Understanding America today
Although I am not American, understanding USA today is something I am trying to do as it indirectly affects my life. Since America has started to rather aggressively interfere with other country’s affairs about 20-30 years ago it became my business too. This is a personal view of one European, who happens to live in a European country bombed by America less then eight years ago.
For long time after this bombing occurred, I had a deep inner resistance for everything American. Lot of people in Europe and in the world share this same opinion today, although they were not directly affected (or bombed in my case) by USA. This of course is something you develop naturally as a human being, when a very old natural instinct, a deeper sense for injustice kicks in inside you.
But it was not until this year when I finally realized that there is nothing I can hold against American people as such. Yes they did vote up a president whom even they laugh at, and the last one which actually decided to bomb me was thrown out of White House for humiliating sex affair, yes it is the country with highest criminal rate and lowest life expectancy in the industrial world.
Life-expectancy in the USA is less than most other advanced nations
But I have realized that the American people is very good people. Take it down to a hard-working, tradition-loving ordinary man and I have seen displays of solidarity and care that you can hardly find in Europe. The traditional American family relies on really solid, morale and humane values which is something the rest of the world can look up to. And it is a very beautiful country and a gifted nation, nation that sent humans to the Moon and spaceships out of our Solar system.
But unfortunately, they have one big problem. Money thriving desires of the rich.
Surely this problem exists in all countries in the world, as rich people are not exclusive to US. But the fact is majority of most richest corporations of the world are based in US which makes it much, much more susceptible to that very problem.
And the biggest issue in such a strong, money driven, modern society is that it’s extremely hard to change. For example, USA is the only country in the industrialized world which does not have universal health care (although the previous president came to White House on promises to create it). It means that the US health system is instead driven by health insurance corporations and you may (will) be denied medical care if you do not have money to cover your expenses.
Despite lower life expectancy then other nations, US citizens spend more for health care
Implication of this is that in USA a person’s wealth is more important then their health, which is unheard of in the rest of the world. Even Canada, Americas nearest neighbor and a biggest ally in many things, has a universal health care system which provides medical care for everyone, disregarding their earnings or lack of.
Second problem young Americans face is the structure of the education system. Unlike the rest of the world where education is free or at least the expenses are shared with government, Americans learn to live with debt at a very young age due to student loans. They take living with big debts as granted, unfortunately that’s natural only for them.
Now take an example of France as an extreme counter point. It is a country with very developed social structures and a health and education systems that mirror that. Medical services and education are available to every citizen. This produces a healthy nation that, in spite many vices like vine, cigars and strong food, lives on average considerably longer then Americans. It also produces a very educated nation, self-aware, social-aware and politically-aware nation. As a result of this, France is a country where massive social protests and protest against government are a common thing. This is a true demonstration of democracy as it should be - in the hands of people.
University education should be available to everyone
Let’s get back to US. Unhealthy, uneducated and a nation deep in debt is a nation that is very easily ruled. A common man is so deeply concerned with their problems, they do not have the will nor time to take it to the government. And this in my opinion is the heart of the problem of today’s America.
I do not say that the society system of America was invented with this purpose, purpose of ruling the people so similarly to middle-ages. But as more I think about it, I conclude this has to be the reason why the system does not change anymore today. Obviously if you have a bad system, you would change it. But not in US. It suits some to stay that way. And the people oblige.
Is there hope for America? I truly think there is. The ordinary American man is a good hearted and caring person as anyone. He is not guilty for not knowing where Australia is on the map, he was deprived of that knowledge with, I dare say, intention. He is not guilty for trying his best to live a healthy life in a most unhealthy environment in the world. He is deprived of medical system that cares for him, not for the money. And he is not guilty when he voted the president that does not represent his interests, he thought he was making a choice for the better.
But with new presidential elections coming, I see a change. Questions are asked that were not asked before. Candidates are looked at a slight different angle. Not much, but slight, and that is a start. It is a sign of things to come. There are people like the filmmaker Micheal Moore who try to change the perceptional awareness of Americans.
It will be a time consuming process and a hard and shocking awakening for many, sort of a Matrix-like experience. But a very worthwhile one. Not only for sake of America but for all of us, the rest of the free world.
Very interesting article. It’s good to see that people think rationally.I am glad that you realize that we are not idiots who believe in the ways that our Government acts(especially our idiot Pres.) Don’t even get me started. :)
I think the whole world is pretty f*d up right now.
