Letters to the Editor
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Shining City
From its earliest days, the architects of what became the United States believed that it should be “A shining city on a hill,” as far back as John Winthrop's famous in 1630, who called for the colonies to be a virtuous community that would be a shining example to the Old World – or Thomas Jefferson. The rest of the world may from time to time find the idea of the United States as a beacon of democracy, principle and the rule of law mawkish and vain – but it also takes it seriously. France for example saw the United States as a special place, from the 1700s through to the 1950s. It was this that led , Édouard de Laboulaye and Frédéric Bartholdi to build the statue of liberty and gift it to the United States in 1876.
And it is in part because the United States portrays itself as a better country, and because people believed it, that there is such antipathy to the United States in the world today. People feel betrayed, cheated and at the same time patronized by a US media that seeks again and again to portray the US as the good-guys, the straight shooters, the ones who believe in civil rights, when the reality is increasingly tawdry and contrary. (The same thing applies to Israel by the way, having sold itself as a new country, one of rights and democracy, decency and Kibutzs, discovering the truth of how Palestinians are treated causes opinions to sink fast.)
Part of the problem is the US’ self-image. The American is the honest man, the United States behaves well – no one in the US really seems to believe that Abu Ghraib happened, that if reflects a broad problem. The other problem is that Americans are gaining a worldwide reputation for incredibly arrogant ignorance – for bellowing in English at the “natives” patronisingly believing that if you talk loudly and slowly people will understand (my wife had colleagues in Virginia explain this technique to her once.)
I read the recent posting of Realname (who by the way can only be characterised as a total Gobshite) in which he suggests that unpopularity does not matter. Is he nuts? The US is massively in debt to the rest of the world; it is dependent in many respects on China, Europe, Asia, etc. Moreover, the way the US does things is not automatically better – the French healthcare system for example is facially better than the US; other countries not have better education systems.
I honestly do not know how the US will begin to repair the damage that Bush and Cheney have done. The mess that is Iraq will not go away – if the US stays it will be a running sore – if the US leaves, a bloodbath. In Israel/Palestine the Israeli government has over the last decade, with the active encouragement of the Neocons systematically pissed away every opportunity to achieve at least a modus vivendi with the Palestinians. The US fiscal situation is so irretrievably in the “shitter” thanks to Bush that it seems hard to see how any new administration can fix it.
The shear horror of all of this mess is only exacerbated by the nitwits and gobshites who seem to be in a perpetual mode of deny, deny, deny. That if like a child they stick their fingers in their ears and go NaNaNaNa everything will be alright – and you know it won’t. And by the way, I may not be that rich, or that successful, but by most peoples standards I am, and still, I am a pessimist when I look at what the Republicans hath wrought. If I had done half the crap Bush and Cheney pulled off, or been a Bush/Cheney backer I’d break out the whiskey and spend an evening clumsily cleaning my loaded gun.
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Imperfect Pitch
George W. Bush embodies the prerogatives of an entitled American prince and the Ugly American persona of a rural county commissioner.
With his adjustment of the Libby verdict to remove any jail time, he shows rank favoritism for his friends, people in his circle.
With the suggestion that he will pardon Libby in full (whom did he pardon as governor of Texas?), he shows determination to protect his court, his courtiers, and its secrets at all cost, especially ones having to do with the dubious origins of the war in Iraq.
George W. Bush is no Henry V, but he is the first president in history (or at least in our lifetime) to so vividly show the manners of an American king.
The world sees this, and this perception is surely different from what American leaders and diplomats, including various worthies, were able to cultivate before, especially in high times of crisis such as now.
The recent in-your-face attitude toward the world, the disrespect for the decent opinion of mankind - from global warming to the grumping about "old" Europe to the sudden idea that the Geneva Conventions are "quaint" - shows how truly reactionary American nationalism can be.
The world now sees that, when all else fails, we'll reach for the shotgun over the mantle to win our argument before we call a town meeting to hear every side.
Shrillness replaces softness in the voice and the big stick is bigger than ever.
And the idea that Bush is the rope-twirling, Texas twanging emblem of a range-riding good guy, who likes nothing better than to drop in to the country cafe for a cup of black joe and chew the fat with the "regulars" is really rich.
The world is not seeing enlightened American small "d" democratic leadership these days, and we need to find it again - soon.
We're not perfect. The American experience is an experiment after all, and a good one too.
But balance is now the order of the day, as in checks and balance.
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Something's missing from this debate
I found Glenn's defense of his position today more convincing than I thought I would, but there's an important element of perception that's not being discussed: relativity. People in Sweden, the Netherlands, England, Canada, and other nations can look at their own governments and see that they're more progressive on the environment, on gay rights, on healthcare, on ensuring a minimum standard of living for their citizens, than we are here in the U.S. The war in Iraq and/or the "war on terrorism" isn't the only issue here. America under Bush has become a bully not just in terms of violence, conquest and imperialism but also in reaching a new level of ridiculous right-wing ideology mixed with corporation-worship that we're forcing down the throats of the rest of the world. Not letting AIDS programs in Africa distribute or mention condoms, for example. Keeping gays out of our military, something our allies no longer do. Rejecting Kyoto and taking no immediate measures to combat global warming on a national scale. Some of these tendencies predated Bush, but he and his henchmen have been ruthless about promoting their backward views in ways that disappoint people both abroad and in this country who want to look to America as a role model in the world.