American Exceptionalism Reviewed
The problem in all of this is that most Americans - and I'm one of them, at times - are still prey to the myth that our magical "American-ness" will protect us from the economic fallout of bad planning, resource shortages, and miserable fiscal policies. Indeed, how many times have you heard - or you yourself said - "We'll find a way to make it through, we always have."
There are a few problems with that thinking. First off, it begs the question as to what "make it through" really means. Does it mean bare survival, or does it (more likely) mean our quality of life will remain largely unaffected? If most Americans think their quality of life is completely isolated from reality, well, I have some news for them.
Secondly, we have to ask what it is about America that enables us to "make it through." Is it the very fact that we inhabit this continent? Is that our greatest asset? If you think so, I urge you to ask the Cherokee or the Sioux what benefits that habitation conferred upon them. If that doesn't quite convince you, go ask the millions of Africans who were brought here what benefits the Atlantic passage conferred.
So it must be something about the way we structure our society, our laws, and our government that has enabled us to succeed for so long, even in the face of great adversity. But here's where we run into real problems: over the past seventy (or so) years, we've set out to dismantle those structures. Federalism, on its last legs anyway, no longer has a credible defender among the two political parties. Capitalism has given way to the twin "c-words" of 'consumerism' and 'compassion'. The rights of the people are chipped away in the name of security. Looming in the background of all is a moral decay obvious to any disinterested observer.
I am not saying we are a lost cause. I wouldn't be writing any of this if I thought that. I'm just suggesting that the next time someone says "we're Americans, we'll get through," you respond with "how?"
posted by Joshua @ 4:24 PM
8 Comments:
The collective 'we' is bound to survive.
Any liviing thing will do anything it can to cling to survival. Wheather that means simply being alive or living at the level we now enjoy. Some percentage of any given population nearly always manages to survive any disaster.
So 'we' will survive. However, a great many of you and me's will not.
As for who exactly would get through it, whatever 'it' is, would depend a lot on the type of disaster.
First of all, I’m not sure entirely what it is you’re referring to us ‘making it through.’ Economic hardships? Foreign threats? Natural disasters? All of which, by the way, I feel we, collecticely, could ‘make it through.’ There are two reasons for this, and I’d wager a lot of other people share this reasoning
1. We always have. US history classes go on at length about American perserverance through war, through the Great Depression, through the arduous process of immigrating to this country while dirt poor. I mean, we’ve been through a great deal in our short history, and we’re the richest country in the world. Who knows how long that will last, but it does give the citizens a feeling of invincibility.
2. That thing called “The American Dream,” which is scoffed at and often unrealistic, but still does pervade our core beliefs as Americans. Even the greatest cynics do, to some degree, feel that they have the ability to lead a life that is better, and more prosperous, than our parents. There was a great Slate article awhile back that compared the four versions of The Office out there, and how they reflected the workpace environments of their respective countries (UK, US, France, and Germany). While the worker drones in the UK version had lost all hope that they were ever going to get out of the paper business, the American version is slightly more upbeat – no matter how dull and soul-sucking their jobs, there’s always that feeling that a better job will come along if they keep their eyes out for it. The French version of The Office, by the way, had a running joke that the only person who was shown to be working hard was the North African janitor. Socratic, I’m sure, will get a kick out of that.
When people think of us ‘making it through,’ it has to do with ideals, not with the intracacies of how our government works. To be honest, while our economic and governmental policies do affect our daily lives, its not something most people think about regularly – they know when work is steady and real estate is cheap, and they know when it’s not. Anyway, that’s my two cents.
In short, my disagreements:
You: "We always have... I mean, we’ve been through a great deal in our short history, and we’re the richest country in the world. Who knows how long that will last, but it does give the citizens a feeling of invincibility."
Me: Are you saying that a 'feeling of invincibility' is a positive sign? That feeling is precisely the sentiment driving the nation into debt: the idea that there are no longer any consequences to our behavior, because we are the invincible Americans!
I also think the American Dream has mutated from "if I work hard and act wisely, I am free to obtain my goals," to "as an American, I have the right to nice things." This is an enormous difference.
You: "When people think of us ‘making it through,’ it has to do with ideals, not with the intracacies of how our government works. To be honest, while our economic and governmental policies do affect our daily lives, it's not something most people think about regularly – they know when work is steady and real estate is cheap, and they know when it’s not."
Me: What, then, is the point of having a Republic? This is my essential concern. If people - including some otherwise well-informed people - wish to remain ignorant about the supposedly arcane functioning of the government, that's fine. The people in charge are more than willing to keep it hidden from them!
But by the same token, let's not get all misty-eyed about 'freedom,' then: there are a fair number of countries around the world which have perfectly suitable economies and a high standard of living, where one can do economically better than one's parents, free or not. If America is/was just about having a nice job and being able to by a house, well, America's not so special.
What makes (or made, you decide) America special was precisely that our ideals were of a political character. That's what enabled us to weather the great storms - the recognition that liberty was difficult, but worth the fight.
As we as a people have progressively disengaged from our polity, and so become less free, it becomes less apparent what we would fight for. We would fight to the death to keep a 9-5 job? To keep a 50-minute commute through suburban sprawl? To keep mortgage payments?
And that's what I'm saying here. Not "in the next five years, something really bad will happen, and we're all going to die." I'm saying that, in outsourcing our governance to professionals, we have lost the very reasons why we'd want to respond to a crisis in the first place.
"And that's what I'm saying here. Not "in the next five years, something really bad will happen, and we're all going to die." I'm saying that, in outsourcing our governance to professionals, we have lost the very reasons why we'd want to respond to a crisis in the first place."
Why didn't you just say so then?
I feel that a huge part of the problem these days is that people take their lives as they are now for granted.
If something comes along to disrupt it they'll ignore it as long as they can and then when they can't anymore they'll spend more time figuring out who to blame then trying to fix it.
Also while telling yourself that you'll get through it is necessary to stay hopeful there comes a time when you have to at least entertain the possibilty that you won't.
In order to get through any hardship you have to take the necessary steps.
It's just plain moronic to tell yourself you'll be fine like you always have and go about things as nothing is different.
Even if the crisis is something as small and trival as a cold you have to
change your habits. If you just say,
"I'll get through it just like I have the last seventy years." Then go out to shovel snow all day in a rain coat you can't reasonably expect to get over the cold.
In all fairness, I wasn't saying that either of my points were positive things or even true. I was just answering a question: You had asked what it was that MADE US THINK that we would 'make it through.' I think those things are in the minds of Americans, which is why we cling to the idea of us having the plucky 'can-do' spirit that we don't actually show in our actions.
Personal view: I do think a lot of Americans these days are spoiled and lazy, and don't want to have to alter their habits for the greater good - see Gas, Price of and relationship to carpooling.
View of Americans: When the workings of government and the world start affecting them noticeably on a day-to-day basis, that's when they'll start caring about the way their government works. Until then, we're basically a self-centered lot, and as long as it doesn't affect us, it's not interesting.
I see now that my post was far too vague. I apologize for any confusion.
However, a far more cogent discussion of the matter can be found here.
"Where you gonna be when it goes down?
Huh? Huh? You know the deal. Don't say you don't! You....know...the deal!
Republic!"
Seriously dude, why didn't you just write that to start with? Would have gotten better answers.
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