We give them money
But are they grateful?
No they're spiteful
And they're hateful.
They don't respect us so let's surprise them;
We'll drop the big one and pulverize them.
--Randy Newman, "Political Science"
Maverick and Goose hate Commies and they love the USA. Why can't you be more like them?
Oh, and spoiler alert...I take several unwarranted jabs at the Mormon faith here. Sorry. My bad. I'll grant you this is a bit much coming from a Southern Baptist (albeit from the pro-dancing, pro-wine, pro-education, anti-"wives as chattel" wing of the church...there's lots of empty seats at our meetings). But did anyone expect better? I also say bad things about Mexico City. True things. But bad things.
Next up on the tour of rules by which to live your life..."be true to your country." Or as the South Park guys put it in "Team America: World Police," "Terrorist, your game is through cause now you have to answer to America." I should save this one for July 4th, but I've never been strong on timing.
Others have written millions of words explaining why America is the world's most awesome country. Everyone from deToqueville to Lee Greenwood has taken a whack at it. Rehashing all these thoughts hardly serves much purpose. But, while most Americans regard America as "great" (naturally not Rick Perry, terrorists, or Berkeley residents, of course), we the rest of the people seem to possess disparate reasons why. So without writing an entire treatise, I'll sum up the reasons for America's continued greatness, and why you should "take stock" in our continuing national experiment. The last, best hope of earth.
Its important to realize just how far superior the United States of America is to every other country. Particularly those terrorist countries where they hide black market Stinger missiles in caves and don't take showers and pray eight times a day for help in murdering innocent people. And France. Sorry, American Apologists, its true. We're even better than the UK. In making that seemingly jingoistic claim, everyone should realize that most other countries aren't Japan or Canada, what with their free health care (which free rides on American medical innovations) and their longer life spans and their spelling bee proficiency. Most other countries are Egypt (still bordering on chaos), or Mexico (where half of Mexico City lives on trash heaps and the other half worries about being kidnapped), or Singapore (where you get caned for littering), or China (with its toxic air and where statements that the ruling elites deem unsatisfactory consign you to hard labor or home confinement, depending on whether Jesse Jackson takes up your case).
Our country is the best because we have a government of law, not of man. The law applies to everyone, high and low. Despite some people's best efforts (and you know who you are), we are not governed by some potentate with bad hair or a cabal of borderline senile 80 year olds issuing pronouncements from on high (like the Soviet Politburo or the Mormon Church). Huey Longs and Duval Counties may come and go, but on the rare occasions when they do occur, they don't last long. For that we can thank the federal courts and military and police forces that respond to the law rather than wayward executives. We have free elections and the losers willingly leave office without army divisions having to blast them out of the presidential palace. The law applies to everyone, high and low.
Of course, money and connections can improve your chances for beating the rap, just like everywhere else. But unlike most places, the prosecutors and judges don't worry about starting their car and having a bomb go off for going after the wrong people. Concededly, you also have a better chance of getting into Harvard if your dad or your great, great uncle Hezekiah (who led the Union cavalry with Teddy Roosevelt against the Spanish Army) went there. But ultimately even the rich and connected have to pay the piper, as a long list of the rich, famous and powerful who couldn't outrun the law will attest (Jeffrey Skilling, Bernie Madoff, Phil Spector, Wesley Snipes, Richard Nixon, Webster Hubbell...next up, John Edwards). And though your dad might wrangle certain advantages for you, eventually you have to sign your own work; eventually it doesn't matter who your dad was if you can't produce. At least we're not Mexico, where about 10 families own everything, or some other incredibly class-conscious and stratified nation like India.
As a result of strong, universally applicable laws that restrain government, we Americans enjoy unrivalled personal and economic freedoms. We were the first country to enshrine personal freedom for all (not just the earls and barons) in binding law. The law puts some subjects beyond the government's power to regulate and has thereby accorded all of us freedom from the mob. This freedom has spurred dynamic expression, creativity, and industry, which propelled America to incredible wealth and achievement. And while we need, and have, a certain amount of regulation to keep the flipper babies and nuclear meltdowns to a minimum, relatively light government control has allowed our strong American initiative and drive to flourish. Yet, at the same time, we balance our freedoms with our broader rights to security and safety. The very reason for society is to promote its members' well-being, so the first responsibility of a community is to protect its citizens' safety and stave off anarchy. Even with such restraints on police action as restrictions on searches and seizures, exclusionary rules, Miranda rights, and the like, most places in America are more or less safe. At least, they're more safe than most of the world. Say what you will about Detroit or Watts. They're not Juarez.
