The U.S. Spirit
by Jorge Vargas
The United States of America is among one of the most fascinating countries in the planet. Not because of that nation's fascination with freedom - humanity yearns freedom, not just U.S. citizens - and most certainly not because of that country's hypocritical Protestant secularism - which few U.S. citizens will ever admit, of course - and also not at all because the great level of economic growth that the Anglo hegemon has experienced - it is too difficult for me to speak of that without also noticing the ever-increasing disparities and the complete lack of action to stop these disparities by this so-called liberal nation.
What is fascinating about the United States is the country's spirit. And here I do not mean the so-called adventurous and intrepid and enterprising spirit of the U.S. people. I do not consider buying a second car or starting a business with the money of one's parents or forcing a factory in India to close or driving on a Jeep in New Mexico particularly adventurous, intrepid, or enterprising.
Figuring out how to use rocks to cook raw meat in sub-Saharan Africa is adventurous, intrepid, and enterprising. Avoiding the double terrors of an imperial army and a ruthless subversive movement in Iraq is adventurous, intrepid, and enterprising. Finding a way to survive in Lima-Peru with a 7,000% annual inflation rate in the middle of a national debt crisis and a civil war is adventurous, intrepid, and enterprising.
The spirit that I am speaking of is different from that spoken of in the common U.S. mythology of the 'national spirit' and the 'national will.' I do not have time for fairy tales. But then, I am not a child at heart.
But the so-called U.S. 'national spirit' is not one of adventure and enterprise and so forth and so on. Instead, it is the spirit of a child - and here one speaks generally though certainly not in an all-encompassing manner for there are always exceptions, just as there are always majorities. It is the spirit of a child's level of hope. And in this, one can find greatness.
However, it is also a spirit of a child's irrational fears and expectations. World food prices are on the rise and the world's poor are finding themselves very much unable to buy food. Starvation, let us be frank, is on the rise.
But what is the U.S. concerned about? An irrational child's fairy tale of a rival team's jersey being placed within the concrete of a new stadium for one of New York City's baseball clubs. This led to an excavation of the new arena in order to find this jersey so as to avoid a curse against the team. That is childish - and perfectly acceptable if children had done it but when adults are the actors, it starts to become slightly embarrassing and admittedly stupid. I will admit that I had to ask myself, when hearing of this story, the following question: How can this country be a world power?
We'll return to that question, for I can provide the beginnings of an answer.
Now, some childishness is acceptable. After all, football (soccer) fans of South America and Europe have been known to act particularly immaturely following a match. Surely, that is childish.
But this childishness spreads far beyond sports, in the united hegemon of Vespucci's America. This childishness affects questions of morality - i.e., the irrational and frightening close-mindedness so prevalent throughout large swathes of the U.S. regarding sex, promiscuity, and sexuality. What is the rationale againt forbidding all direct mention of sex on Television and of being so detested by pre-marital relations so as to largely ignore the issues facing single mothers (to say nothing of teen pregnancies, though the film Juno was perhaps the best attempt by the U.S. to come to terms with this reality)? Is it because sex is, at some level, gross to the public of this nation? Or is it - and this is what I suspect - because the Bible prohibits it?
I was born in a Catholic nation, and the Catholic creed also does not look kindly on premarital sex but it recognizes that we are all capable of sinning and, as such, we recognize the need for mature conversations about sex in order to enhance an adult understanding of it on our youth. Talk about it with your partner and don't just sit there and wonder about it. I guarantee you that if you talk, you'll be more prepared for the effects of it afterward.
But this is not merely a discussion of sports and sex - admittedly, the two favorite topics of most men.
Childishness is fine in sports. It is not so fine in defining morality, though it does in the United States (let's not even talk about the embarrassing taboos still surrounding homosexuality).
But what happens when fantasy dominates over public policy and political diplomacy?
Iran - and here I write with the obvious approval of CIA research - has no means of launching a nuclear attack on Israel, has no intentions of attaining those means, and, saber-rattling aside, has done nothing to demonstrate any genuine hostility toward Israel in the past few years. The only countries to have led an invasion force anywhere in the world in the past decade have been the (is this adventurous, intrepid, and enterprising?) United States and Israel, and a handful of African countries. But the story-telling U.S. politicians are choosing to ignore this, and they were assisted in this by an eternally profit-driven mass media machine (there goes the 'freedom').
The story-tellers, such as that venomous presidential candidate Mrs. Clinton, insist on discussing Iran and on threatening Iran and on claiming to have the will to 'obliterate' Iran. Has Iran become the new boogeyman? Is there an ayatollah hiding in Mr. Bush's closet? Or underneath Mr. McCain's bed? I never had a fear of a boogeyman - we have much more serious things to fear in my home country - so I do not know where else the boogeyman can hide. So I must ask the U.S. readers, does the boogeyman also hide in Iraq and Iran?
But that's enough mocking. It's time to be serious - or as serious as possible when debating against the claims made regarding Iran's so-called intentions.
