I admit it, this diary is a reaction to a title of another diary. I've not read the other diary, and I suspect I may even agree with some of the points in the other diary when I do (after writing this). I'm reminded of something a British friend said to me after the 2000 election debacle: "How can you love your country?" I replied that while there are a lot of things we're doing as a nation that make me cringe (and even more so now, 11 years later), I am still glad to be an American. I offered him some tangible, non-jingoistic things I think are pretty good about the US, and he seemed either mollified or convinced I was nuts.
My email to him worked around in the back of my mind for a few years, and in 2005, I delivered a talk entitled "What's Right With US", as a hopeful counterweight to the Bush re-election and continued wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. I entered the piece, as I enter this diary, being "cynically optimistic."
Yes, I am angry about wealth distribution and the triumph of greed. I am angry about the loss of freedom in the name of security. I mourn our politicians' loss of focus on who the American people really are. I am utterly freaked out about the stripping of reproductive rights. I cry for our environment. I get frustrated that huge groups of people in this country start with such radically different basic premises about life, liberty, happiness, religion, and property that we can't even find commonality. A dear friend often has to "talk me down" when I read about Dominionism rearing its head in state legislatures and on Capitol Hill.
And yet... there are a few things that make me think being an American isn't all bad. The points I make below are one part the email to my British friend, three parts the sermon I gave, and one part additional thoughts written today.
The first point, of course, is that I - and the diarist who is ashamed to be an American - both have the right to say it. For all the shouting, for all the 10-second sound bites that make my blood boil, I agree with James Buchanan, who said, “I like the noise of democracy”... and I agree with former congresswoman Pat Schroeder that “we wouldn’t have thrived and developed as we have without that noise.”
I especially like that while the teahadists made us crazy two summers ago, there was room for them to scream at the top of their lungs. The balance of last year's Rally to Restore Sanity and the amazing protests now in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Michigan (et. al.) tell me that we can't be shouted down. We have a voice, and in the US, we are allowed to use it.
I like that the stories of where we come from are so varied. On my mother's side, we have ancestors who came on the Mayflower and the Winthrop fleets. On my father's, our ancestors gazed in wonder at the Statue of Liberty as they sailed to Ellis Island. My good friend WineRev's parents are Estonian refugees and he is first-generation American. I have one neighbor who is full-blooded Mohawk. And another who recently emigrated from China and is hoping her green card arrives any day now. I especially like that while laws like SB 1070 in Arizona are being passed to keep the next generation of immigrants out, people like my friend Rev. Peter Morales (president of the Unitarian Universalist Association) are willingly going to jail to make sure these immigrants can get in too.
The American dream lives - not just in new/hopeful immigrants, but in all of us. Despite knowing that most of us will never become president – we all believe that we all have an equal chance to succeed. Alan Alda, actor and second generation American, summed it up beautifully: “By the time I was a child,” he said, “my family took it for granted that we were Americans and because of that, we were entitled to everything the country had to offer.”
The American dream is like a side show barker: ‘step right up, folks, don’t be shy.’ Sure you may struggle; “there is,” as columnist Anna Quinlen says, “that Calvinist undercurrent in [our] psyche that loves the difficult…” but we see the difficult “as a test of our character.” We live for our goals, our future, our fantasies. “Life for Americans,” says Albert Einstein, “is always becoming, never being.”
I like that we are known as innovators – we are natural inventors, always looking for ways to build a better mousetrap. As Ted Turner said, “This is America. We can do anything here.” And we do – we created skyscrapers and telephones and light bulbs and salad shooters and computer chips and airplanes and a million other things.
And speaking of invention, I love our tall tales. Such adventure! Such dreaming! John Henry, who could wield a powerful hammer…Paul Bunyan with his ax….Johnny Appleseed, who populated our nation with the fruit of our labors…they all point to a wonderful characteristic of America: that we all can be heroes – that we each imagine our lives writ large. Literary critic Leslie Fiedler says “To be an American (unlike being English or French or whatever) is precisely to imagine a destiny rather than to inherit one; since we have always been, insofar as we are Americans at all, inhabitants of myth rather than history.” What is special about our myths, however, is that they prove, as former senator Phil Gramm points out, that “the genius of the American system is that we have created extraordinary results from plain old ordinary people.”