Here, you can be whatever you want to be. Mostly. That is, hard work, ingenuity, and resourcefulness is rewarded. Most of the people in the various "most wealthy" lists didn't start out that way. Mattress Mack came to Houston in a truck and with $20,000 to his name. He spent it all on furniture to sell out of a tent by the highway and on TV ads. Years later, he's one of Houston's leading citizens. Most of the fabulously wealthy people in our country started out dirt poor. Here, you don't need to be content with your "station." You can change it. Anyone with a great idea can, for the most part, just go out and do it. Mostly its without government help. Remember the government research program that led to the airplane, the light bulb, the telephone, the skyscraper, or rock and roll? No? That's because it didn't happen. Someone just thought these things up and did them, reaping the rewards in the process. Sure, we have poverty, no question. But being poor here is a whole lot better than being poor in most places. Those people living on trash heaps outside Mexico City would change places with our poor in a heartbeat. Without becoming socialists, we've enacted basic safety net programs that address this, and with access to training and jobs (through public education and a free market economy), permanent poverty is contained.
As for the race issue, and the broader "discrimination" issue, problems of course continue to exist. The racial question has plagued our country since we declared that "all men are created equal" at the same time we were enslaving an entire race (and equating women with children). But we are not the people of 230 years ago who did that, or of 150 years ago who went to war over slavery. We have completely eliminated racism from our laws and governmental actions. Anyone who thinks to the contrary is free to have a federal court examine the matter and invalidate any such law or action. Other than possible differences in the child support and family law arena, we have outlawed sex-based discrimination, with federal court enforcement. The Constitution protects the free exercise of religion (except apparently it doesn't let old Mormon men have 15 child wives at a time, go figure). Cultures change more slowly than laws, but 2011 is not 1931, or even 1963. People of different races mix freely, marry one another, sit down together, worship together, share the same public facilities, work in the same jobs, and find themselves together in every walk of life. Much remains to be done. The whole reason we've faced newer types of racial and ethnic challenges is so many people representing such a vast array of races, religions, cultures and beliefs who share our basic values came here to advance themselves, the same way people have for ages (sorry natives). I'm sure Norway doesn't have much of a race problem. On the other hand, lots of other countries with only two races have tremendous race problems. Muslim immigration into the UK and Europe is causing extremely bitter difficulty in some ways reminiscent of our experiences in the early 20th century. Nations throughout Asia and the Pacific Rim historically treat the Chinese as second class citizens. The entire world has treated Jews with bitter discrimination and hatred for thousands of years. Arab and Iranian Muslim governments haven't exactly thrown out the welcome mat for non-Muslims. So the race problem remains, but no one should dismiss the United States as a result.
Because we enshrine in law the ethic of equal participation (though the vote) in government, our government historically has enjoyed an extremely high sense of faith and confidence, which in turn afforded us the benefit of stable government. We enjoy government of the people, by the people, and for the people. We don't have to endure chaos as with Italy's ever-collapsing coalition governments, or the suppression necessary to sustain a family that rules the country from generation to generation. Nor do we have to post federal marshals at every voting booth to make sure the incumbents don't steal the election, or rely on trustworthy colonels to lead their divisions against the capitol when the loser refuses to vacate office. Yet, because we have a republic, the inmates don't run the asylum. Public officials can make unpopular but necessary decisions and still have a relatively decent chance of keeping their jobs at the next election. Do you want the same people who make American Idol the most popular show in America to be handling the intricacies of running state and federal government? If you think direct democracy is a great thing, check out California. There the government must work around the fact that propositions have roped off a great swath of subjects from their ability to legislate. The schools are destitute, crime is rampant, infrastructure is crumbling, and brown outs are an annual summer exercise. Short-sighted, contradictory and unworkable propositions appealing to the popular whims of the moment, coupled with super-majority voting requirements, have reduced the Legislature to virtual powerlessness.
