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December 30, 2005

The truth about America

Open the newspaper. "Scandal, corruption and malfeasance" scream the headlines. Same as yesterday. And the day before. They're all going down! Wait, they got away with it! Wait, there's more! Yeah, the private will pay the price! Too bad the generals won't. They lied us into war? But wait, we're winning! We're bringing democracy to Iraq! Wait, democracy means a fundamentalist government? Wait, we upped the airstrikes! A scream erupts from my throat, long and unmelodious. I'm taking a news break.

We need, at times, to pause and catch our collective breath.  From the lies that got us into Iraq, to the lies that keep us there, from the corruption that is the Republican Party to the corruption that pervades our largest corporations, from the secret orders that take away our civil liberties to the secret prisons where torture is the norm. The breadth and scope of the corruption is staggering.

But, as we try to take stock of the horrendous calamities our leaders have brought us, we might ask the question: Are these events nightmare aberrations, just a hiccup in our history? And will we be able to regain the certitude that our nation is, once again, "the greatest country in the world?"

To find out we must look at America's actions today and compare and correlate them with the historical actions of the United States from its inception. Sadly, upon examination, we see an unbroken history of corruption shockingly similar to what we are witnessing today.

We've been duped again and again. And each time that we are taken in, it is done in the same way. An event occurs or is orchestrated by our leaders. The leaders and their minions describe the event in mythic terms designed to induce fear or hate. "Our borders aren't safe." "The yellow scourge." "Savage heathens." "Welfare mothers."  "America isn't Santa Claus."

Perhaps an illegal alien kills a marshall as he crosses the border. Our leaders scream that our borders aren't safe and we must enact harsher laws. Or a judge say we you can't have religious symbols in public building. The next thing you know we have God in our Pledge of Allegience.  Unions started to gain power for their members. Our leaders responded with attempts to portray unions as "Un-American." Now our leaders are saying that the left is stealing Christmas. No telling where that will go.The events that the leaders seize upon are transformed into myths designed to trigger us to act with hate, fear, greed, or just impotence. Just as long as we continue to serve the hidden agendas of our leaders. The popular press eagerly joins in the frenzy. Politicians fan the flames. The people are inundated with the myths until the myths transmogrify into what passes for the truth. Seventy or eighty or ninety percent of the people aligned behind a our new national identity. We come to see issues in black and white. "United we stand."

Then, the bloodbath can begin. Then, we will accept oppression. Then, we gladly march to war. To kill the enemy, the enemy that the myths create. We will slaughter the Native Americans and pray for our holy victory. We will enslave and lynch black people and berlieve we are only supporting "states' rights", We will send soldiers to kill the "commie" union workers who just ask for a fair shake. We, the people, will swim in the blood of the vanquished. Glory is ours. The greatest country in the world. With God at our side.

When our leaders want to attack other countries — Mexico, Spain, The Philippines, Vietnam, Nicaragua, Panama, Iraq, etc. —  grand slogans are crafted to demonize the new enemy. They reverberate down through our history: "The Monroe Doctrine,"  "Remember Goliad" "Remember Pearl Harbor"  "Remember the Alamo"  "Speak softly but carry a big stick," "The stakes are too high to stay home." "The war to end all wars." "a Day of Infamy," "Make the world safe for democracy." "Better dead than Red," "the Evil Empire," "The War on Terror" "Freedom is on the March."

And the myth-makers sit back and pull the strings and watch the show as we dance to their bidding. Until we are spent. Until the myth-victory is ours. Then, after a brief pause, a new myth is born. A new threat. A new fear to get us all excited. And off we go again. And again. And again.

Occasionally the puppeteers slip and allow us a peek behind the curtain, allow us to briefly see the strings. So, we rise up in righteous anger at being betrayed. We demand that legislation be passed to address our grievances. Then the process drags on and on with compromise after compromise and we end up settling for legislation that merely re-hides the strings and once again pulls the veil back over our eyes.

This is the great secret of America. That corruption is built in. It is not something that attacks the fiber of our nation. No, it IS the fiber of our nation. It is our raison d'etre. And it will always be so. Right? Or are we ready to do something about it? Now, wouldn't that be a new year's resolution!

Johnny Peaceseed