How to bring America back from the brink?
In honor of this 4th of July, I’d like to take some time to share with my fellow Americans and the rest of the world some ideas, advice and lessons learned from the experience of the US. It’s a little past July 5th, but maybe we can extend the celebrations for a few hours as we are all neverending, unceasing activists bristling to save our country, right?
Many of the things I am saying could well be good advice for the rest of the world, as well, while some of them are more specific to the US. Well here goes:
Find Out What the Foreign Policy Elite Are Doing On Your Behalf, and Do Something About It
It seems to me that the foreign policy elite in Washington are doing all kinds of things in just about every country in the world, and much of the US population has no idea about it. I still remember, after September 11th, there was a popular song called “Where were you when the world stopped turning?”. One of the lines to this song was “I don’t know the difference between Iraq and Iran”. Please! If you don’t know the difference between Iraq and Iran, at least don’t celebrate it in a song. Better yet, find out.
While many US citizens know little about what the US government is up to in the far flung corners of the world, many of the world’s citizens know a lot about what the US is doing, because it affects them so much. After all, the US has been a big player on the world stage since the end of World War II, so the US has been the one to watch.
And actually, all this stuff Kissinger & Co. have been up to is quite interesting. In fact, I’d say it’s better than football. And more important than football, because it actually involves people’s lives.
A few interesting ones you might like to know about:
US allegedly involved in the overthrow of democratically elected socialist President in Chile, who is replaced by “el dictator” Pinochet, major human rights abuser
US supports Indonesia in the invasion of East Timor
US supports Mobutu of Zaire, one of the most corrupt dictators in African history
US allegedly involved in overthrow of Mossadeq in Iran, when he wants to nationalize oil
US secretly funds the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan in opposition to Soviet occupation, promoting the organization that would later become Al Qaeda
Saddam Hussein was the buddy of the US when Iraq was at war with Iran
CIA involved in covert operations in Tibet after the Chinese Communist victory
The Iran Contra scandal
CIA allegedly involved in overthrow of King Sihanouk in Cambodia, paving the way for Khmer Rouge victory
CIA operation to overthrow democratically elected President Arbenz in Guatemala
I’m sure there are many more interesting stories that you could tell your grandkids while they sit on your knee one day. But I’ll have to get back to the books to learn about them myself.
Watch Your Diet
In the US, we have all sorts of good healthcare (although its quite expensive), and many good safety laws, but the health of our people is held back by, among other things, obesity. The US has a reputation for this. According to the vegetarian promoters, the average American eats twice as much protein as they really need. So we can probably do with a few less of those hamburgers.
I often have debates with my friends about which foods exactly are the most fattening, but I’ll leave you to figure that out. Why not try a vegetarian diet? I have long suspected that a vegetarian diet would help people to lose weight, since it is a diet high in fiber, and can (although not necessarily) be lower in protein. Not only that, but when your family takes you to a restaurant where there’s no vegetarian food, you’ll have nothing to eat! : )
But actually, I would like to say, this is one conception of Americans that is held by foreigners that is sometimes inaccurate. I often try to tell people that, even though many Americans have to watch their weight, many others are extremely health conscious, eat organic food, etc. That’s definitely a positive trend where the US has an edge on many other countries in the world.
Work Hard, Work Smart
As a youngster, I learned that at one stage in US history, there was a great work ethic in the US, which was personified in the Horatio Alger story. Alger was the model of the hardworking American.
While I think that US citizens are still quite hardworking, it seems that we have lost this ethic to a certain extent. Especially in times of difficulty, such as the current economic crisis, I think applying oneself with even more dedication and fervor can and will ultimately pay off and help us to come out of the crisis stronger.
It need not only be paid work, but can also be volunteer work, or work that informs citizen activism. For example, at this time, it would be great if every US citizen were involved in a search to find out: “How did we get into this mess? And how can we get out of it?” This attitude and approach I think can ultimately help us to resolve our difficulties and get back on a good path to prosperity.
At the same time, we should also be aware of the maxim “work smart, not hard”. I’d like to rephrase that to “work smart, AND work hard”. This means that ultimately we must be asking ourselves- Is the work I am doing really accomplishing anything for me and the others in the world, my country, and my life? We should be thinking critically about what we are doing rather than just blindly working away.