We are all human beings. No matter what race, nation, religion etc. The leaders of countries and the money hungry rich, and radical religious leaders have ruined the world.
I still hold out hope though, don’t get me wrong.
Imagine what these Billions and Trillions of dollars could have done for the world and it’s people. There have been wars throughout history over borders, religion, greed and just plain he said she said.
The only ones who suffer are the regular people and even worse the less fortunate.
My friend, I can only hope that things change someday and the bombs turn into flowers, and the tears turn to water and the innocent deaths turn to life.
Peace
I always try to have a critic view on things and it took me long time to understand US in this way.
I think you have a great potential as a country, maybe the greatest potential of all countries. When the care for people and nature overcomes the care for money, only then you can expect to truly prosper.
But this is something you, the American people have to change.
Hey you forgot celebrity obsessed! People seem to spend a lot of time obsessing about others lives instead of there own. I agree with you on many points. If we could use half of what we spend on war on education and research…wow. We don’t. We should be using the huge amount of resources we have on this country. But it is in the hands of the people who do little or nothing with it. I live in Portland, Oregon which is very different then many parts of the US. Much more relaxed and much more active (healthy)and a very nice place to live.
First, as an American….
-the life expectancy numbers are skewed by our infant “mortality” figures. The U.S. has a high infant mortality, but if you look closely at those figures, it is caused by American medical technology that gives premature infants a chance at life that they would have no place else. So babies that would be still born elsewhere, are considered a live birth in the U.S.
Additionally, the numbers are exaggerated by the influx of illegal immigrations from a third world Mexico.
-as far as U.S. bombing Serbia, that was a NATO operation and if Western Europe could have taken care of affairs in their own backyard, the U.S. would not have been involved in the first place. Instead, Western Europe has squandered their GDP on social programs and neglected their militaries and as a result, the U.S. has to pick up the slack and we look like the bad guys. So, may I ask, why aren’t you blaming the other members of NATO as well?
And what was the culpability of Serbia 8 years ago? Were there not war crimes trials against many Serbian politicians and military officials?
-regarding universal health care, Americans are not socialists like our brethren in Europe. We do things differently. Our constitution limits government, purposefully.
We believe in self reliance, hard work, and limited government. It is part of our national culture.
And let me ask you this. What does government do well? Not a whole lot. And you want government to run a health care system efficiently? You want a bureaucracy to decide which medical procedure you can have, or not have? That is simply something a free people don’t abide by.
Sure, our care is more expensive, but it is more advanced and more accessible and more innovative. Don’t forget, the poor and the elderly are covered by Medicare and Medicaid. Poor children are covered by SCHIP. No one can be denied emergency care.
And Americans do look at the national health care systems in Canada and Europe and see many things wrong.
For instance, how long do you have to wait to get a cat-scan in Canada or Britain? Often months. Same goes for operations, where Canadians and the Brits often have year long waits where Americans expect and receive almost instantaneous care.
This is one example of the problem: http://www.city-journal.org/ht.....hcare.html
“And if we measure a health-care system by how well it serves its sick citizens, American medicine excels. Five-year cancer survival rates bear this out. For leukemia, the American survival rate is almost 50 percent; the European rate is just 35 percent. Esophageal carcinoma: 12 percent in the United States, 6 percent in Europe. The survival rate for prostate cancer is 81.2 percent here, yet 61.7 percent in France and down to 44.3 percent in England—a striking variation.”
Because our health care is based on the market system, every hospital has an MRI or catscan. Life threatening problems are treated immediately. Yes we do spend more, but our technology and treatments tend to be more advanced and available to everyone on a timely basis.
Single payer insurance policies can be had for $2500 a year.
And Canadians travel to the U.S. for operations that health care system in Canada refuses to do in timely basis.
Finally, if you look at Michael Moore as a sound and reasonable person, you are being mislead. Moore is an outright liar. His films are half truths. For instance, his latest one on the great Cuban health care system is a joke. Do a google search for some pictures from the best of the best of the Cuban hospitals. Check out this site that corrects Moore’s lies. http://www.moorewatch.com/
Getting a sense of America by watching Michael Moore is like me getting a sense of space travel by watching Star Wars.
-Unhealthy? NO. Uneducated, the U.S. is third, behind Canada and Russia in terms of college graduates. And look at all the good higher education is doing the Russian economy right now.
