Unapologetically, I am an American. To be exact, a citizen of the United States of America, born in Chicago, Illinois to parents who came to the US from Jamaica.
This country was founded as a republic - a political order in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who are entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them. It has never been an exact democracy in the sense that the majority rules, but it is up to the majority to choose its representation well to speak up on our behalf.
In the beginning, the dream was for the wealthy, white, former British citizens who grew weary of paying taxes to the King. They set a plan in motion to divorce themselves from their Motherland in order to create their idealized society where all men [white men, not women, not children, not slaves, not Natives] were created equal and to be treated fairly under the law.
The US is a melting pot, built on the backs of people from all over the world. All healthy governments must grow and evolve to accomodate its citizens or risk becoming obsolete or overthrown. While the original dream of this country was for the minority of the people, it had to change to accomodate the rest of its citizens on whom its growth depended.
The Natives of this land as well as captured and purchased slaves from Africa and poor, white indentured servants were literally the blood, sweat and tears who not only fought to free this country from England and in other wars, but physically built this nation.
Over the centuries, people came in from other countries to escape their homeland for various reasons to pursue a fresh start in the United States. Many of these people were vital workforce factors who helped build roads, railways, creating new cities, developing new inventions and technology, improving the way things have been done, contributing to our overall education, and helping to establish our work ethic. All of these people brought with them their social mores, cultures, foods and languages which have filtered into our general American culture. These people are as every bit American as were the Founding Fathers.
I realize there is a great distrust of Americans in many parts of the world. Most people who are labeled as "anti-American" usually have nothing against the average citizen, but the political structure of our country that has backed up policies that have created havoc in their land. If it seems their hatred is directed at ALL Americans, it is only because for the most part we choose to remain ignorant about what our government is doing to them and it as if we approve of what they are doing by default.
It would also be wrong to blanket over what people from around the world feel about the US and its citizens. There are some who wish we all were dead, but they are the minority. There are some who love the way our government structure is based on letting people have a voice - even if they do disagree with how we use that power. Some respect the US and what it means to be an American and give it 100% approval while others may respect it, but have a problem with certain aspects of our culture.
It is also wrong for the rest of the world to paint what it means to be an American, especially for those who don't really know us. That is why I am writing this article. I am one voice out of many different voices represented in this country. Some people here will agree with everything I say. Others will say I am a wacko or a traitor to this country. Still others will lie somewhere in between. The bottom line is in this country I am supposed to be free to voice my opinion as are my critics. It doesn't make me less of an American, even if I don't agree with the so-called "norm" of what I should be.
The United States is a great country. I love it. That is not to say I think every other country is rotten in comparison. To the contrary, I believe there are many great things about a lot of different countries. I just personally have never lived in any other country to develop a concrete opinion to compare, which is why I don't make the claim we live in the greatest country in the world. The United States is not perfect either and we do have our problems.
Most of the Westernized countries have the same freedoms we enjoy here such as free speech, free press, free religion and so forth. We don't have the exclusive when it comes to being "free".
Our freedoms are coming more from a capitalist basis than from other free countries and tends to short-change some of our citizens who are not as ambitious or financially focuses as the upper class. It is truly the Golden Rule - He who has the gold, rules.
Because the wealthy tend to be after what is best for their bottom line, they don't seem to pay much attention to how their policies affect others in this country or abroad. They are not really the bad guys, but they are looking out for themselves. They rationalize that they are truly the ones that keep the economy going and they deserve special treatment, benefits, and privilege. They create the jobs here and overseas. They make the loans to the rich and poor. They back up companies via stocks and bonds. When they lose, they lose a lot of money. When they win, they win big money. They could argue anyone with a bit of ambition could do it if they really wanted it, so stop blaming them for being so successful.
On that point, I would agree. The US will bend over backwards to those who want to start their own business without loading them down in red tape as other countries would insist on putting upon the entrepreneur. Due to some of the people who complain, many road blocks have been put in the path of the entrepreneur, but not to the degree of other countries. Anyone could come to the US with a bit of ambition and a business plan and have a good shot of becoming wealthy.
