one happens to be born into, over all other nations. In the U.S., this usually involves an assertion of economic and military superiority, along with a vague “better in every way” attitude about other domains. I have always felt extremely fortunate to have been raised in the USA, which had (and still has) serious claims to greatness in several areas. Objectively, there are some pretty awesome things about the USA, nationalistic fervor or no.

Unfortunately, data are starting to roll in suggesting that we may have spent the last many years shooting ourselves in the foot, greatness-wise. Over the last half-century, we have increasingly structured our political and economic systems such that our previous wealth has been redistributed away from the large number of middle- and lower-class citizens, and toward the few wealthy. This is no longer just an angry assertion of the Left; it’s a clear pattern in the data. We have granted greater and greater rights to what is now undeniably a corporate oligarchy, selling them protection from open market competition and government regulation alike. We have granted our executive branch the power to govern in an ever more autocratic manner (Obama might end up being just as bad as Bush in this area), and we have steadfastly resisted real progress  in reducing the corrupting forces of monetary influence in Washington.

The Land of Measurably Less Opportunity
Now the piper is getting paid, in pieces whittled off the American Dream. Social mobility is now lower in the United States than in other Western nations. That is, it is more difficult to succeed here, economically (compared to, say, Western Europe), unless your parents have already succeeded. The rich stay rich, and the poor stay poor. The gap between them is getting larger, and there are fewer people in the middle than there used to be. This is bad. Recent data show that citizens in nations with greater income disparities have poorer mental and physical health (apparently even for the wealthy citizens) and worse education.

These Pants Make Us Look Like Russia
Two former bigwigs with the International Monetary Fund (those folks who try to help politically- and economically-screwed-up developing nations catch up with the rest of the world) have independently given their assessments of the US’s current economic state: in many important ways, our economic and government systems look like those of the messed-up nations the IMF was created to help, and we are responding to responsible suggestions for improvement the same way those messed-up nations generally do. We are well on our way to becoming a banana republic.

These opinions sway me quite a lot. How many people in the world have seen the inner workings of multiple nations’ economic and political systems, at a variety of levels of functioning, with the education to understand what they were seeing, while monitoring the outcomes of large-scale interventions, and with little agenda¹ except the success of those nations? These guys are in a better position than almost anyone I can imagine to provide a relatively unbiased, broadly comparative assessment of the economy and economic politics of a particular country; even ours.

Specifically, the ex-IMF guys talk about the massive economic stupidity encoded in our national policy for the last few decades, and the fundamental insolvency of our current financial system. Even more pointedly, they note that a corporate oligarchy now controls a majority of our government (!), and we will not rescue ourselves soon, without breaking this oligarchy up into manageable chunks, reducing the corporate organizations’ hold on the management of the nation, and returning to reasonable economic principles. The astute observer of recent events here in the US will note that the current President, the past one, and Congress² have all bent over backward to do anything but threaten the entrenchment of the current oligarchy³.

Nobody Who Doesn’t Already Believe This Is Going To Listen
I’m pretty sure a lot of conservatives will reject this analysis outright. Why? Because it breaks an unwritten rule of conservatism: the US must not be held to the  standards to which we hold other nations. That mentality, perhaps, is a large part of our problem. It’s the attitude of a spoiled brat who doesn’t realize Daddy’s money is actually running out. It’s the deluded thinking of an addict who refuses to acknowledge an increasing list of symptoms.

We have a long list of symptoms. There’s the financial and political stuff, above. There’s also our education system. In many ways, it lags behind that of the rest of the developed world (we have some areas of great success, but focusing on those should not be a justification for ignoring the troubling pattern of deficits). Our levels of personal and corporate debt are simply insane. We have deified the profession of making money to a point that boggles the mind, in a supposedly Christian nation. Half of us seem to be convinced that healthcare must be left to the private market, no matter how many people die⁴. Our Federal money folks seem to be doing crazy, possibly dangerous things to prop up our currency, against the advice of many of the greatest economic minds in the world (some of whom live right here at home). We’re dealing with the current crisis more by capitulating to the oligarchy that got us here than by doing what will give us the best chance to get out of this mess (i.e., breaking up said oligarchy). Add to that the fact the we are still living as if we could afford the massive military commitments we’ve made around the world⁵, and shouting down anyone who questions anything with a Department of Defense label.