And I’ll leave you with this, what country in Europe, besides Switzerland, still uses the same constitution, that is over 200 years old, that guarantees freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, jury trial and so on?
Britain has tolerant tradtion, but no constitutional guarantees. The French are on their 5th republic, and constitution. Democracy was imposed by the U.S. on Germany. Spain was a dictatorship until the mid-70s, so was Portugal. Italy has had numerous governments since 1946, and stability is not in the national language.
Sweden and Finland are limiting speech when it offends others these days. Greece had a military coup in 1967.
And let’s not forget all the problems created by the end of European colonization in the 1950s and 1960s, with Kenya being only being one example.
Don’t take this wrong, but I always chuckle when Europeans lecture Americans about democracy.
Because the U.S. is the only superpower left in the world, we get a bad rap.
For instance, the EU was supposed to help Darfur, but it couldn’t come up with enough helicopters to do the job last year. The entire continent of Europe couldn’t muster enough military helicopters! http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article25076
http://www.ramadji.com/index.p.....p;Itemid=2
So the U.S. will ultimately get dragged into another conflict and we will look like the bad guys again.
Bryan you have put lot of thought and consideration into that comment showing you are thinking very rationally. But it is within the reach of the facts available to you at the moment, if you agree.
Which is great as I am somewhat limited in information since I do not live in US so the discussion can come to a certain conclusion hopefully.
I didn’t if you didn’t get my post wrong ;) I did grab a coffee though while reading your comment.
You have provoked me to do a further research on the topic and for the sake of presenting facts, in this document published by U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.2% of all deaths are infant mortality cases (which is still strikingly high) and the major death causes were in fact heart disease, cancer and strokes (around 60%). There are more suicides (1.4%) and percent of those killed in an assault (homicide)is 0.7%.
So unless you have another point can we conclude the more probable cause for low life expectancy is to be found in the society and the health system as such.
I am personally blaming other members of NATO but the article was about US today and taking the story that way would not make the point article was having. On a personal note I believe the other NATO members have little to no influence on decision making in NATO, and US only used NATO for some credibility since the attack was made without consent of UN (first time in the history of UN).
Secondly I liked your parallel with Michael Moore and Star wars and I take it as a very clever one. I do try however to listen to both sides and it is not hard for me to search for facts on the other side as you can see in the above example where I was citing documents from your government (even though it was actually confirming the first side in this case).
However it will be difficult for me to discuss this point with you on the same level for one simple reason. The information you have and your knowledge on what was happening in Serbia (and still is) is based on a popular TV show called “Star Wars Serbia” featured on many stations like CNN, CBS, ABC etc. I hope you do not mind me using your analogy but it is a very important one which I hope you are aware of or just become aware of.
I will touch the subject on war crime trials though cause it can be closer to you. Do you know that USA was the co-founder of that war crimes tribunal, but is the only country that requested (well US does not request, it imposes) to be excluded from trials of their own citizens. What do you think why? Does such tribunal in your opinion has credibility for an intelligent discussion about it’s activities?
Imagine a brawl on a football match and to solve situation both teams agree to form an “independent” commission to find out who was guilty. But one of the teams involved is excluded from any such decision by the constitution of the commission. Pretty amazing don’t you think?
In a universal health care system run by government there is no bureaucracy involved, everything is done automatically. You just appear at the doors of the hospital and say what is wrong with you and the best doctor to help you will do that, for free. I know this is hard for you to accept if not shocking, but that’s just the way it is.
As I understand in America when you appear on the doors of the hospital they first have to check with your health insurance corporation if you “qualify” to be helped, and they can deny it in which case you either have to pay the bill yourself or decide not to be treated. Maybe it is not that brutal (I hope not) but in any case there is much more bureaucracy involved. Please take it further if you did not change your mind.
Another advantage of a government run system is as I pointed out in my article, the ability of the people the demonstrate against it on the streets if it’s bad or turning against them, the right people in those countries exercise very well. On the other side when did you see massive demonstrations against a health care corporation in America? Is that possible at all? Is it good or bad in your opinion?
I found the fact in this document (also by your government) that 45 million Americans do not have health insurance, which is about quarter of the population if I am not mistaken. If this number does not include elderly, poor and children as you say, it is pretty shocking that there are 45 million grown up, potentially rich adults that do not have health insurance?