Our openness to new people, new ways, new challenges, and new cultures strengthens us. Sorry fellow Republicans. Just like the Borg, who became the baddest beings in the universe because they've assimilated so many diverse cultures, the fact that we draw the best from all the world's civilizations has made us strong. Did I just compare us to the Borg? Oh well, no one will get that. Immigration, resulting in our "melting pot," facilitates this. Examples abound. People from around the world brought their food, their dances, their music, their inventions, their ethics, their styles, and yes, their genes. Can you imagine America without pizza, sweet soul music, football? Those things originated from somewhere else. Einstein and VonBraun were Germans. I.M.Pei was Chinese. Irving Berlin (who wrote "God Bless America") was Russian. John Muir and Andrew Carnegie were Scottish. The immigrant has been and always will be driven to succeed, to capitalize on his or her newfound freedom. Anyone who comes here to make their life chooses to do so and generally makes the most of it; the rest of us were born here and take it for granted. The conception of lazy immigrants content to live off public welfare may exist in some cases, but far more immigrants work hard to improve their lot than cash welfare checks and hang around the corner.
Finally, God shed His grace on America. We possess an abundance of natural resources, such as soil, climate, minerals, timber, and water, that makes ours one of the richest of all nations. Our country also features unparalleled beauty. Other countries possess incredible scenery of course, but we enjoy breathtaking natural scenery from coast to coast: the Maine Coast, Nantucket, the Smoky Mountains, the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Mississippi Delta, Miami Beach, the Michigan Upper Peninsula, the Texas Hill Country, the Rocky Mountains, the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, Sedona, the California Coast, the Olympic Mountains, Mount Rainier, Hawaii...these just scratch the surface of the wondrous places that all Americans enjoy as our birthright. Plus, we've got cable TV, Pirates of the Carribean movies, the NFL, the Underground Garage , barbecue, Blue Bell ice cream, Mila Kunis, the Daytona 500, crawfish boils, Family Guy, baseball (Japan and Cuba may have baseball but they copied us), David Sedaris, Mardi Gras, Tina Fey, Las Vegas, New Orleans, George Jones, the USC Song Girls, the Kilgore Rangerettes, and the drive-thru. Basically...we're cool.
And we can go to the moon. We can come back too. Suck on that, France!
Sure, the world is full of naysayers, with clever little jabs against us. I've addressed some of that already. Most of the criticism comes from three sources. First, there's the hard-left, European intelligentsia, arrogantly swilling cognac and smoking cigars in their salons and university clubs, bemoaning those naive, blundering Americans with their guns and their churches. When they're not sexually assaulting their hotel maids , violating UN resolutions and collaborating with Saddam Hussein, or losing elections they're moaning that the Americans are ruining everything. They're all on Sean Penn's holiday card list, of course. Next, basically the same people, but they're Americans. Mostly they live in New York, Hollywood, or Berkeley. These Blame-America-Firsters see nothing special about our country, and therefore reject its claims to greatness. They urge self-humiliation and capitulation on the world stage, extol the virtues of punitive taxation at home, and fight vigorously to suppress speech that disagrees with their world view. They ridicule the average American, who lacks a doctoral degree in some pseudo-discipline like "equality studies" or "sociology," lives somewhere lacking easy access to organic brie and fair trade produce, and watches, gasp, television. Such a tacky and illiterate society's institutions surely cannot be trusted. Finally, there's the dictators. Fidel, the Ayatollahs, the Red Chinese bosses, Hugo Chavez, Robert Mugabe, Moammar Gaddaffi (by the way, can that guy at least do us the courtesy of picking one way to spell his name and sticking with it?), whatever Kim Jong happens to be running North Korea...these guys don't care too much for the USA. How completely expected was it to find that the UN Human Rights Council, that beacon of world freedom, had put Libya on the council and issued a fawning report praising its human rights protections, even after it started mowing down innocent civilians from helicopters? But while these guys rail against America, their people come here as fast as they can. People all over the world are voting with their feet. They'd rather be here.
America's "greatness" alone doesn't by itself warrant patriotism or fidelity to your country becoming a "rule" by which to live your life. Sort of like how Manchester United is a great soccer team, but who cares?
By living here, you enter into a social contract with the nation. If you accept the benefits of living here, you should shoulder the burdens and should willingly and freely participate in its betterment. Or as Merle Haggard put it, "if you don't love it, leave it...if you're runnin' down my country man, you're walkin' on the fightin' side of me." Don't soak up all the rights and the fun, and then go over to England and talk down the country.