Brace yourselves: Iran is not evil. Iran is no different from France (but the U.S. also has a childish dislike of France so that is a bad example) and Iran is no different from the U.S.
Iran's leaders, like those of the U.S., are acting out of their own best interests - and those are interwoven with the national interests, though they are not identical at all. Iran's leaders are not stupid - and neither is Mr. Bush, though one may harbor doubts about Ms. Rice's abilities - and they realize that an attack on Israel would bring about war. However, their public is not fond of Israel - this is understandable given Israel's own abuses in the region - and so the Iranian leadership has to do some saber-rattling.
Now, the United States has no legitimate reason to fear or dislike Iran (unless the U.S. is finally willing to admit that it wants Iran's oil). Thus, the leaders of the U.S. - or those desiring to be leaders - must make the U.S. citizenry fear and dislike Iran enough to legitimate action against the Persian state. That was the same rationale that led to the obvious lies regarding Iraq's intentions prior to March 2003. So the politicians are building up a new boogeyman, and he is in Iran. And the children eagerly follow.
If it sounds simple, it's because it is. The difficulty in politics is finding the right words - the logic itself is easy to figure out.
And the children eagerly support. They vote based on their irrational and unexplainable fear of the boogeyman. And what happens?
Iran hears threats coming from imbeciles - yes, without apology - like Mrs. Clinton, and the Israelis are likely feeling like would-be hegemons themselves because, let's face it, a nuclear umbrella can make you cocky. So what does Iran do? Turn the other cheek? Oh, if Jesus had been a politician, what a beautiful world this would be.
Iran will hear this, Iran's public will feel threatened (they know that the U.S. works on lies and manipulation rather than on facts) and so Iran's leaders must respond to Iran's public by doing more saber-rattling. No other choice. You need to soothe your people from the fear of a nuclear madman across the Atlantic (I'm talking about Mr. Bush being the madman, by the way). So Iran insults Israel or the U.S. or says something about September 11, 2001. Any of those will give the U.S. justification to say: "Look at what the boogeyman did! Let's nuke him!" Fancier and more colorful language will be used, and the 'American spirit' will likely be brought into the fray, but that will be the general message.
And the children eagerly follow. And the children eagerly support. The children, as real children do in their games, will think that they are the good guys. Now the game gets fun. Because now the favorite toys get taken out: Defense of freedom. Spread of liberty. To say nothing of women's rights (are women even 30% of the U.S. Congress? - I thought so).
Now, the United States is not the only nation led by children and manipulated by childish fantasies. But it is the biggest and most powerful - in terms of military power, at least; thanks, EU, for trumping their Dollar, we owe you one. And it is the most dangerous. We don't give real children guns, do we? And it is for precisely the same reasons.
The majority of children in the U.S., thankfully, do not know what guns can really do. Similarly, majority of U.S. citizens in the U.S. do not understand what nuclear power really can do, which explains the childish eagerness to use that power haphazardly.
The U.S spirit can be beautiful - the so-called prosperity and the internal peace of this country has allowed people to live with legitimate hope - but it can be deadly for it is too easy manipulated. And with an educational system that can only barely trump that of Colombia or Venezuela, this childishness - we can also call it ignorance, come to think of it - will not disappear. Furthermore, U.S. politicians know how to manipulate this childishness easily, and they will not yield this power.
In the meantime, the boogeymen are coming. Run! Hide! Buy gas masks!
In the meantime, for those of us living in the real world, let us watch carefully this Mrs. Clinton, for she appears to be more dangerous than Mr. Bush - I do not remember him threatening obliteration. Let us also work together to contain and, if at all possible, assist and educate those swathes of the U.S. public who are wrapped up in this national spirit of childishness.
In the meantime, for those of us living in the real world, let us be careful around children. They are not adept at taking criticism, for they see criticism as insult. And they see advice as threat. And they see assistance as arrogance. And they see speculation as accusation. And children are quick to anger.
But let us also not lose sight of the fact that the people of the United States of America, despite their faults, are a great people who have had the bad luck of a bad educational system and over-manipulative politicians and business interests. We can work with these people and, assisting them and with their assistance, we can build something better than our global system. It will just take a lot of patience.
And let us hope that the great people of Iran are not too caught up in their fear. Iran has the power to stop the cycle as well, though it will require the mature act of accepting the threat and trusting in the force of the international community to curtail U.S. ambitions. Yes, the global community failed Iraq, but the fight was strong enough that it has made the U.S. think twice before launching another war. We can still have hope.
And as for how this country became so powerful, the beginnings of an answer lie in the rebel American leaders who founded this country and the institutions that they set up to dominate the nascent United States of America. Those institutions, though not perfect, curtailed corruption in ways that other systems have failed to do. Furthermore, the British method of colonialization in the 1600s and 1700s, which favored mercantilism instead of landed elites (the latter being a Spanish colonial specialty) made it so that the elite class of the U.S. was fluid in the nation's early years, preventing a class hegemony from appearing for some time. It has appeared, and this will likely weaken the behemoth. But that is a prediction, and predictions are dangerous for they work to presuppose our thoughts and expectations.
