Thursday, November 18, 2010

Americans: Not Right, Not Left-- "Just People"

It strikes me that the United States  has become a more and more desperate place for too many  people. We occasionally get some good news---such as the recent reports that things are looking up for General Motors and that the Obama Administration plan to bail out GM and Chrysler has at least put the former automaker back into selling stock.  This flies in the face of conservative ideology that all government  interference in the marketplace only hurts the "dynamic" market.

 But it looks at this point like the bailouts of investment banks and auto companies kept a very bad recession from being much worse--a depression that we haven't seen in seventy years. Still , the unemployment rate is too high and too many Americans are hurting to keep their house, to just find a paying job, to keep payments on a car, or to save some money for their kids' education so they don't have to fight for the Army or Marines in a far-off country just to go to college. 

But ultra-conservatism isn't the only problem Americans face. Part of the problem is a general cynicism--the idea that we cannot recover as a nation or as a people, that we are doomed to economic and political destruction in the near future. 

Or that we are just too fat or too ignorant or too violent or too greedy or too provincial or whatever. The truth is not to be found in Sarah Palin's "tea party" view of The United States, where buzzwords like "freedom" and "liberty" hide the tough choices we face in the coming decade.  

Nor can I say it will be found in the dark humor of television wags  like Bill Maher and the continual downbeat pronouncements of documentary film-maker Michael Moore.  Yes, these guys are onto something more than the Palins and the Newt Gingrichs and Bill O'Reillys of this media circus.

But mockery is not a plan for the future. And at the end of the day these people who make millions telling us how dysfunctional we are can fly of to another country and leave the rest of us to face the problems they made sport of.

    The United States isn't all a land of yahoos nor is it alone in having an unjust society that is in constant need of being monitored. We are five or six percent of the population of the planet.   We have the blood of the races and ethnicity of the world here. We have men and women who have done great things for freedom or science or in the arts. We have had good leaders and scoundrels. We as a nation have showed the world a way to a better life through our Constitution and our helping to defeat  fascism and stave off Stalinism in Europe.  And we have at the same time also failed to live up to our own ideals here and to innocent people who have suffered abroad for the folly of our nationalistic hubris. 

We've done all that. 

 

We are just people.     

26 comments:

  1. Very nice essay, Doug. We do live in a world where it has to be either/or and internal conflict is a sign of weakness, not complexity or intellectual process. Thanks for this!

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  2. Isn't it interesting that people see things different. Bill Maher smoked one too many left handed cigarettes when he was young. He is an atheist. thinks people should b e put to sleep when they are old. I wonder if he realizes he is old. And Michael Moore is a hypocrite, Super size me and he should have been the star. Or is it do as I say , not do as i do?I wonder why people keep saying Palin is what? explain that one. Bill O'Reilly is not right or left. He is a commentator and asked the same hard questions when Bush was in. Newt is a wannabe, but he should have thought of that back in the 90s when he attacked Clinton for doing what Newt himself was doing. No one mentions the farce we call news reporters, now all we will hear i the "royal ' couple. well better than bashing Young Bristol. or the fake reality shows.

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  3. Thank you Shedrick. You summed up just what I was trying to get at!

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  4. I think there comes a time to take a step back from that the pundits--all the pundits-- are selling us, and look inward and use our own common sense. We might not agree on all things, be we don't need heroes in the media, we need clear thinking.

    Thanks for your comments. You really covered a lot of ground there. :-)

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  5. i do not believe much of what any so called journalist prints. The pundits i take with a grain of salt. Jay Leno is apt to be more on with our reality than anyone and that is sad.The new blogging people hidden behind anonymity usually are paid to encourage divisiveness, That angry people take as truth and you are right, it should be we the people not we the right or we the left.

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  6. No, he doesn't, Tess - and you'd know this if you paid attention....

    Plus you say 'atheist' like it's a bad thing. It's not.

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  7. No, we're not all a land of yahoos - there are a few of us who Stayed Awake in Class and who have the brainpower to connect the dots. We are, however, a minority - the last election should be proof enough of that.

    While we have great people and scoundrels, Jefferson himself warned that the experiment of democracy was dependent upon rational, thinking people.

    If the entire nation - or enough of it - wants to go off-the-rails, then there's nothing the rest of us can do but go along with the ride.

    We still have the vote - and not enough people are interested sufficiently in exercising it to make a difference.

