842 America - the Land of the Free
You may
have noticed, the world is not the same anymore. Did you miss the most
important newspaper article of last week? Former NSW Premier and Labor
government foreign minister, Bob Carr, tells it like it is: America has
changed.
SMH illustration of "Uncle Trump" by John Shakespeare
“The star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
There you
can read that the election of Donald Trump was no fluke, it had to
happen, because, as the saying goes: “Every democracy has the government it
deserves.”
First,
absorb the fact that the President of the United States - the successor to
Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower - is still defending himself for not
specifically condemning Nazi and white supremacist groups following their
weekend violence.
Now
ponder for a moment that America's greatest hour between the end of the Civil
War and today was the 1945 US-led victory over Nazism in Europe.
Absorb
that, and then close-focus on the present: a demagogue occupying the Oval
Office combatively resists criticising far-right groups, some of whom exalt the
swastika.
Something
as dire as this did not occur because a wealthy vulgarian captured the White
House on a fluke.
Radical
shifts like this don't just reflect personnel change. They happen because the
country itself has changed.
That’s right and there is no hiding
it, America - as represented by Donald Trump - is a different place than it was
70 years ago (doh, it would be, wouldn’t it), but the shift that can be
observed through the lens of the Trump election is away from its traditional
values. Is it still ... "the land of the free and the
home of the brave”?
The Huff says, "Americans Aren't Sure Anything In America Works Anymore":
The overall mood of the country is
one of "anxiety, nostalgia and mistrust," Fear is not an
emotion that you see often in public opinion polls ... Americans aren't confident that
we've fixed what went wrong.
Many, in fact, see the country as on
the decline … 53 percent of Americans say the nation's culture and way of life
have changed for the worse since the 1950s. Forty-nine percent now say
America's best days are behind it, up from 38 percent who said the same in
2012. Democrats remain more bullish, while Republicans and tea party members
are the most pessimistic.
... and, "America Has Lost Its Soul":
We Americans wave our nation’s flag
and crow our national anthem, self-assured, full of pride, assuming our
jingoistic clattering will continue to fool the world that we are an honorable
nation. Instead, we are exposing ourselves as pretenders to the democratic
values our forefathers defined for us.
“America,
who are we?” asks Charles Blow in his NY Times op-ed piece: “Are we - or
better yet - should we be - a nation that tortures detainees, or targets and
kills American citizens with drones, or has broad discretion to spy on the
American public.”
Myself, I am very keen to visit America, namely New York. But will I find the place that in my mind fosters (still from The Huff) these American Values? ...
1) This is truly what makes America great -
being exposed to, and sometimes integrating, various traditions and cultures
make us much more creative and vibrant as a society.
2) The accepted value that everyone can
succeed in life if you work at it.
3) Compromise. Our government is designed for
legislators to compromise. If you believe in “my way or the highway”, go live
in a totalitarian society.
"Donald Trump is a demagogue catering to the lowest common un-American denominator. It is a disgrace that he has become the ... President."
Where is America going? I agree with those who say Trump will not be president at the end of this year. Will everything go back to normal? Who knows; some also say that Trump having become president will rally the (Democratic) troops ... it will inspire them to fight, for America and the free world.
I also agree with them.