I have a question for the forum that has been plaguing me recently? Maybe you can find an answer that hasn't occurred to me.
In the United States we are brought up with the belief that the things that make our country so great are our basic liberties - freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of political dissent, the ability to choose our leaders, etc.
So my question is simple:
How is this any different then other industrialized democracies - i.e. our peer nations - in the world? I can't really think of any industrialized democracies that don't have these basic rights, and in reality, such rights may be more cherished by the people and politicians of our peer nations then by us.
As we are all well aware, laws passed subsequent to 9/11 combined with a President who has asserted the unilateral authority to lock away American citizens without trial and subject to no judicial oversight has resulted in a serious erosion of our most basic freedoms - the freedoms that supposedly define us as a nation. What does Bush's continued support by a majority - albeit a slim majority - of Americans say about our devotion to the fundamental elements of democracy?
-We have freedom of the press, but American citizens are by and large woefully uninformed on important issues and policy debates. Whether it is the result of the 24 hour news cycle or some menacing corporate conspiracy, the media has seemingly abandoned its mission of providing insightful, analytical, and hard hitting critiques of policies and current events.
Freedom of the press is only useful if it helps to keep the public informed about the actions/policies/proposals of the government. Otherwise, its window dressing. It goes without saying that citizens in our peer nations our less ignorant of history and current events and are generally better able to debate the implications of American policies than are most Americans.
Compared to our peers, what exactly does America offer that is so attractive? What has all of our loudly trumpeted economic and military power bought the average American citizen?
-40 million Americans lack medical insurance entirely in addition to the untold millions who have only the most basic coverage. Preventative healthcare for these people is infrequent or nonexistent, which in turn means that every day in America, people die of largely preventable medical problems.
-Our nation has one of the highest murder/violent crime rates in the world (among industrialized democracies) and we lead the world (I think) in the number of death sentences carried out despite well documented flaws in the administration of the death penalty. What does this say about our belief in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?
-I'm no expert on this matter, but I don't think I'm going out on a limb when I say that our social security and welfare systems range from woefully inadequate to completely inept. It's not that we aren't paying for them either - our government spends billions of tax payer dollars to fund these systems, but somehow has failed to make a meaningful difference in the lives of the majority of the people they were meant to benefit. This, of course, is only getting worse. Those of us who are in our twenties now might not have any system in place for our retirement - or so the rhetoric goes. Even if that is not true, the systems are still fundamentally unable to fulfill their missions of providing a social safety net - especially when compared to other industrialized democracies. Don't get me wrong, I firmly believe that it is the role of the government to provide such a safety net, but I can't understand how a nation with the largest economy in the world can't find a way to provide its citizens with the best social services in the world. Republicans and conservatives claim that it is a fiscal impossibility, but I'm not buying that.
-We spend $399.1 on defense, but our soldiers have a despicable lack of benefits and financial compensation. According to a recent article in the NY Times, America's top soldiers are now leaving the Armed Services for the private sector so that they can carve out some form of financial stability for themselves and their families. Are we to believe that we have to further increase military spending in order to pay our soldiers what they deserve? I'm not buying that either. It certainly hasn't made us any more secure. The largest and deadliest terrorist attack in modern history was carried out on American soil. I'm not a pacifist, but what exactly is our enormous defense budget paying for? Is it possible that maybe - just maybe - we are not getting the full story on defense expenditures? It is also possible that we would be staggered to learn of the amount of waste?
This is by no means an exhaustive list of the glaring inconsistencies in modern America. I'm a student of history, so I understand that the system devised by the Founders was light years ahead of its time, and despite the many abuses of its stewards, it is my opinion that the concept of America represented the best that humanity had to offer. Over the course of our country's short life, we have done some great things and some really awful things. Nevertheless, it is my opinion that the story of American history has been one of a slow (sometimes maddeningly so) march toward certain ideals - equality under the law, self governance, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, etc. - but in the new century, are we positioning ourselves to continue to work toward achieving those ideals, or are we moving backwards? What exactly do we stand for? Have we forsaken our ideals in the name of security and economic and military dominance? What is it that America has to offer that is unique? How do we define the American dream in the new century?