Yeah, its that simple.
What does "being true to your country" mean? Essentially that you become an engaged Citzen. This does not mean sleeping til noon, watching Gilligan's Island re-runs until 3, then ordering pizza and beer and playing Halo until 3 a.m. On Election Day. Support our institutions, laws and freedoms. That means you have to participate in the country's life. Vote. Serve on a jury when called. Volunteer. Obey the laws, even as you work to change the stupid ones or to enact new good ones. Read the news or watch it on TV. Honor those who serve, even if you disagree with some of their actions.
Being true to the country, doesn't mean blindly, sycophantically accepting ridiculous or near-criminal governmental actions. Unlike most countries, sovereignty here resides in the people, not the state. Whereas Louis XIV proclaimed "L'etat c'est moi" ("I am the state"), the people retain sovereignty here. Hence, we have a government "of the people, by the people, for the people." We owe no particular obligation to those whom we elect to follow their edicts. And because we possess the right to vote, we retain the ultimate supervisory responsibility over the government. The people must hold their government to account. We accomplish that by viewing its actions skeptically, demanding performance, looking beyond idiotic official slogans and often cynical rationalizations to ask whether its actions work.
This isn't so much of a problem. What is a problem is that we've developed utter contempt for public officeholders, which cripples their ability to compromise. After Watergate, umpteen thousand campaign finance and other "abuse of power" type scandals, and never-ceasing frat boy hijinks on company time ("Weiner-gate"), and in the age of personal life as politics, its easy to see why politicians rank so low in respect. To some extent, a healthy democracy requires skepticism of our public officials. But they're NOT all crooks. Nearly all officials want to do what they think is the right thing. They simply act in response to an often irrational system. I recall when President Johnson would address the nation on TV, my father, no great Johnson lover, would tell us kids to be quiet because the President of the United States was going to speak. Merely because of the great office the man held, ordinary Americans accorded the President respect. Some of the things people say about our presidents, governors, mayors, congress members, and judges are beyond hyperbole. Unfortunately, some people actually believe these epithets. Even more unfortunately, they're often the precinct chairs, block walkers, and campaign donors required to get elected. That means our officials have to bend to the ever more outlandish beliefs of their parties' extremes, and can hardly afford to be seen as "selling out" that side's beliefs. Want to draw a primary challenger? Agree with the "enemy" once you're elected. About anything. The resulting strategy for political survival? Don't agree to anything, and wait until your side gets the votes to ram everything through. Then you can make your supporters happy by voting for every ridiculous, short-sided, dumb ass idea that appeals to beered up crowds of angry G.E.D. holder activists on each side.
Hey people...American public officials are not Nazis, they are not fascists, they do not want to oppress and destroy, and they do not want to subvert the country. They aren't trying to destroy the poor, destroy the rich, or destroy you. Being true to the country demands respect for our leaders, even if you disagree with their leadership. Besides, if these people are so horrible, why don't YOU run for office and do things right.
OK, I'm tired of writing, so you're probably tired of reading. For those of you who made it this far, pat yourselves on the back. Go America!
Next-Respect
Our country is the best because we have a government of law, not of man. The law applies to everyone, high and low. Despite some people's best efforts (and you know who you are), we are not governed by some potentate with bad hair or a cabal of borderline senile 80 year olds issuing pronouncements from on high (like the Soviet Politburo or the Mormon Church). Huey Longs and Duval Counties may come and go, but on the rare occasions when they do occur, they don't last long. For that we can thank the federal courts and military and police forces that respond to the law rather than wayward executives. We have free elections and the losers willingly leave office without army divisions having to blast them out of the presidential palace. The law applies to everyone, high and low.
Of course, money and connections can improve your chances for beating the rap, just like everywhere else. But unlike most places, the prosecutors and judges don't worry about starting their car and having a bomb go off for going after the wrong people. Concededly, you also have a better chance of getting into Harvard if your dad or your great, great uncle Hezekiah (who led the Union cavalry with Teddy Roosevelt against the Spanish Army) went there. But ultimately even the rich and connected have to pay the piper, as a long list of the rich, famous and powerful who couldn't outrun the law will attest (Jeffrey Skilling, Bernie Madoff, Phil Spector, Wesley Snipes, Richard Nixon, Webster Hubbell...next up, John Edwards). And though your dad might wrangle certain advantages for you, eventually you have to sign your own work; eventually it doesn't matter who your dad was if you can't produce. At least we're not Mexico, where about 10 families own everything, or some other incredibly class-conscious and stratified nation like India.
