Have you ever heard anyone you know talk about how things have "changed so much in this Country"? I have heard many people talk about their perception that American Values are being lost to the numerous changes that the Country is undergoing. I find that concept a curious one, since the United States that I live in has NEVER been all that great. I wonder what wonderful American Values I have been missing out on?
There is an interesting, if not shameful, mythology built up around the History of the United States of America. There are songs, speeches, mottos, and jingoisms that proclaim the Superiority, "Freedom," and "Liberty" that the United States represents in the World. It is frequently billed, at least by American Media, Government, and Business, as the "most Democratic and Free Nation in the World." Such claims always make jaded and Doubting Assholes like myself cringe, however.
On top of the obvious and clear
Elitism that such statements represent, there is the question of whether or not such claims even approach
Reality. Is the United States the "Freest Nation in the World"?
Apparently, there may be some actual debate as to whether or not the United States is actually the "Freest Nation on Earth." Even though it is hard to find anyone inside the United States willing to publicly suggest that other Countries may actually be freer than this one, it would seem that such people [aside from myself] actually DO exist.
There is a commonly used term for people who do not fully buy into the idea that America is not the "Greatest and Freest Nation Ever":
Terrorists. The
Newscorp giant
Fox News has made this idea into an ongoing Industry.
American Exceptionalism is the CORE of
Fox News programming. Without the idea that
God has Ordained the existence and dominance of the United States,
Fox News would be nothing but . . . well . . . a very poorly produced stream of lies.
What troubles me most about the mythology of America the Great is the fact that it is a statement made outside of any objective criteria. Even though there are those who try to quantify "Freedom," there is really no scientifically and time tested method of determining how "Free" a Country actually is. Since the word "Freedom" means very different things to different people, it would seem unlikely that there ever could be a standard on which to base any comparisons.
In many respects, belief in
American Exceptionalism is a lot like belief in
Bigfoot. You can either disbelieve completely because no one has conclusively proven it to be real, or accept the grainy photos and lack of scientific evidence as only proof that there is a lack of will to find it. Since our Media is very adept at making Money via such uncertainties - as the abundance of shows and movies about both
American Exceptionalism AND
Bigfoot might show - it is hard to get anyone to do any actual
Empirical Research on either subject.
Yet, the belief persists among many in the United States that things were somehow better in the past. The losses of "Freedoms" or "Liberties" mentioned in the Link above could actually have been noted, in one form or another, at any period in our History where similar or Parallel Circumstances or Technologies existed. Phone Taps have been done without Court Orders ever since Phones have existed, and people have been subject to unannounced and broad search and detainment for as long as the United States has existed. The difference now is that we have, in ever advancing Technologies, better ways of distributing information about such abuses without the assistance of the Mainstream Media.
So, while many in the Cold War Middle Class Anglo Neighborhoods of the Midwest have always thought their communities different from Urban Inner City Neighborhoods of Color, those differences may not have been so great as imagined. Murder, Rape, Theft, and all other manner of Criminal Activity takes place everywhere on Earth. In the United States, some communities have had the attention of the Media on their Crime for decades, while other communities have not.
When a couple of Mentally Ill youngsters killed a large number of High School Students at an affluent suburban High School in Colorado, suddenly there was
Media Attention. It is not that Crime never existed in
Columbine before the two Mentally Ill youngsters committed Mass Murder, it is just that the Media did not take an interest in reporting on Crime in
Columbine before that point. Hence, the idea that
Crime happens in places like Columbine, ridiculously and perversely shocked the Nation and the World.
You may not wish to pay to read the full Article, but that is not a problem. The fact that someone in the Academic Community perceived that there could be a difference between levels of, and the nature of, Crimes in "Nonmetropolitan" Areas [read in the word "Urban" here], should be enough to let one know that perceptions of about this subject may vary. [I know, long sentence!] But what does this have to do with American Exceptionalism?
Well, for one thing, it highlights the way that perceptions about the Nature of Life inside the United States can vary. For many people living in areas of the United States where a large number of Crimes have statistically been noted to happen more frequently, people may perceive themselves to be less safe. As a result, those people may have perceptions and ideas about Freedom in the United States that may be slightly less than optimistic that those who live in heavily protected and affluent Gated Communities, where Crime may happen less often. If that is the case, then the perceptions of different Communities may very well have varied throughout American History. People in the poorest of Communities did not often determine what went into our History Books, however. Those kinds of decisions were generally left to those in seats of power and authority.
If the Occupy Wall Street Movement has done anything useful at all, it is to highlight that there is clearly a vast difference in the way different Groups of People in the United States are experiencing Life here.
For the Richest People in this Nation, Life is going fairly well. For the Middle Class and Poor, it may not going so well.
Has there really ever been a point in American History where the majority of Citizens lived a comfortable and contented Lifestyle?
Up until about the start of the 20th Century, the overwhelming majority of people in the United States were involved in the Business of Agriculture in one manner or another - most either had extremely small Subsistence Farms, or worked as Laborers on the Farms of others. Most lived had incomes that would likely be considered "Below Poverty Level" by current standards, and extremely few people actually lived with what might be considered "Creature Comforts."
It was only after the end of the Second World War that the
Middle Class in the United States grew notably, and many saw previously unheard of improvements in their
standard of living. It was actually at
this point that the idea of the
American Dream became a
limited Reality for some.
Incomes have not continued to grow, however.
Real Personal Incomes have actually decreased, and most families can no longer survive without
Multiple Incomes in a single
Household.
So, as we look back at History, we see that for most, Life has not been all that
peachy in the United States. As the concept of "Free Speech" was recently equated to Money by the
Supreme Court's Citizens United Decision, it could be argued that the average person in the United States has less "Free Speech" than ever, because they have less
Economic Power to work with.
As for actual
Civil Rights, with the realization of the
Patriot Act and other Laws which have expanded the Power of the State, and diminished the Rights of Individuals, it would really be hard to argue that we have more
Civil Rights than ever.
I would hope that no one would argue that the
Pre-Civil-War United States was a land of fantastic
Liberties. Until 1865, and the end of Slavery in the United States, people could still be held as Indentured Servants, as part of a Contract, or as part of fulfilling a Court Determined Legal Debt. People who owed too much Money could be put in prison, and property was regularly taken away from people by corrupt Local Governments. The Supreme Court actually recently expanded the
Eminent Domain Laws to include confiscation of property for Business Purposes, so an ongoing sketchy Governmental practice is now legal.
So, if we look honestly at our History, we will see that we have not actually had as many Rights or Advantages as all the Jingoistic noise might suggest. Our Nation has been one of great Economic Disparity for the largest majority of its History, and Property Rights & Privacy Rights have always been granted in absolute deference to Political Expediency, and Corruption.
Now I go back to wondering: What parts of past American Life and Values are so many people supposedly pining for? Could it actually be a point before they actually became aware of just how much we are like the rest of World in our not-so-well-hidden imperfections? If so, perhaps it is their lack of awareness has helped allow those imperfections to go resolved until now. Just something to think about.
Peace and Compassion to you.
Jeffrey
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