When it comes to American myths and legends, it gets no better than the story of our country’s beginnings. Despite the co-opting of the stories by the Tea Party (and their subsequent mangling of them), the truth is not only amazing but legendary. The men of the Continental Congresses absolutely believed that they could develop a political system that would stand the test of time – and they debated fiercely to guarantee the rights we take for granted today. There are the gripping arguments over the wording of the Declaration – made dramatic in the musical 1776. Then there’s the first American example of battling punditry: the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers, op-ed pieces where the content of the Constitution was debated. All of these discussions always had the formation of this extraordinary government in mind. As author John Gunther points out, “Ours is the only country deliberately founded on a good idea.” That good idea – that all men are created equal, that we ARE endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, that as Henry Ward Beecher says, “every man shall have liberty to be what God made him, without hindrance” – that good idea is the genius we recognize today.
I appreciate, however, that the genius we celebrate has flaw. I like that our forefathers put together this incredible experiment in governing, full of imperfections. Sigmund Freud called America “a terrible mistake,” but it is the mistakes we make – our faults, our imperfections – that make us resilient. Walter Cronkite explains:
Through the greatest of daring and the greatest of ambition this nation’s Founding Fathers brought forth the design for a nearly perfect government that guaranteed the freedom and dignity of the individual. Perfection was denied, since, despite their high resolution to recognize and promote equality among all humankind, the economics and morals of the time permitted them to leave in existence the most abominable of inequality – the practice of slavery. The government they devised, however, was a model of democracy.
Poet E.E. Cummings continues the thought: “America makes prodigious mistakes, America has colossal faults, but one thing cannot be denied: America is always on the move. She may be going to Hell, of course, but at least she isn't standing still.”
The way our system is set up, we simply cannot stand still. Richard Lamm, former governor of Colorado, sums it up nicely:
America is the guarantee of self-government; it is the continual search for justice and fairness; it is dedication to a system of social mobility that allows anyone to rise above the circumstances of birth….greatness is not a guarantee, it is a continuing challenge. It must be won anew each generation.
Aaron Sorkin, in his screenplay for The American President, talks about the challenge:
America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You've got to want it bad, because it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say, “You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil who is standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the 'land of the free'? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest.” Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then you can stand up and sing about the ‘land of the free.’
Now of course, the problem is that some of the rhetoric is sticking, and there are those who are actually hurting others by suggesting that Obama is a socialist/Marxist/fascist, or that God's law trumps Man's law, and that we have more to fear than to embrace. The good news, maybe, is that the American people are beginning to see what happens when they let the radical rhetoric of fear take office, and there's a pretty universal sense of buyer's remorse. But that's the beauty: we can 'throw the bums out' (see: Wisconsin; recall). The nation will stand. We are resilient.
And we've proved our resiliency: despite scandals, wars, crises, and violence, we are still here. We haven’t had a coup d’etat, we haven’t completely discarded one system for another. We as citizens are stronger than any problem we face. We may feel bowled over by politicians who don’t seem to love Americans, but we overcome their fury with quiet (and sometimes not so quiet) perseverance.
I like that we have not forgotten our freedom of worship…that despite the efforts of many to make us a “Christian” nation (see: Glenn Beck, David Barton, and Sarah Palin), we simply have not gone there. I often stand in a puplit in a Unitarian Universalist church, often speaking on things having nothing to do with Christianity, and I could not be there were it not for this first amendment freedom. And I mean that literally as well as philosophically; some of my ancestors – including John Winthrop – were facing persecution for their radical religion, and it’s entirely possible that one or more of my ancestors might have been killed in the name of religious correctness. That they had the foresight to seek out this new land speaks volumes about the promise of this place. While I may not agree with "Grandpa Winthrop" on theology, I suspect he might acknowledge his role in our having that freedom.
I like that despite rhetoric over family values and definitions of marriage, we are a country made up of so many different family types (those with mothers and fathers, single family homes, gay and lesbian parents, kids being raised by grandparents, families of friends)…and we all coexist in our cities, towns, and villages. And I love that DADT and DOMA are becoming relics, I love that states are considering (and in some cases, passing) marriage equality, and I love that more Americans now support gay marriage. It shows me that we can change, and we can learn.
I like that in my own family, nearly every political party is represented - and no matter our differences, we all respect, love, and honor each other. We get into fierce debate ourselves, over taxation, social issues, war, and of course Hillary (who was more a topic of conversation when she was our senator); but our debates are not just about personality but rather about our government. Admittedly, we talk less about politics now, as my brother has embraced teahadism with a fury, but aside from the political rifts, we genuinely like and enjoy each other's company.