As a result of strong, universally applicable laws that restrain government, we Americans enjoy unrivalled personal and economic freedoms. We were the first country to enshrine personal freedom for all (not just the earls and barons) in binding law. The law puts some subjects beyond the government's power to regulate and has thereby accorded all of us freedom from the mob. This freedom has spurred dynamic expression, creativity, and industry, which propelled America to incredible wealth and achievement. And while we need, and have, a certain amount of regulation to keep the flipper babies and nuclear meltdowns to a minimum, relatively light government control has allowed our strong American initiative and drive to flourish. Yet, at the same time, we balance our freedoms with our broader rights to security and safety. The very reason for society is to promote its members' well-being, so the first responsibility of a community is to protect its citizens' safety and stave off anarchy. Even with such restraints on police action as restrictions on searches and seizures, exclusionary rules, Miranda rights, and the like, most places in America are more or less safe. At least, they're more safe than most of the world. Say what you will about Detroit or Watts. They're not Juarez.
Here, you can be whatever you want to be. Mostly. That is, hard work, ingenuity, and resourcefulness is rewarded. Most of the people in the various "most wealthy" lists didn't start out that way. Mattress Mack came to Houston in a truck and with $20,000 to his name. He spent it all on furniture to sell out of a tent by the highway and on TV ads. Years later, he's one of Houston's leading citizens. Most of the fabulously wealthy people in our country started out dirt poor. Here, you don't need to be content with your "station." You can change it. Anyone with a great idea can, for the most part, just go out and do it. Mostly its without government help. Remember the government research program that led to the airplane, the light bulb, the telephone, the skyscraper, or rock and roll? No? That's because it didn't happen. Someone just thought these things up and did them, reaping the rewards in the process. Sure, we have poverty, no question. But being poor here is a whole lot better than being poor in most places. Those people living on trash heaps outside Mexico City would change places with our poor in a heartbeat. Without becoming socialists, we've enacted basic safety net programs that address this, and with access to training and jobs (through public education and a free market economy), permanent poverty is contained.
As for the race issue, and the broader "discrimination" issue, problems of course continue to exist. The racial question has plagued our country since we declared that "all men are created equal" at the same time we were enslaving an entire race (and equating women with children). But we are not the people of 230 years ago who did that, or of 150 years ago who went to war over slavery. We have completely eliminated racism from our laws and governmental actions. Anyone who thinks to the contrary is free to have a federal court examine the matter and invalidate any such law or action. Other than possible differences in the child support and family law arena, we have outlawed sex-based discrimination, with federal court enforcement. The Constitution protects the free exercise of religion (except apparently it doesn't let old Mormon men have 15 child wives at a time, go figure). Cultures change more slowly than laws, but 2011 is not 1931, or even 1963. People of different races mix freely, marry one another, sit down together, worship together, share the same public facilities, work in the same jobs, and find themselves together in every walk of life. Much remains to be done. The whole reason we've faced newer types of racial and ethnic challenges is so many people representing such a vast array of races, religions, cultures and beliefs who share our basic values came here to advance themselves, the same way people have for ages (sorry natives). I'm sure Norway doesn't have much of a race problem. On the other hand, lots of other countries with only two races have tremendous race problems. Muslim immigration into the UK and Europe is causing extremely bitter difficulty in some ways reminiscent of our experiences in the early 20th century. Nations throughout Asia and the Pacific Rim historically treat the Chinese as second class citizens. The entire world has treated Jews with bitter discrimination and hatred for thousands of years. Arab and Iranian Muslim governments haven't exactly thrown out the welcome mat for non-Muslims. So the race problem remains, but no one should dismiss the United States as a result.