Either way or another, point is that’s 25% of population. That is ten to fifty times more then in other industrialized countries. Can you cope with the magnitude of that fact?
Also I want to make clear that I do not endorse universal health care as a perfect system, I was pointing out there are alternatives to USA’s which is seriously broken (care for wealth not health).
It is true the complicated procedures either cost (wow!) or are waited for long time. But you have an alternative there. Do you want to wait or you want to pay for it done? In America the only choice is for someone to pay, right? Which is better?
But that is a good point for Canadian health system isn’t it? Because it gives you a choice. And in Canada you are refused “on time basis” (with an option) in USA you are refused on money basis, which is better?
Thanks I will check out that site. But do not call someone a liar before studying closely their work. It takes small effort to call someone a liar and a large one to clean up the name after that, life teaches us that.
As I said I agree on this analogy but my sources are much wider then Micheal Moore. Internet to hear what other side has to say, and first hand experience in case of the first topic, Serbia.
Funny thing, if they ever invent space travel, I bet it will be pretty similar to Star Trek or Star Wars, that’s the power of it’s influence.
I said unhealthy and uneducated as a mirror of a poor health and education systems. There are brilliant Americans and very healthy athletes, but taken on average is what I was talking about. In that sense yes unhealthy, and yes uneducated compared to the rest of the industrialized world, as proven in previous points.
What is your comment on this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJuNgBkloFE
Does it look in your opinion like true or fake representation of education state of America today?
You did not comment on nation deeply in debt point, I would really like hear your view on that problem.
If you agree, this point proves that it doesn’t take education to run a good business? I can not agree more.
All European constitutions guarantee freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, jury trial, not to make a wrong impression there.
The fact that US constitution did not change in 200 years is a bad thing for the citizens under that constitution. What would the world look like if the technology has not changed in 200 years?
You see, change is what brought us from stone age to where we are now. If you have a constitution that does not change to reflect changes in society that is a very bad thing my friend.
And I will leave you with this thought on that matter.
When you have a “dictator” running a country, that is a bad thing and we will attack his country and at the end kill him.
When you have a “superpower” running the world, we will… ? Think… What if there was a more powerful force in the universe and the same rule was put to practice? How would you feel then? Would you not demand justice? Would you not demand independent view? Would you not ask the God what is it that you did wrong? It would be too late then, the bombs are already falling on you.
They are smart though, even if they accidentally fall on your house you may rest in piece knowing it was only collateral damage.
It’s not about a “dictator” (hail the King!) or being a superpower, it’s ultimately what you do for mankind.
Just to clarify - in the U.S., a public hospital can not lawfully turn anyone away for treatment in emergency cases, even if the person owes money for unpaid bills of previous visits.
Insurance crap is hammered out post-treatment, and if your insurance (or lack thereof) is a problem, you simply get billed. Most hospitals will work out a non-interest monthly payment plan with you to get it paid off fairly.
It’s not quite as bad as many outsiders like to claim. Don’t misunderstand - it’s bad - but not THAT bad.
Vladimir:
My brother is one of those who did not have health insurance (by choice at the time) when he broke his back, he was taken directly to the best hospital that specialized in spinal injuries, they did excellent work on him and he was back up and walking in 1 month’s time.
The 40 million you quote is way off base, 1st, that # is achieved through surveys where they ask you if you have health insurance, this has a # of hugely misleading aspects to it, lets look at those below:
1.) My other brother left a job he had that provided insurance, he moved down to San Diego and spent 4 months looking for work eventually finding another job that provides insurance. If my brother were one of those who were surveyed at that point he would have been counted as uninsured.
2.) We currently have anywhere between 12 - 18 million illegal aliens in this country, if history is any indicator, that # is way low. These people were also included in the #s you quote. One thing that really pisses us off about this is that our system currently has no choice but to provide care to them with no prospect of being compensated. This costs our system Billions every year, a huge contribution to our costs.
3.) The vast majority, like my brother when he broke his back, would be eligible for Medicaid and schip coverage. The survey asks if they currently have health insurance, the answer to that is obvious, No! Does not ask if they are currently eligible for medicaid or schip, those are not considered to be health insurance programs by us.
As you can see the 40 Million # is an out of context # that Politicians are trying to use to take control of this industry.
Here is exactly what we do not want here in the USA, form the article mentioned above you get the following experience from a Canadian doctor, this would never be the case for anyone in the US, covered by health insurance or not!