I love that one of the most popular AND most critically acclaimed programs on network television – The West Wing – was all about our government. It shows me that we retain a national hunger to know and to understand how we work, beyond the sound bites and the civics lessons. In a typical episode, you can learn about several government agencies, the behind-the-scenes work on legislation, how policy decisions are made, and hear a bit of Shakespeare, Caesar, or even Gilbert & Sullivan. It gave me great relief during the Bush administration to be able to imagine a presidency I'd have generally agreed with. It even appealed to my Republican sister, who didn't always agree with the political ideology but loved watching "the sausage being made." (BTW: I stand in constant admiration of series creator Aaron Sorkin - so much of his work has reflected my own cynical optimism.)
Speaking of TV, I like that a television network took a chance on a series of three-minute animated videos in the 1970s called Schoolhouse Rock, and subsequently taught a generation how a bill becomes a law, about Manifest Destiny, and how the Revolution began. When I was in Seventh grade, our teacher introduced the Constitution with the question, “does anyone know any part of the Preamble?” Without missing a beat, twenty-seven kids started singing.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Thank you, ABC, Lynn Ahrens, and Bob Dorough – and the teachers who have put up with our singing. (I also wish to add that it's striking at how LARGE the words "We the People" are on the original Constitution in the National Archives. It is a pretty amazing reminder of what this was all about.)
I like that educators across the nation still instill a sense of pride in their students – from reciting the pledge of allegiance to singing patriotic tunes. There is something moving about hearing a classroom full of seven-year olds belting out – mostly in tune –the "America the Beautiful." Again, thanks to the teachers who have put up with our singing. Of course, we need to work hard to protect their jobs - how we treat teachers in this country makes me cry. But we can - we CAN overcome the greed and sexism that keeps our teachers down. It's a long, hard battle that we may be fighting for generations to come, but we will continue to fight. And we will win.
I like that we celebrate the strange, the unusual, the bizarre, the funny – even though we are slowly becoming homogenized (a strip mall is a strip mall is a strip mall), we love our individuality and uniqueness. And we have the freedom to be strange, unusual and bizarre; as author John Ciardi says, “The Constitution gives every American the inalienable right to make a damn fool of himself.” And thanks to the internet, you can see the strange, the unusual, the bizarre, and the funny with the click of a button, on YouTube, I Can Haz Cheezburger, TMZ, and even MSNBC, The Washington Post, and yes, Daily Kos.
I like that despite our wide diversity, there are still things common in our experience. We collectively share some national memories – landing on the moon, winning the gold for hockey in the 1980 Olympics, working for the WW II war effort, watching Challenger explode. There are some comforts in our common American experience as well – and oddly, those are found mostly in our commercial culture. Having moved around a bit in my adult life, I make it a point to find the local gems – cafes, shops, places for recreation. However, in those first few weeks in a new city, knowing that I can order a decent pizza from Papa John’s, find garbage bags at Walmart, and get a Tylenol that is the same as any other Tylenol wherever I am is a comfort. And whether I’m rich (which I never have been) or poor (which I am most of the time), those comforts are within easy reach. Andy Warhol put it best in his piece on “Popism”:
What is great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-cola, and you can know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same in the end, and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.
I love our geography…I love that we explored and found such diversity across the nation – from tropical islands to deep woodlands, from stunning deserts to sultry swamplands, “from the mountains to the prairies to the oceans white with foam.” Many of our patriotic songs and poems reflect upon the beauty of this land. Emerson said, “Yet America is a poem in our eyes; its ample geography dazzles the imagination, and it will not wait long for metres.” I’m glad we are explorers….and dreamers. Although we’ve surpassed the geographic goals of Manifest Destiny, it remains a part of the American character. Lyndon Johnson said, “For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that is sleeping in the unplowed ground."
But most of all, I like the people. Thomas Jefferson said the people are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty. But more than that, we are, as a rule, good people. After a cross-country trip where he purposely stopped only in small towns, a young man in my congregation said to his father and I, "America is filled with really nice people. You can get help anywhere; people are good to talk with anywhere.” We are a nation of…well, just about everything. Author EM Forster said, “America is rather like life. You can usually find in it what you look for. It will probably be interesting, and it is sure to be large.”
I like US. I like who we are and what we’re about, even when we’re about different things. I’d like to close with these words from Dick Clark:
Though we don’t always agree with one another, our love of country is the thing that holds us together. We don’t have a common religion. The things we eat have been introduced from all over the world. We vote differently from one another. We don’t all look alike. We share a variety of tastes in art, literature, and music. This diversity is what makes us strong. There just is no place like the United States of America. It’s one of a kind.
Amen, blessed be, so may it be.