America

I’ve thought long and hard about what my first “real” Blog entry would be. I wrote essays, articles if you will, on Capitalism and security, but I wanted something that would both provide an insight into both the world we live in and my view of it. Something that, when you read future posts, you’ll be able to say “That’s exactly what he was talking about in his first post”.

So I decided to write about the USA. From now on I’ll refer to it as America. Yes, I know there are two American continents and that the US is part of only one of them, but when I think of the country I live in I think of it as America, as in America the Beautiful, God Bless America, or just plain America. Spare me the comments that Brazil is in America too, I’m not talking about Brazil.

There is absolutely no place else in the entire world I’d rather live than in America. Other places may be nice to visit but I’ll always come back home. I think there are a few things that make America great. Before you get on my case, I know she’s not perfect. There’s room for improvement, but they’re improvements in scale, not in fundamentals. To become more perfect we need to further implement the things that make America great, not throw those things out and start over with something else.

Our system of government is the greatest in the world, and the reason why can be summed up in one simple phrase, government by the consent of the governed. Ultimate power in this country rests squarely in the people’s hands. No matter how bad you think your elected officials, from the local town council to the president, you have to remember that the people who voted put him/her there and those same people can remove him/her from office next election.

Our Constitution is a monument of simplicity and elegance. You can sit down and read the entire thing in a few hours, yet it provides the framework for a system of government that’s lasted over two centuries and governs the people from every other nation who came here looking for a better life. Imbedded in the Constitution is something unique, the first ten amendments, the Bill of Rights. This specifically states that the people of this nation have rights that the government can’t take away except by due process of the law. The government can’t lock you up because you criticized said government. The government can’t tell you how, when, where, who or even if to worship. The government can’t search my home without my permission unless they have strong evidence, not suspicion, that I’ve done something illegal. These rights aren’t granted by the Constitution, they’re ours and the Constitution explicitly recognizes them with a sign that says “paws off”.

Our economy, even when it’s at its weakest, is still the strongest in the world. The “poor” people in this country have access to clean water, shelter and food. Nobody starves to death in the US because they can’t afford food. Our economy drives invention, art, technology, and literature. A kid who grew up poor by our standards (but who never went to bed hungry) can grow up to a good job, home ownership, and can sit at a computer on a Saturday morning typing an essay to offer to the world via the Internet. I personally know I’ll never be “rich” because I frankly don’t want to work hard enough to become rich. I’m comfortable and I’m perfectly happy to stay that way. I do know, and know of, people who are wealthy. Most of them got that way by working hard. The man who owns the hair salon my wife goes to has a much nicer home than I have. He’s also worked 70 and 80 hours a week for years to get where he is. I don’t begrudge him a dime of his money. If you want to make it here you can. My mother’s father came here from Norway, he took a job at the local shipyard cleaning the bathrooms, by the time he died he was foreman. That doesn’t happen anyplace else in the world.

One thing that sets Americans apart can best be summed up in the word “Spirit”. Look at our heroes. George Washington, Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, Robert E. Lee, William T. Sherman, Wyatt Earp, Helen Keller, Susan B. Anthony, Chesty Puller, Audie Murphy, Neil Armstrong. Todd Beemer. They’re big people and their stories make them bigger than life. For every big hero there are millions of small ones no one ever hears of, the nameless men who built the transcontinental railroad and weren’t going to let a bunch a mountains stop them. JFK (who was killed when I was five months old) summed it up when he said we choose to go to the moon not because it’s easy, but because it’s hard. American Spirit, there are bad guys to fight, bridges to build, and new territory to set foot on for no other reason than that no one’s been there yet.

It’s the American people who make this country great. The government is great because it’s in the hands of the people. The economy is great because the people make things, buy things, sell things, work and make money. I didn’t have to be a crane operator because my father was, he didn’t have to be a minister either. I could have had any job I wanted if I had the qualifications for it, the intelligence for it, and the willingness to work hard enough to make it all happen.

People say a lot of bad things about Americans, some are true and some are so obviously, provably false that they’re slanderous. We’re simplistic, we’re lacking in subtlety. I prefer to think of that as directness, we evaluate the situation and take whatever actions are required. We’re stupid. Absolutely not true. If we didn’t invent it we improved it. We’re trying to take over the world. That’s never been true, Americans have no stomach for Imperialism since we carved out our own nation. We don’t tax anyone who doesn’t have a say in our government. We repeatedly used our citizen-soldiers to save other nations and when the threat was over they went back home and started baby booms. People say bad things about our popular culture, our TV shows, movies, and fast food. What they don’t understand is that these things are popular because people like them and buy them. McDonalds is successful because people buy their product.

No, we’re not perfect. We still have work to do. Racism has taken a huge hit in my lifetime, it’s not gone but it’s on its way. There are still some people lacking the basic necessities of life. If they can’t work they need to be provided for, and if they can but lack the education or training that’s where the effort should be spent. In my opinion the biggest threat we have is from people who truly want to bring America, and all that makes it great, down. There are terrorists outside who want to destroy us because we dare to be free and happy. There are people within who would love to dismantle our government and set up a new one with them on top. America has seen such threats before, we’ve beaten them before and we’ll beat them again. It may be hard. I personally never saw a darker day than 9/11/2001, but thru it all I knew with absolute certainty that future history books will state that America stood and the terrorists fell.

I’ve thrown a lot out there today. I’ll be expanding on some of the details in the weeks and months ahead.