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  8. I agree there's is a lot of superficiality that drives too many people in voting, Will. I get frustrated to see all this ping-pong in our electorate. Too many people want fast fixes, or they want to be flattered into voting for someone, or watching or reading someone who tells people with closed minds what they want to hear. We can't affford that anymore.

    I think that's part of what Jefferson was getting at---letting emotions interfere with our capacity for reason. We are a unique country, but in the end not so "exceptional" that we can't learn from other nations--we are in the end the sum of the ideas gleamed from abroad.

    If a majority of ordinary people chose otherwise--go with "what feels right in the gut, as GW Bush did, and too many people who are informed don't bother to vote, yes, its going to be a bumpy ride..

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  9. Indeed it is, Shedrick. There are stupid and ignorant people in this country, reflected in the mid-term election. But I think it's a grand idea to stop beating ourselves over the heads about it, and do what we can to educate them, and those of us who are not stupid or ignorant, to make our voices heard.

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  10. This a comedy, right? Or are you smoking as you write this nonsense? What does an Atheist have to do with anything?

    When one writes lies about someone, it's legally libel. Bill Maher thinks people should be put to sleep when they're old? Show me the evidence of that.

    Palin is WHAT? Bill O'Reilly is so right he tilts. Everyone knows that, and it's why the right wing like him so much. Where on earth have you been to say such silly things?

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  11. Sorry, Doug, this is your blog, and a good one. But all that 'ground' covered was un-tilled.

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  12. Shoot. Talk about "divisiveness"~~

    "The new blogging people hidden behind anonymity usually are paid to encourage divisiveness"

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  13. I'd say that not enough people are sufficiently educated, informed, or rational. And as you said, we're in the minority as the mid-term election proved.

    http://astranavigo08.multiply.com/journal/item/495/The_Average_American_Is_A_Moron_-_Some_Fun_For_A_Thursday....?replies_read=20

    Link to your blog that I think is representative of the 'average' American.

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  14. I'm sincerely interested if you think not voting was a large factor in the election? Or was it the millions and millions of dollars that funded candidates?

    Having said that, I also wonder if all the money/power at the top has gained so much control it's too late to get it back? I suspect this is true, and I hope I'm wrong.

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  15. That is sad if one believes it. There are truthful, credible journalists. We need to use our heads to perceive who is lying, and who is not. We need to take responsibility for being well informed. I wouldn't even consider Jay Leno as a 'serious' source.

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  16. I believe and this is demonstable, Sigurd, that there is far too much money in politics.

    I also believe, and this is personal anecdotes, that there are too many of my friends and acquaintances who are too cynical to vote. I know of studies that say vorer turnout doesn't matter. I can only say many people of intelligence I know are turned off by the system, and that upsets me.

    I don't know if the vast differences in income we have here are too far along to prevent progressive change. I think the wealthy are not all of one mind on developments in government. Also, you don't get to vote twice if you're a millionaire, which gives some measure of hope.

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  17. I can't even watch Jay Leno --he's not even that funny anymore-- much less consider him a source of anything more than an example of mediocre actor and lounge comic, grasping for ratings.

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  18. This I find to be so true as well Tee. However Doug seems to be able to write something that really is observant for Douglas is a very real person that I am amazed that some of his writings are not published as it far surpasses some of the news that I read within the online newspapers and as well with the paper I read here locally - I really kid you not.

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  19. This is a blog that does have worth Crabs, good morning to you.

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  20. Good morning to you as well. I have found most of Doug's blogs worthy of reading. When I grow up I hope to write as well as he does

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  21. I agree with you Jack that its important to seek out the individual, not the political party per se. He or she has to have grit and determination, but also an innate humility. These are not easy qualities to find in someone driven to excel to the highest corridors of power. Truman is an excellent model to me.

    And, yes, the idea that a President or a Prime Minister has to "entertain" us is a toxic notion. Too many people want to see a leader as a king who happens to be elected, then will let us down when he cannot quickly solve the national problems.
    Others use him as a punching bag and try to set up a defeat for him. The truth is we have one leader at a time, and if he (or later she) fails, we cannot go back in time and relive the period we lost because some would rather play a game than build a nation's future.

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  22. Nice of you to say that Fred. It's also ironic. When I grow up I want to be smarter, have arms like tree trunks and know all about European beer.

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