Now, the US leads the world in the development of life saving and improving medications which takes countless Billions of investment $, an interesting fact is you have Canada who simply steals and reproduces these formulas after they have been developed here for pennies of what it costs us because we are incurring all of the research and development costs, so in a real sense the US is subsidizing part of the Canadian system and others in the world. Your welcome Canada!
This is a large post so I am going to give you another example (in another post)of why people like me in the US want to keep the Government out of it.
We have a program in the US called Social Security which is supposed to provide retirement benefits and security for us when we retire.
The program started roughly 60 years ago and is projected to start paying out more than it takes in in 2009 with complete bankruptcy projected for around 2039.
From a Previous article that I wrote:
So, in effect, if we keep this program as it currently is I will have to pay $250,000 into a system that will not be there and will not pay any benefits for me, this is going to leave all of us of this generation in quite a bind.
That is just the beginning, Medicare, our Government run retirement health care system is headed to broke a lot sooner than Social Security. As you will find in the article linked below, this program was supposed to start losing money in 2013 but that is going to actually start happening next year. Read the rest here
To sum this all up, we have 2 programs that take up over 50% of the entire Government budget that are both headed to bankruptcy and at the same time we have our media and the politicians who we refer to as “Liberals” (who ironically were the ones who instituted those 2 programs) trying to take over our health care system in its entirety.
Hopefully this gives you a better, more complete understanding of what is going on in these areas pf US policy.
Thanks for that detailed insight Brian. Of course the truth is always somewhere in between nothing is as shiny as it looks on the first sight.
But here is one thing that I do not understand. If Social security program is clearly headed for disaster, why don’t they change it for the better right now? Why don’t you as people take it to the streets?
I whole heartily agree on that fact. Do you agree the US also leads the world on development of life ending means and pollution of our environment?
For which of the two US spends more money, what do you think?
US is the largest “outsourcer” of low cost labor in the world. American industry would almost fall to pieces without low cost factories in China, Mexico, Indonesia and other undeveloped world countries. So in fact those countries are subsidizing US economy on a much larger scale then the example you mentioned.
I am not saying that it is a bad thing, surely those factories provide work for people there, but Canada is not using those drugs for bad things either. America is just doing it on a much larger scale. And I haven’t seen “Thank you China!” banners in US.
I agree with much of what you have written. It is unbelievable that a wealthy, powerful nation is unwilling to offer health care to all its citizens. And the low life expectancy is a result of mass obesity that has afflicted the USA.
However, you complain repeatedly about the bombing of Serbia by the USA, while you conveniently neglect to mention the horrific crimes committed by Serbians and Serbian militias in those days. Regardless of whatever crimes have been committed around the world by other nations, including the USA, if you try to deny Serbia’s crimes then you have no credibility. You are just like the East Germans who still refuse to admit the Holocaust. Don’t you know that they are still digging up the mass graves in Bosnia? Entire villages and towns were wiped out, men women and children. So don’t complain about being bombed. You deserved it.
No one civilian deserves to be bombed.
I have never complained about bombing, it is not my style to complain, I said I personally blame them for bombing. And I did not neglect anything (specially not “conveniently” as you try to ensue) I said I will be more then willing to discuss it when you make effort and read about what the other side has to say first. It’s lot more easier to ask something in ignorance then answer with facts.
Secondly, the article is called “Understanding USA today” and I wrote and spoke about that. If you write an article “Understanding Serbia today”, I will be more then happy to take that discussion with you there.
Hi Vladmimir,
It’s been much longer than that and was there right from the beginning. If you’re interested in the roots of all that, you might find my thesis Star Trek and the American Dream worth a download (and a quick read). It was written in 1994 as a thesis for MA in English and is a PDF-File of 680Kb.
In its first part I explore the roots of the American Dream. You’ll read about myths like “The Vision of ‘America’”, religious aspects like “The City Upon A Hill” and political aspects of “A Democratic Utopia” with ‘Manifest Destiny’ and other strong beliefs.
It might help Europeans (I am German) tend to develop a better understanding of the roots of “America as Good and Evil”.
Hi Peter
That is a very interesting essay on American Dream. I haven’t read all of it yet but it is written in clear and easy to understand manner.
I think the turning point in American political behavior happened after dropping of two nuclear bombs which was about 60 years ago. They tested the world and the world did not respond. So they concluded they can probably get away with almost anything.
