I'm a second generation American. My grandparents immigrated from Germany, Iceland and Denmark, seeking a life far from the turbulence of World War I Europe. Born in 1943, I remember the years when Americans were unified by the sacrifices and victories of World War II. The U.S.A. moved from jingoism and colonialism to become saviors of the planet! But then we lost the recipe, embarked on a series of undeclared wars and became the standard bearer for a soulless corporatism intent on securing offshore wealth, installing oppressive regimes, and opposing egalitarianism if it threatened our moneyed interests.
From savior to threat in a single generation, elements already extant in our society conspired to maintain white supremacy, control of wealth by powerful "insider" families and a return to a false patriotism based on nationalism rather than morality and ideals. A generational conflict between these opposing forces brought us riots and internal threats of revolution in the 1960s as our government used forced conscription to wage a war of attrition in Southeast Asia. We took up the mantle of colonialism lost by our allies, the French, who were defeated by North Vietnamese nationalists at Dien Bien Phu in May, 1954.
During my youth America became the enforcer of a destructive capitalism that placed profit over people. Maybe that's what we always were, that was always our value, the unspoken unifier for Americans ensconced in the halls of power. Perhaps our "nobility" in World War II was nothing but a by-product - defending continued exploitation in our quest for profit was likely the closet motivation for joining the battles of liberation in Europe. And the war in the Pacific nothing but a clash between two colonial powers for domination in that region!
If one abandons the bias favored in our school books for a more pragmatic view - "follow the money" - things begin to make more sense. It always amazed me that we would allow foreign ownership of American properties, the sell-off of once independent Hawaii to Chinese and Japanese interests, French ownership of Bank of the West. Such things are kept under wraps, I only learned of these examples by living in Hawaii for three years, and because "BoW" was once my bank.
The quiet alliances that favor corporatism have no respect for our founding documents. Our wars are fought to control wealth, not to promote democracy. The intellectual triumphs of the Enlightenment are a mere abstraction to be overcome in the pursuit of personal power and family enrichment. Given this seedbed of avarice, it's no small wonder that a foreign opportunist from Australia could use accumulated wealth to build a media empire: Rupert Murdoch and Fox, voice for the original enemy within. And now, off the radar for a majority of Americans, the cancer is metastasizing. Driven by a Mussolinic fascination for the narcissistic, immoral, culturally ignorant, racist deposed president #45, there are new networking websites, fountains of misinformation posing as news sources, armed militias waiting for a "go" signal. And the Republican party has become a blatant fifth column, opposed to equality, an advance guard for despotism! The GOP is now a neo-fascist shill for the vultures who use unadulterated capitalism for personal enrichment while crushing the middle class, seeking to perpetuate lack of opportunity for others so they may continue their monopolistic rape of the planet's resources regardless of consequence.
I often wonder what I owe the country of my birth. If "no man is an island," what do I do to ensure the wellbeing of my fellow citizens? How can I serve humanity? I know war is an immoral "tool of the devil," I fervently believe in human rights - what can I possibly do to halt ignorance and destruction? My answer is to live humbly, "leave only footprints" and combat misinformation that would seek to divide us or rationalize evil.
Can't do it by myself, so tell your Trumpublican friends they are being conned, advise liberals not to follow politicians, be aware of the hypocrisies inherent in all politics. And, dear people, learn to look within, cultivate your own spirituality. Ultimately, we are all one. When awareness of our connectedness becomes a given, not a remote concept occasionally touched upon in a pastor's sermon, or a sidebar to a TV interview, then you will have refined your shit-detector, become less prone to blandishments from any source whatsoever. We are all divine. In the process of learning critical thinking, we will also assimilate much that is false or misdirected. Once we accept and attune ourselves to the universal divinity we all share, the process of discarding that which is false and divisive may proceed. Life is not a zero-sum game where someone else must lose to enable my prosperity. Beware overly simple solutions that involve dehumanization or disrespect. The best solutions are inherently simple, at their core an expression of love!
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