There’s more stuff, too. Ishooz: we has dem.

It Will Get Better (Maybe Sort Of)
I have faith that we will eventually address our problems somewhat more effectively. I don’t have much faith that we will do this in a sufficiently short time frame, however, or to the degree required to really fix the underlying problems. We have short memories, and little resistance to temptation. In keeping with past crises, we will probably change exactly as much as is necessary to stop the immediate hurting, then most will go back to our profligate ways. In the meantime, I expect financial corporations to get even more unimaginable sums of nonexistent money from the government, the Feds to take even more unsustainable measures to give it to them, our military rhetoric to get even more obnoxious, Fox News to sound even more like 1930s Nazi party propaganda (with “conservative” in place of the word “Nazi” in their broadcasts), Keith Olbermann to get even more ridiculous in his pomposity criticizing them for this, and Rachel Maddow to sound even more reasonable by comparison⁶.

Eventually I fully expect the “real” America to secede, with Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin its all-powerful triumvirate, appointed by their corporate masters in gratitude for years of faithful service (with big cheers from the Evangelical Christian minority, which will now have become a much larger minority in Real America). They will reluctantly and humbly accept their difficult task and accompanying monster mansions. They will draft legislation to make criticism of Conservative ideals an act of treason. Ann Coulter will decide what the proper conservative ideals are. The punishment for treason will be death, but first you will have to listen to her read one of her books, out loud.

Meanwhile, due to my dislike of being mocked for having a higher education degree, and my discomfort with random arrest and torture, I will probably be living in Fake America, where democratic processes still appear to occur, but are actually manipulated by the same cabal of six multinationals that owns the administration and immortal souls of O’Reilly/Limbaugh/Palin next door. In my Fake America, the President will praise peace while waging war, decry the power-grabbing of the previous administration while working hard to make sure he grabs even more, and spy on everybody because it’s illegal but somehow OK (similar, in that respect, to smoking marijuana). Congress will grovel and ask if they can please legislate some more of his brilliant ideas, just like they did for the last guy.

Or maybe I will have moved to Canada with Alex. I’m pretty sure Canada won’t have any problems of this sort, and we will romp and play in the Great White North. With dozens of fat children. Who never use sentence fragments, because Alex would never stand for that.

No, Seriously
I still love the USA. In many ways we are still a beacon to the world, as cheesy as that phrase sounds. I honestly think there needs to be more recognition of the good being done by America and Americans, but I also think we need to permanently abandon the idea that do-gooding in some spheres should remove us from responsibility for our actions in others. My love of this country does not require me to believe that we’re the global “best” (although, as I said above, I do believe in our awesomeness in several areas). I think that, because of what the USA is, and has been, it is capable of doing amazing things for its citizens and the rest of the world, if we are willing to accept our responsibility⁷ . The history of the United States is, in my view, the story of potential never fully realized. Current trends make me worry that we are moving toward even less fulfillment of our potential, instead of more. I could be happy in Canada, I think, and I will go there, if it suits my family (which is more important to me than demonstrating my patriotism through continued residency). However, I want to stay here at home, if I can, because my country has a very long row to hoe, and I’d like to help get started.

1. Barring some fascinating conspiracy theories [↩]
2. With some notable exceptions [↩]
3. Did you notice that? Smart people who study nations and stuff are saying we have an oligarchy. And it runs a lot of the government. Maybe the next time we point the finger of corruption at the developing nations supplying us with drugs, we might want to think about the fingers pointing back at us [↩]
4. while healthcare corporations lobby for anticompetitive legislation to protect themselves from a truly free market [↩]
5. Not just their financial cost, but their cost to our integrity and diplomatic credibility [↩]
6. I think “by comparison” is important in this sentence, dealing as it does with mainstream media [↩]
7. Hopefully understanding the difference between “responsibility” and “patronizing bullying,” “holier-than-thou pontificating,” or “militaristic paranoia” [↩]