Hello Vlad,
As a discontented American, I’d say your article was pretty fair. I’m not very well versed in exactly what happened that led up to the bombing in Serbia, so I won’t comment on that, except to say that I would have wished that the European Community could have dealt with the problem in a more civilized manner.
As for the rest, it’s sadly true that there are very bright and forward looking people in America, and there are, like anywhere, insular, incurious, self-absorbed, and self-stupefying people also.
In terms of our social discourse, it is unfortunately mediated by a corporate media which has no particular inclination to support the “smart” as opposed to the “stupid”. In fact, if they make any calculation at all, it’s that “stupid” makes for a better market for their lazy and self-aggrandizing claptrap which they pass for news. And they are all corporatists, don’t forget.
Leadership can bring out the worst in people- appealing to their fears and greed and selfishness, for example. We’ve had 8 years of that. America is not the only place that has succumbed to this poison of course; but it is frightening when we are talking about a country that has accumulated more weaponry than the rest of the world combined.
The health care scam- and it is a scam- (people are often kicked off their coverage if they get sick for example), and the other lousy public services you can chalk up to corporate greed and bottom-line thinking, and 30 years of anti-New Deal propaganda from the right, the tools of the corporatists. And the fact that Americans are more and more functionally uneducated when it comes to social and political history and issues- unlike the French, as you correctly point out. So no-one seems to notice that the so-called stimulus package will do nothing to stimulate the economy but will sound good to those Republicans who drool when they hear the words “tax cut”. We could for example spend that money on public works and infrastructure- which would employ many who desperately need the work, and begin fixing the the dilapidated public realm which no-one wants to spend their money on.
We have become, due to intellectual laziness and selfishness, One Nation Under Mars, obsessed with the military, “enemies”, and “threats”. It is astounding to hear republican candidates averring over and over again that the principal job of the president is to “protect us”. It’s pathetic, and also scary. We are still now ruled by an oligarchy representing the military-industrial-pharmaceutical-financial service industry.
After the collapse of Soviet Communism, the Complex sought a redefined role for itself- and Bush Sr. came up with the formula of the US being always prepared to lead coalitions of democracies in putting down “rogue” states and other threats to the New World Order, and demonstrated the principal with his Gulf War. Clinton’s move on Serbia should be seen in that light- of paying obeisance to the concept of the guarantor of the New World Order.
His son George, a more foolish man, fell under the sway of the NeoCons, who believed that while America was the strongest military force in the world, we should impose our will on the world, and prevent any other power from threatening that hegemony.
Thus ensued the horrors of the Bush admin.
It is seeming possible that a majority of Americans might just be ready for a change, from Mars to Venus, to complete the metaphor. This possibility is concentrated now in the candidacy of Barack Obama, so watch how this develops. If we end up electing Obama, Americans will be amazed at themselves, and happy, excluding some die-hard fear-mongers and manipulators. If enough people get behind the deep change, even these evil forces will have to withdraw for a while, then maybe we can heal the discourse and bring intelligence back into our public life. And I can imagine how the rest of the world would react- Obama! wow, there must be more good people in America than we thought! And there are more ‘good people’ than our last two elections have shown. Obama has the gift of bringing out our better sides. Like JFK did.
Apart from the election and possible governmental change there is also the question of the so-called American Empire- catch words beloved by the impatient and intellectually lazy right-wing. I’ve long said that the whole idea is a delusion, inappropriate to reality, and only a measure of our collective ignorance of the world in the 21st century. The “Empire” is of course based on economic and military power. And the military power comes from economic power- we also spend more on ours than the rest of the world combined. But where is all that money coming from? From the rest of the world. Americans have a negative savings rate, and we buy most of our goods from China! Sooner or later, and I think you are seeing it already, other nations which have been advancing the money will find better things to do with it; they will use it to buy up US corporations, they will diversify their currency holdings, they may switch to the Euro for petroleum.
Empires are never defeated. They go broke. And the American Empire is going broke.
I’m looking forward to a post-empire America, one where bright people can engage others around the world to deal with the serious planetary issues that loom; where America joins the community of nations not as a bully, but as a brother.
I am not the only one thinking like this, I can guarantee you; in fact in my circle of friends and family, I don’t know anyone who thinks otherwise. To get a glimpse of how many young people think, go to Words That Shook The World, and listen to some of these high-schoolers give their prize-winning speeches, notably Anna from Minnesota on being a global citizen. These are the people who are excited by the Obama candidacy… so fingers crossed for the big primary day Feb 5th!
