When it comes down to it, I have decided that the overriding problem is the national arrogance that because America was once great, that it is now and will always be, great. I suppose it would depend on your definition of great as to whether you would agree. One definition is superior in quality or character; noble, another is powerful; influential. I would say the former is the kind of greatness that some of Americas leaders and founders had, and that we all might aspire too. The later is more like the great that America lays claim too now, more of a result of its military might than any great leaders.
In my previous blog entry I mentioned belligerent nationalism in the definition of fascism. One should look more closely at belligerence and nationalism as they are particularly relevant to greatness. Belligerent as it turns out, is defined as:
- Inclined or eager to fight; hostile or aggressive.
- Of, pertaining to, or engaged in warfare.
- Devotion to the interests or culture of one's nation.
- The belief that nations will benefit from acting independently rather than collectively, emphasizing national rather than international goals.
- Aspirations for national independence in a country under foreign domination.
Now I'll be the first to admit that as a kid the sheer number of words in the English language seemed to be nothing more than a waste of time, if not a big pain in the ass. Couldn't we do as Orwell did in the Newspeak language of 1984 and reduce them all to a few thousand words? However the richness of the human languages (not just English of course) is the key to our very richness of thought and human expression. When one has only "good or evil" with which to categorize the people of the world it leads to a very narrow point of view, one that does not reflect at all the reality of peoples beliefs or behaviors. The same applies to restricting our election choices to "Republican" or "Democrat", especially when they are so nearly indistinguishable in end result that it makes no difference as to which we vote for. So having spent a good deal of my life trying my best to master the confounding cornucopia of words available, it irritates me no end that there are still those who still insist on simplifying the world to the level of "good or evil" and "with us, or with the terrorist" levels.
Now given the definitions above for belligerence and nationalism, I think no one could deny the Bush Administration has been anything less than belligerent in its promulgation of American nationalism. This has lead to a very pronounced increase in America uber alles attitude in those who "are with us". That is those that believe we are #1, we are the best, we are the greatest and therefore we have to do what we do, it is our manifest destiny and responsibility to do it. There is no other way.
Unfortunately the crux of the problem is that they believe America is the greatest but do so because they choose not to find any evidence to the contrary. They have no comparison with which to judge our greatness by because they choose not to look for it, choose not to remember the past of the country, and choose not to entertain a world present or future, in which America could be anything less than great. As a result, the fact that America is merely great: powerful; influential as opposed to Great: superior in quality or character; noble has entirely passed them by.
I myself choose not to believe in America's greatness because a world view entirely based on such beliefs and such reverence for the purveyors of them that we dare not criticise them, is so close to a religion that I dare not entertain the idea. It leads one to the conclusion that the entire government is in reality being run by a believers in the religion of America. It may sound a trite point to make, but I think it is important that our leaders have a far more objective view of America grounded in fact and cold truths of our behaviour as a nation and successes and failures in our aspirations to be great. A religious zeal for greatness will never lead America to to it, only docile subserviance and blind ignorance of the truth that is now plainer to the rest of the world than it has ever been:
America is not great.