Because we enshrine in law the ethic of equal participation (though the vote) in government, our government historically has enjoyed an extremely high sense of faith and confidence, which in turn afforded us the benefit of stable government. We enjoy government of the people, by the people, and for the people. We don't have to endure chaos as with Italy's ever-collapsing coalition governments, or the suppression necessary to sustain a family that rules the country from generation to generation. Nor do we have to post federal marshals at every voting booth to make sure the incumbents don't steal the election, or rely on trustworthy colonels to lead their divisions against the capitol when the loser refuses to vacate office. Yet, because we have a republic, the inmates don't run the asylum. Public officials can make unpopular but necessary decisions and still have a relatively decent chance of keeping their jobs at the next election. Do you want the same people who make American Idol the most popular show in America to be handling the intricacies of running state and federal government? If you think direct democracy is a great thing, check out California. There the government must work around the fact that propositions have roped off a great swath of subjects from their ability to legislate. The schools are destitute, crime is rampant, infrastructure is crumbling, and brown outs are an annual summer exercise. Short-sighted, contradictory and unworkable propositions appealing to the popular whims of the moment, coupled with super-majority voting requirements, have reduced the Legislature to virtual powerlessness.
Our openness to new people, new ways, new challenges, and new cultures strengthens us. Sorry fellow Republicans. Just like the Borg, who became the baddest beings in the universe because they've assimilated so many diverse cultures, the fact that we draw the best from all the world's civilizations has made us strong. Did I just compare us to the Borg? Oh well, no one will get that. Immigration, resulting in our "melting pot," facilitates this. Examples abound. People from around the world brought their food, their dances, their music, their inventions, their ethics, their styles, and yes, their genes. Can you imagine America without pizza, sweet soul music, football? Those things originated from somewhere else. Einstein and VonBraun were Germans. I.M.Pei was Chinese. Irving Berlin (who wrote "God Bless America") was Russian. John Muir and Andrew Carnegie were Scottish. The immigrant has been and always will be driven to succeed, to capitalize on his or her newfound freedom. Anyone who comes here to make their life chooses to do so and generally makes the most of it; the rest of us were born here and take it for granted. The conception of lazy immigrants content to live off public welfare may exist in some cases, but far more immigrants work hard to improve their lot than cash welfare checks and hang around the corner.
Finally, God shed His grace on America. We possess an abundance of natural resources, such as soil, climate, minerals, timber, and water, that makes ours one of the richest of all nations. Our country also features unparalleled beauty. Other countries possess incredible scenery of course, but we enjoy breathtaking natural scenery from coast to coast: the Maine Coast, Nantucket, the Smoky Mountains, the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Mississippi Delta, Miami Beach, the Michigan Upper Peninsula, the Texas Hill Country, the Rocky Mountains, the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, Sedona, the California Coast, the Olympic Mountains, Mount Rainier, Hawaii...these just scratch the surface of the wondrous places that all Americans enjoy as our birthright. Plus, we've got cable TV, Pirates of the Carribean movies, the NFL, the Underground Garage , barbecue, Blue Bell ice cream, Mila Kunis, the Daytona 500, crawfish boils, Family Guy, baseball (Japan and Cuba may have baseball but they copied us), David Sedaris, Mardi Gras, Tina Fey, Las Vegas, New Orleans, George Jones, the USC Song Girls, the Kilgore Rangerettes, and the drive-thru. Basically...we're cool.
And we can go to the moon. We can come back too. Suck on that, France!
Sure, the world is full of naysayers, with clever little jabs against us. I've addressed some of that already. Most of the criticism comes from three sources. First, there's the hard-left, European intelligentsia, arrogantly swilling cognac and smoking cigars in their salons and university clubs, bemoaning those naive, blundering Americans with their guns and their churches. When they're not sexually assaulting their hotel maids , violating UN resolutions and collaborating with Saddam Hussein, or losing elections they're moaning that the Americans are ruining everything. They're all on Sean Penn's holiday card list, of course. Next, basically the same people, but they're Americans. Mostly they live in New York, Hollywood, or Berkeley. These Blame-America-Firsters see nothing special about our country, and therefore reject its claims to greatness. They urge self-humiliation and capitulation on the world stage, extol the virtues of punitive taxation at home, and fight vigorously to suppress speech that disagrees with their world view. They ridicule the average American, who lacks a doctoral degree in some pseudo-discipline like "equality studies" or "sociology," lives somewhere lacking easy access to organic brie and fair trade produce, and watches, gasp, television. Such a tacky and illiterate society's institutions surely cannot be trusted. Finally, there's the dictators. Fidel, the Ayatollahs, the Red Chinese bosses, Hugo Chavez, Robert Mugabe, Moammar Gaddaffi (by the way, can that guy at least do us the courtesy of picking one way to spell his name and sticking with it?), whatever Kim Jong happens to be running North Korea...these guys don't care too much for the USA. How completely expected was it to find that the UN Human Rights Council, that beacon of world freedom, had put Libya on the council and issued a fawning report praising its human rights protections, even after it started mowing down innocent civilians from helicopters? But while these guys rail against America, their people come here as fast as they can. People all over the world are voting with their feet. They'd rather be here.