I can see their point of view. I can also see another one. Without the lower classes, they have no one to work their businesses, to borrow money from them to profit, to be the consumer market which gives them more profit... Without this lower class, there would be no growth in profit for the upper class. If you abuse your potential customer base, you eventually hurt your own business, therefore most businesses tend to see a bigger picture than the worker who may earn a pitiful wage. However, the worker is part of the consumer class and treating the workers poorly can hurt the business as well.
Our rich get richer and our poor get more poor. This is only one of our problems.
Life should be about more than just the money. This is why many people paint Americans as greedy. It seems we will do terrible things just to get money to the exclusion of all the other great things about life - family, health, relaxation/vacation, nature, education, and literature among all things. It is as if there is no profit to be made, it is not worth pursuing.
Some of the heat we get from other countries is how our policies interfere with their lives. We tend to enforce laws and rules on other countries to ensure we keep their regions stable for our profit line. Some of this results in our country playing both sides of the fence in the differences of warring nations to our own benefit without regards to what either nation really wants. We then are forced to keep our troops over there to insure the peace to keep our profits flowing - even if this is considered rude and invasive by the people whose land we occupy long after our stay is no longer welcomed.
Education is another sore point in our country. It is embarrassing when people from other countries know more about American History than we do. Ask the typical high school student questions on history, geography, math, or science and you are likely to face a blank stare. Our children may be way behind much of the rest of the developed nations in education, but the adults really aren't that much better than the children. The standards for education are improving, however the more poor and disadvantaged the area, the greater the chances are for kids to fall through the cracks.
Our source for updates about events going on in the world are definability "dumbed down" for an American audience with a short attention span. We get the gist of a story based on the bias of the reporter without seeing the whole picture. We hardly hear of events going on outside of our country to know what others are going through and even those rare events we get a glimpse of what's going on, it is still watered down news. Unless we take it upon ourselves to really seek out the news, we won't know what happened.
Are Americans lazy? Yes and no. I really hate that generalization about all Americans being fat, lazy and stupid. Yes, we do have a lifestyle that leads to a more sedentary way of life. Yes, we do eat foods that are over-processed to the point that they lose original nutritional content or are pumped full of hormones and/or genetically altered. Yes, we realize our habits do take a toll on our lifespan. We watch television and play video games. We are, for the most part, far behind the educational standards of developed nations. All of this is true, but it is not as bad as all that.
By and large, Americans work longer hours than most people in developed nations. We are constantly tweaking and re-inventing the wheel. The things we develop usually take off in greater success in the rest of the world - what we start, many countries finish if we don't perfect it first. We set the standards and leave it to the rest of the world to take off with or to reject., although at times we impose it upon people who don't want it.
We are the kings of shortcuts. If there is a way to do things easier, we will find it and practice it. As we have most of our time obsessed with making as much money as we can in the shortest period of time, we have to take shortcuts to get it all done. We don't really walk or take a bike short distances, but take a car. We won't take the stairs if there is an elevator handy. We avoid even manual doors when the automatic ones are right next to it. If there is a way to do a task with the least amount of effort, we tend to do it.
It is because we work such hours that we rely on fast foods that are truly horrible for anyone to eat on a long term basis which is why many of us are overweight. And those who do take the time to eat properly may be getting foods pumped with hormones and genetically altered structure, but at least they have access to foods they can afford which may not be as readily available in the rest of the world. It hasn't been proven one way or another to be completely safe or free from side effects, but it has been proven to prevent starvation in many people.
Yes, we like our television and video games filled with what many people in the world consider offensive. Even within our own country, there are people who would agree with those foreign critics. We tend to glorify sex and violence and profane language and anything just to shock people. We love to push the social morals just a bit further until we are numb to it and want to be pushed further. We become desensitized as to how this form of entertainment could possibly be considered immoral and offensive to others by labeling such critics as prudes or religious fanatics.
We export our entertainment to the rest of the world and wonder why they get upset in countries that are against what they consider immoral. We don't seem to appreciate that certain people feel we are imposing our social mores upon them and find it just as offensive as if they tried to do the same to us - we would never go for that!