Stephen Miller
Dvmx.com
Hi Stephen,
I enjoyed reading your comment and it was a reflection of the impression I got when I first met you few months ago. I knew that restless spirit of yours has to be open minded and ready to critically review the present situation.
You know, we are faced with similar situation in my country now. With presidential elections coming in two days, the nation is in the same kind of dilemma. And I think this dilemma is spread world wide. It is the people of all nations that are becoming aware of the severity of the problem.
Words that shook the world site you mention contains impressive speeches by youth of America and I am optimistic when I hear them. I hope their voice will be heard much further.
Hi Vladimir,
Thanks for your comments- I’m watching the Serbian election, though coverage here is sparse… looks like a very high voter turnout so far.
People seem to really get engaged now about who their “leaders” should be… finally!
Friday night Barack Obama came to Santa Fe- we went 2 hours early to get seats and hit a 10 mile long traffic jam, where we sat for a couple hours until the radio announced that the event location would be closed and the access roads blocked due to the overflow crowds. It was really amazing. I haven’t seen anything like it ever, including the Dalai Lama’s visit in 1991.
A lot of young people are stepping forward to vote for the first time… an internet-informed generation which may be able to see behind the media veil, and make smart choices. And I do think this internet-informed generation may be a world-wide phenomenon.
Let’s hope so, there’s work to be done!
Steve
So your candidate is pretty obvious, a young and energetic man coming from a different background.
I am only a little bit concerned about one thing. History teaches us when a man comes from a repressed background he tends to want to prove himself by overdoing. In this case by it might be showing he is more “white” then others. Since I am not so proud of the “whiteness” of his predecessors I am afraid he does not fall into this trap.
Why is America the most unhealthy environment in the world? Where I live (Oregon) %80 percent of the land is completely virgin (never inhabited by either native americans or whites). how is that unhealthy, in comparison to European countries that have endured centuries — millenia — of agriculture and habitation?
Healthy food can also be acquired in many parts of the nation. And the lifestyle actually is psychologically healthy for most Americans.
Having lived in Europe, I think the only markedly unhealthy element of American culture, in comparison, is the economic disparity — I think that’s what causes the pyschological, food, and environmental lack of general health.
But it’s a really big country — it’s different from state to state.
Vladimir- I wish for you the chance to spend more time here in America. Context and perception can be so easily influenced by the media over time. It’s hard to describe, but the media and political rhetoric is often very far from the truth. Many of our individual “states” are as far removed from the media’s reporting as you are. The filmmaker you mentioned is the opposite of what this nation represents, and most Americans do not share his views at all. I’m sorry you were “bombed” but that took place under the auspices of the United Nations and NATO in order to prevent far worse.
Most of us are just like you- people working hard to make our lives better each day. We are proud of our country, our history, and our willingness to help others. It’s not something easily understood, but then again- how many of us really understand another nation or culture? I’ve spent a great deal of time traveling throughout the world and don’t pretend to understand other nation’s values or to compare them to my own. I honor and respect the unique beauty and cultural treasures of so many other nations. But I wouldn’t live anywhere else.
Best regards-
Beau
David: I meant unhealthy as a mirror of a poor health system. Everything else I agree with.
Beau: Everything what you say makes sense, instead of one thing. We haven’t been bombed in order to prevent far worse. What if 9/11 happened in order to prevent something far worse? Would you think differently about it?
I’d wish I have the chance to spend more time in America.
Vlade, good article!
>You see, change is what brought us from stone age to where we are now. If you have a constitution that does not change to reflect changes in society that is a very bad thing my friend.
This is the poster’s fault, not yours, but the US Constitution has a built-in mechanism for change known as Constitutional Amendments.
On top of the 10 excellent Constitutional Amendments created at the inception of the Constitution in 1791, 17 others have been added, may of them excellent and inspiration for people’s worldwide: abolition of slavery (1865), right for women to vote (1920), presidential term limits (1951), etc. Despite 400 years of semi-irrational European anti-Americanism, don’t underestimate the massive impact of many of these landmark amendments on the governments and daily lives of Europe and Europeans.
Of course there was one extremely stupid amendment (abolition of alcohol) but that was corrected 11 years later by another amendment :)