For example, if we are stuck in a low end job, maybe we should think about getting more education, so we can find a better job. Or even if we are stuck in a low end job, we can still think actively about how we can do a better job, or about how this whole operation could be run more effectively. I have a great deal of faith in human ability and creativity, if only we would apply it. And I think even among those who are less educated and stuck in low skill jobs, that they have the creativity to come up with innovations which could be useful.
Reform the Political System
What I have noticed about many US citizens is that they may be engaged in the political process, but some do not actually even question the way it is conducted, or whether it needs to be changed. They keep arguing for McCain, or for Obama, for this candidate or for that candidate, without looking at whether this system is really the best one, or whether it needs to be changed to accomplish what we are really interested in.
Some issues that I think need to be addressed:
-The electoral college needs to be abolished
-More key legislation should be put up for referendum:
In the US now, we have the right to vote for one of the two main party candidates (we could vote for a third party but that would rarely have any effect). But after they are elected, we really do not have much control over what they do. How many US citizens, if really given a chance to make an informed, unmanipulated vote, would have voted in favor of the Patriot Act? Doesn’t the Patriot Act go against the very grain of what the US is supposed to stand for?
So, what I am proposing is that some key, controversial legislation should be put up for a national referendum. And I think it should be made easy for US citizens to demand that certain things be put up for a referendum.
-Third parties should be promoted: Although, unlike others, I don’t think that the Democratic and Republican parties are identical, I also think that the public debate in the US would be greatly improved if other political parties were able to convey their ideas to the public.
There seem to be at least two problems which cause the absence of third parties in the US:
1. Many people are afraid to vote for third party candidates because they are afraid it will lead to the victory of a party they don’t like. For example, many of the liberal persuasion hesitate to vote for the Green Party for fear that we would get another Democrat in office.
As I noted in a previous post, this could be solved in a run-off system for President, where if none of the candidates got more than 50% of the vote, it would have to go to a run-off vote between the two highest candidates.
2. Proportional representation: Many democracies around the world use a proportional representation system, where the number of seats in the legislature is not determined by whether their candidate wins in a particular geographic locale, but rather by their percentage in the overall national vote. So for example, if a party gets 5 percent of the vote, they get 5 percent of the seats in the legislature.
The value of this is that third parties may have difficulty winning any seats in the current US system, because they cannot get more than any other party in any particular geographic locale. The Green Party, for example, has had very few officials represented in the various political bodies around the country. But if we had a proportional representation system, they or another party would have at least a few seats in Congress, and could add to the diversity of debates and perspectives there.
Germany has a complicated political system which combines proportional representation with the “first past the post system” used in the US. It might be something worth checking out.
There are also weaknesses to the proportional representation system, which I will not discuss now. But my point is that we should study comparative politics to consider which system, or what attributes of a system perform the key objectives of democracy: 1) to perform the will of the people, and 2) to identify and implement creative solutions the problems and issues the nation is facing.
-Check out the electronic voting system: I haven’t had time to research this very well myself, but it seems there are some concerns here that the use of electronic voting machines, provided by a company close to- you guessed it- George Bush! could corrupt the entire voting process. It seems to me that it would be a good idea to have a paper ballot backup, printed by the voting machine, which the voter could check after voting to make sure their vote was correctly recorded. And in the event of doubts or the need for a recount, those paper ballots (more like a receipt) would still be there.
Stop Silencing Dissidents and People with Different Points of View
One of the most disturbing things that happened in the US in the post 9-11 atmosphere, is that people seem to have felt like they could not speak out and resist the Bush government policies, because the prevailing tide around them was intolerant. I think at all times, those who speak out and disagree, as long as they do so in an acceptable and constructive way, should be tolerated and allowed. After all, they may be saying something that we should be listening to.
Remember when the Dixie Chicks were banned from the air by Clear Channel (Bush & Co. No 35)?
Did you ever hear of the guy who was arrested for wearing a T Shirt that said “Give Peace a Chance” at the local mall?