America's "greatness" alone doesn't by itself warrant patriotism or fidelity to your country becoming a "rule" by which to live your life. Sort of like how Manchester United is a great soccer team, but who cares?
By living here, you enter into a social contract with the nation. If you accept the benefits of living here, you should shoulder the burdens and should willingly and freely participate in its betterment. Or as Merle Haggard put it, "if you don't love it, leave it...if you're runnin' down my country man, you're walkin' on the fightin' side of me." Don't soak up all the rights and the fun, and then go over to England and talk down the country.
Yeah, its that simple.
What does "being true to your country" mean? Essentially that you become an engaged Citzen. This does not mean sleeping til noon, watching Gilligan's Island re-runs until 3, then ordering pizza and beer and playing Halo until 3 a.m. On Election Day. Support our institutions, laws and freedoms. That means you have to participate in the country's life. Vote. Serve on a jury when called. Volunteer. Obey the laws, even as you work to change the stupid ones or to enact new good ones. Read the news or watch it on TV. Honor those who serve, even if you disagree with some of their actions.
Being true to the country, doesn't mean blindly, sycophantically accepting ridiculous or near-criminal governmental actions. Unlike most countries, sovereignty here resides in the people, not the state. Whereas Louis XIV proclaimed "L'etat c'est moi" ("I am the state"), the people retain sovereignty here. Hence, we have a government "of the people, by the people, for the people." We owe no particular obligation to those whom we elect to follow their edicts. And because we possess the right to vote, we retain the ultimate supervisory responsibility over the government. The people must hold their government to account. We accomplish that by viewing its actions skeptically, demanding performance, looking beyond idiotic official slogans and often cynical rationalizations to ask whether its actions work.
This isn't so much of a problem. What is a problem is that we've developed utter contempt for public officeholders, which cripples their ability to compromise. After Watergate, umpteen thousand campaign finance and other "abuse of power" type scandals, and never-ceasing frat boy hijinks on company time ("Weiner-gate"), and in the age of personal life as politics, its easy to see why politicians rank so low in respect. To some extent, a healthy democracy requires skepticism of our public officials. But they're NOT all crooks. Nearly all officials want to do what they think is the right thing. They simply act in response to an often irrational system. I recall when President Johnson would address the nation on TV, my father, no great Johnson lover, would tell us kids to be quiet because the President of the United States was going to speak. Merely because of the great office the man held, ordinary Americans accorded the President respect. Some of the things people say about our presidents, governors, mayors, congress members, and judges are beyond hyperbole. Unfortunately, some people actually believe these epithets. Even more unfortunately, they're often the precinct chairs, block walkers, and campaign donors required to get elected. That means our officials have to bend to the ever more outlandish beliefs of their parties' extremes, and can hardly afford to be seen as "selling out" that side's beliefs. Want to draw a primary challenger? Agree with the "enemy" once you're elected. About anything. The resulting strategy for political survival? Don't agree to anything, and wait until your side gets the votes to ram everything through. Then you can make your supporters happy by voting for every ridiculous, short-sided, dumb ass idea that appeals to beered up crowds of angry G.E.D. holder activists on each side.
Hey people...American public officials are not Nazis, they are not fascists, they do not want to oppress and destroy, and they do not want to subvert the country. They aren't trying to destroy the poor, destroy the rich, or destroy you. Being true to the country demands respect for our leaders, even if you disagree with their leadership. Besides, if these people are so horrible, why don't YOU run for office and do things right.
OK, I'm tired of writing, so you're probably tired of reading. For those of you who made it this far, pat yourselves on the back. Go America!
Next-Respect
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