I know that for most of you, Thanksgiving probably already seems like ages ago. The leftovers are gone (except for that weird yellow-blue thing growing on the cranberry sauce), the tryptophan has long since worn off, your Teabagger cousin vacated the premises just in time to avoid having some sense beaten into him. Yet there are parts of the world that do not celebrate Thanksgiving, where people do not eat turkey and have never heard of pumpkin pie*, where internet access is touch-and-go even when it's available. The last bit will hopefully explain the lateness of this brief diary.
Without threatening my employment (hopefully), I currently work for a certain New Frontier-era organization in an East African nation that Teabaggers always seem to confuse with Hawaii, for some reason. Living in small farming community, I am constantly asked “So what do you think of Kenya? What do you think of the roads? Of the people? Of the weather? How is it in America?” They say the word “America” with an almost religious reverence. Only part of this is “Obamamania.”
To me, among the greatest of Bush's follies was the way he pissed away all the goodwill the United States had built up from World War II, the Cold War, and Bill Clinton's public outreach. The symbiotic duo of Bush and bin Laden convinced most of the world's Muslims that America was a hostile, occupationist power and our professed liberty a joke. I had hoped so much that Barack Obama would be able to help us rebuild our image overseas. A nation's image or reputation is critically important: Machiavelli famously wrote that a successful ruler must be feared or respected. Through preventive war, torture, and other war crimes, the Bush administration ensured that America would not be respected; through incompetent management of his wars, he ensured that America would not be feared either.
A quick glance at world opinion polls will show that indeed, America's “favorables” have increased markedly since Bush left office. Yet not as much as one might have expected. Under Obama, America has failed to close the Guantanamo Bay gulag. Failed to prosecute or even reprimand any former officials for their numerous crimes. Failed to stay true to a principled opposition to the coup regime in Honduras. Failed to repeal DADT. Failed to take on the bigots who tell American's Muslim, Latina, and GLBTQ communities that they have no place in this country. Failed to pass a strong health care reform bill. Failed to pass a financial reform bill with teeth. Failed to do a damn thing for Labor. Failed on Obama's campaign promise to halt “the rising of the seas and the warming of the world.” Failed to use the BP oil fiasco to push for an end to offshore drilling. Failed to meaningfully address America's crumbling infrastructure. Failed to dramatically increase non-military foreign aid, still stuck at less than 0.10% of GDP, far less than any comparably industrialized nation. As of this moment, failed to even extend already meager unemployment benefits at a time of 9.6% unemployment. The FAIL goes on and on.**
Yet despite all the ways in which the US has failed so miserably over the past decade to even attempt to live up the ideals upon which our nation was founded, people in Kenya and throughout the developing world still view the US as a “city on a hill.” It's not just that they admire us for our incredible wealth and for the pirated Hollywood movies they love so much. They are inspired by our IDEALS!
In 2007-2008, parts of Kenya were torn apart by ethnic violence. This past summer, Kenyans overwhelmingly voted for a new Constitution based closely on our own, one with checks and balances and in which power is decentralized (Under the old Constitution, power was concentrated almost entirely at the center, at the federal level, and ethnic-based parties would attempt to gain power in a zero-sum game. Ethnic groups that weren't able to win nationally were shut out of access to resoures in many cases, thus enhancing the appeal of taking power through street violence). This new katiba (constitution) was approved by the highly-religious Kenyan people dispite the unified efforts of the Religious Right in Kenya (heavily funded and directed by the same American Taliban that was so instrumental in pushing Uganda's infamous anti-gay bill).
While America has demonized the International Criminal Court and “foreign jurisprudence,” most Kenyans are strongly supportive of the ICC's investigation into the ringleaders of the ethnic riots in 2007-2008, even though a number of prominent national politicians are likely to be indicted. Kenyans thrill to every twist and turn in the numerous corruption investigations opened by the new anti-corruption czar PLO Lumumba. At the same time as America's leaders ignore the war crimes committed by former officials and turn a blind eye to the floodgates of corruption loosed by Citizens United, Kenyans are pursuing fearless investigations into past human rights abuses and corruption, inspired largely by a desire to be “like America.”
It's easy to get discouraged by all the epic fail going on back home. Sometimes, when I see the way Kenyans look up to us, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Yes, we have the poor in America. Yes, we have bad roads in America (“bad” being of course a relative term). Yes, we have corrupt politicians in America. No, we don't punish those who use "hate speech" or commit human rights abuses. But it isn't the REALITY of America that they look up to. It's the IDEAL. So my humble Thankgiving wish is not that America be a nation which is looked up to in a way no other nation is (the US already is). It's that we DESERVE it. We have so much to be thankful for and the esteem and admiration of those in the developing world is no small thing. This then is the real task for all who love this great, crazy country of ours: to move it closer to the fulfillment of its founding promise. To completely deserve the hopes that millions in “huts and villages across the globe, struggling to break the bonds of mass misery,” have placed on us and to vindicate their faith in America's innate goodness.
Addendum: This would be a good place to start (ironic, given my criticism of this man in the above post [and many others]. One of the few things one can be thankful to his administration for.
*For the record, I had non-USDA-approved flank steak, ugali (maize flour and water cooked to the consistency of mashed potatoes), sukuma-wiki (kind of like spinach), and cinnamon rolls that smelled and tasted like Freedom (and Cinnabon).
**Not to minimize the very real accomplishments of the Obama administration in many other areas, from saving Detriot to saving Wall St (though Main St is still hurting).