I remember receiving one of these “pop e mails” or chain e mails from someone in the US around 2003 or 2004, which said, about dissidents- “just sit down and shut up!”. In my view, this is exactly the opposite of what the US, with its emphasis on freedom of speech, is supposed to stand for.
Gangs
It seems to me that the US has one of the worst gang problems in the world. I don’t know how to solve this problem, but I think its something that we really have to work on. Whole parts of our major cities have become places where few would want to live if they had a choice, because it’s a bit scary.
Sadly, the US seems to have exported this problem to Central American countries, when immigrants who had been living on the west coast returned to their home countries. Even worse, when they returned home, they had access to weapons left over from the civil wars in those countries, making the gangs even deadlier.
Guns?
I’m certainly not an expert on this issue, but I really question why US citizens need to have so many guns. The proponents of guns seem to have two main reasons why they think they are necessary:
- They need guns in order to protect themselves against aggressors and criminals. I feel that people who feel this way are a bit paranoid and living in fear. And in fact, it could be easily argued that the prevalence of guns in the US is what makes violent crime so likely and indeed possible. I can only say that I lived in the US for many years, and never once was I in any danger by someone wielding a gun. My parents used to leave their door unlocked and we were never burgled. I lived in several dangerous places, particularly the Cincinnati neighborhood of Over the Rhine, and I was never the victim of any aggression. In one case I was robbed in Chicago, not by someone with a gun, but with a knife. Other than that I have never been the victim of violent crime, never needed a gun, etc. So I think this claim of the need for a gun is a bit overblown.
- The original reason that the “right to bear arms” was contained in the Bill of Rights in the first place, was apparently to prevent the state from disarming people in case of the abuse of state power. As I recall, the British under colonial rule disarmed Americans which prevented them from resisting the colonial authorities.
The question is, do Americans still need to own guns in order to resist state infringement on their rights? Some of it depends on your perception of how likely it is that the state would infringe on your rights in such a way. There is a certain undercurrent of opinion, held by a minority of people, who feel that the US, and indeed other countries as well, are headed for martial law, or some kind of overbearing state control which would impinge on the freedoms that US citizens feel belong to them. While I cannot say that this is impossible, I’m not sure how likely it is, or whether armed resistance would be the way to resist such a condition. In any case, if this is indeed the reason that US citizens feel that they need to bear arms, then the arms really need only be kept in the storage, in the rare event that they are needed. They certainly don’t need to be carried on one’s person, or kept in the drawer next to the bedside!
Demand that the Government Give Back Our Privacy and Our Rights
The Patriot Act keeps getting extended, the NSA is reading your e mails and listening to your phone, they’re seizing your laptop when you return to the US from overseas, they’re searching your home and your car without a warrant. When you get on the plane you have to go through a humiliating security check, and if you don’t like it you could be in violation of a law against harassing the security staff. They’ve got 500,000 people on an FBI “people of interest list”.
I mean, when is this going to stop? Is this the Soviet Union?
I, for one, would rather have the small risk of death by a terrorist attack than be under perpetual surveillance.
What ever happened to “Give me liberty or give me death?”
Get Out of the US Every Now and Then
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” Mark Twain
I’ve often said that Americans need to be more aware of how the policies of their government affect other countries and people around the world. Travelling is a good way to do this because you can often find out how other people see the US. It’s also pretty exciting and fun. And it will surprise all those Europeans who like to gloat about how few Americans have passports!
Travel to developing countries can often be a big eye opener for people who have never been out of the first world. In fact, Mexico is not too far away, that would be a good choice for those people who are considering it (although, in my opinion it’s really not that poor of a country compared to many.) Given how important Mexico is to the US, as one of our partner countries in NAFTA, the source of all those immigrants, and supposedly future part of the North American Union, why not go and see for yourself?
But don’t forget to get out of your 5 star hotel and off that beautiful beach! Talk to some local people and visit their house! And don’t be the ugly American… Wear something suave so they’ll have no idea where you are from and might even mistake you for being French. Put on a good fake accent!
Take a vacation from Bushland!
I’d like to recommend a blog post by someone who brings the loss of freedom home in a slightly exaggerated way. I don’t agree with everything he says, but then I never agree with everything anyone says:
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