Contrary to what a lot of Right-wing people want to portray - Americans are not of the same religious values. Yes, Christians are by far the majority in this country, but that lead is slipping as the population of those who are of Hebrew, Islamic, and other faiths are rising to almost equal proportions. There are even growing numbers of people who are without any faith in god or religion. They are all equally American.
The Founding Father argument doesn't hold much water with me. If you wish to hide behind that argument, then you also wish for a stagnant nation where ONLY the wealthy, white men had rights. If you have evolved to include rights for everyone - THAT INCLUDES FREEDOM OF RELIGION. The very same critics who wag their fingers at certain religious dictator countries would in a heartbeat want to turn this country into a Christian only policy country to exclude the beliefs of other faiths.
Even non-faith is a faith. Those who are agnostic or atheist are guaranteed freedom from having a government force upon them ANY religion. It doesn't make them less than patriotic to insist that our government stop trying to coddle the Christian Right. However, it goes both ways. While the non-Christian may not appreciate anything Christian, the Christian should be allowed to express their own Christian faith without oppression and this DOES happen a lot more frequently than most people realize.
Let the children who want to pray together in school do so on their free time - just don't enforce others to participate by law or social pressure. Let the judge who wants to have a copy of the Ten Commandments nearby be allowed to see it on his desk - just as long as he or she remembers when he is behind that desk he is to be impartial.
A side note - the Ten Commandments are NOT the basis of our law books. As a point of law, there are no laws on the book that enforce we not take God's name in vain, to worship only God, keeping the Sabbath holy, or to not make an image of God. The other commandments may be good suggestions of behavior, but there are no real laws against coveting your neighbor's wife or possessions, or honoring and obeying your parents. The only 3 commandments which have anything to do with our legal system - not to murder, not to steal, and adultery is a legal grounds for divorce. Thus, only 30% have anything to do with the law. The Code of Hammurabi, which is older than the Ten Commandments, has more to do with our legal system. Therefore, please stop using this as an argument for testing the First Amendment to flaunt this RELIGIOUS document in our faces in a government run court of law that is to be impartial to the rights of everyone.
The one big problem in this country is a language barrier. This is not a problem in the rest of the world where there is an official language. The United States has no official language. I, personally, see a big problem with this oversight in the law.
This goes beyond the free speech argument. I am not saying people have no right to speak in whatever language they choose. Anyone should be free to speak in whatever tongue they choose.
I am simply saying that for the well being of everyone, there should be a common, accepted language in which everyone can communicate. The majority of people here speak English. Today, our government is forced into printing all its documents in hundreds of different languages to accomodate everyone.
What if there is an emergency situation involving someone who speaks a language other than English who needs to rely on someone who cannot speak their language? In emergencies, seconds can count and a language barrier can mean death for some people.
The language barrier is also responsible for keeping people in poverty in this country because they do not have the language skills to communicate with the majority of the people who would pay their salary.
By not learning a common language, this becomes a barrier to the right to a basic education, let alone college. By not making one language mandatory, we send the message that it is okay not to learn it as someone will always be there to translate - although that cannot be guaranteed. It creates a cavalier disregard in learning a different tongue in order to become a more productive and effective member of our society whereas the failure to do so almost guarantees reducing one to a slave of the system.
For the sake of improving the chances of all people, one language should be adopted as the official language just so we can effectively communicate with one another. And let those who speak other languages be allowed to do so without rude stares or comments when they are not included in the conversation.
To me, being an American means you are afforded the opportunity to be what you want and do what you want, so long as you can equally accept the responsibilities that come with the territory. You cannot have freedom without a sense of responsibility.
This is a great country. Maybe not the best and not the worst, but in its own merits is great. We have our range of different types of people and to be quite honest, I may not particularly like some of them or downright hate them, but they are still free to be who they are as I am allowed to be myself. I won't wear our flag on my sleeve and rub it in the faces of the rest of the world, but I understand this country and love it for the merits which have brought to me a sense of stability and security along with freedom.
I am only one American out of the many American voices. You may agree with what I have to say or not, but I stand behind my words as my own opinions. I invite people from other countries to educate me on their point of view. Believe it or not, many of us here would like to hear it.
