Drop greatest and number one and feel proud

By Saul Landau

“We’re the Greatest! We’re number one!” – Kid Rock, screaming for Mitt Romney

Must we continue to brag about us being “The Greatest Country in the World”?

Imagine an American amidst a German, Russian, Englishman, Iranian, Chinese and Turk who proudly proclaims: “I live in the greatest country in the world.” The German might ask what great music and literary figures the U.S. had to compare with Beethoven, Bach and Brahms, and with, Goethe, Schiller, and Brecht. The Russian would ask the same and gloat over the literary and musical output of his nation and the Iranian and Turk would crow over the vast glamour and creations of the former Persian and Ottoman empires. The Chinese would discuss the ills of our current economy – still number one albeit limping – and brag of holding many billions of U.S. debt paper, and also boast of the fabulous discoveries of ancient China.

Compared to those others, our nation has a short history much of it spent at war, killing Indians and taking their land, then placing them on reservations while we “settled” the West where they had already “settled.” Then, we could discuss our great history of slavery until 1863, and our institutional segregation for 100 more years. Yet, we persist in labeling ourselves “the greatest” as if, like Muhammad Ali, who refused to serve in the U.S. Military, we had won heroic battles and all our wars. Not so.

We lost in 1812, beat up a weak Mexico in 1849, killed each other in the Civil War. In 1898, God told McKinley, according to his confession to the press, to “take the Philippines, and make Christians out of those heathens. That took three-plus decades of war and massacres against lesser-armed rebels. Simultaneously, McKinley invaded Cuba and snatched independence from the Cubans who had almost won it from Spain. In a short time, the USA had turned the island into an informal U.S. economic colony until Castro and his rebels took it back.

Later we played a role, not the decisive one, in winning WWI, and did our heroic part in WWII, although the Soviets broke the Germans’ back. Since WWII, we’ve only won wars in which opponents did not fight back, like Grenada and Panama. We didn’t win in Korea or Vietnam, bled Iraq until the integrity of that country was destroyed and we remain in Afghanistan – why again? – where the word “winning” doesn’t have much meaning, and or generals carry on affairs. We must lead the world toward freedom, Romney insisted. Why? I ask. We have shown little capacity to lead beyond our own interests.

Some of the facts of current U.S. life remove the shine from the number one hype poured on the nation by political leaders and advertisers.

In October, the very forces of Nature that bless the nation also humbled the self-named “greatest country in the world”. Its East Coast residents lost power, and homes. Because our government have not placed our electrical lines underground many residents of the Big Apple showed how vulnerable they had become to surges of ocean water. Why did the government fail to maintain minimum maintenance for infrastructure? Listening to the presidential aspirants’ rhetoric over many months, we would not know about our deeply vulnerable infrastructure because they did not discuss climate change. Romney tooted his losing whistle for more coal burning and Obama did not teach the public about what scientists have taught him on the dangers of global warming: storms, hurricanes, tsunamis etc…

Neither candidate questioned the power and glory myth the country attached to itself. Nor did they address the power of Nature. Facts soon negated their hype. As the lead character on the Cable Show “Newsroom” offered to the TV viewers:

“We’re seventh in literacy, 27th in math, 22nd in science, 49th in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, third in median household income, number four in labor force and number four in exports. We lead the world in only three categories: Number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real, and defense spending, where we spend more than the next 26 countries combined." He left out a stagnating economy and an unfounded belief by many citizens that their country was taken from them – they never had it in the first place – by illegitimate people of color. See, “Divided States of America? Notes on the Decline of a Great Nation.”

The election results showed us a harsh picture of U.S. reality, a country of aging white men and some of their women, living in he south, mid-west and mountain states against everyone else. High levels of bitterness and hate dominated the campaigns. Listen to Rush Limbaugh who beseeched his listeners to “take back our country.” From whom? Maybe from those who do not share his pale skin color and have not yet heard Jesus’ command to religious Americans to arm themselves?

California, for example, with almost 50% of its population coming from Latino, Asian and African American stock, provides Americans with large amounts of their fruit and vegetables. Some of those who pick and process our food may not have proper documents or skin shading. But California’s population trend, more than Kansas’, shows the wave of the population future. The white block in the middle of the country, especially parts of the south where someone uncovered civil war graves and let the dead souls of white confederate soldiers oozed out and enter the bodies of their contemporaries, may offer some clues to what the Romneyites stood for. The majority of confederate dead did not own slaves; nor even aspired to such “wealth,” but they died for the Slavocracy. Their obese contemporaries – nourished in fast food chains and convenience stores – likewise opted against their own interests and chose a candidate and political Party that represents billionaires and wealthy fundamentalist preachers.

Other enemies of the bitter white men, are women who want protection from pregnancy, including abortion if they get pregnant by mistake, and the younger generation, who found no common interest with the Romney-Paul oratory; nor did Romney’s “show more muscle abroad” turn them on.

U.S. muscle did not win in Korea or Vietnam. In Iraq, we destroyed the integrity of that nation, but what a pyrrhic victory! In Afghanistan, we have suffered more than 2,000 dead and thousands more injured. For what?

The veterans return to joblessness, homelessness and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The “SUPPORT OUR TROOPS” slogan translates into “paste this bumper sticker on your car,” not into increased care and comfort for the homecoming youngsters. For Conservatives, governments must fight wars, not care for the wounded when they return.

The U.S. economy stagnates as Tea Partiers have captured the Republican command and the political system has become dysfunctional. The Democrats have not articulated a clear agenda.

The cultural fissure that divided the country 150 years ago during the Civil War were camouflaged by economic up turns during the late 20th century, when the United States became the top dog in the West. Americans then felt secure: their children would live better.

Let others brag about us, and stop calling ourselves “Number one” and “The greatest.” Forget those inane glory terms. Nature has blessed us with a country full of resources and beauty, lots of good-willed and caring people and traditions of hard work and innovation. Enough virtues to feel proud!

Saul Landau’s FIDEL and WILL THE REAL TERRORIST PLEASE STAND UP are available on DVD from cinemalibrestudio.