America: The Final Century

The America that I grew up with, the America that television, movies, radio and now the Internet present before me is not the vision that I had been led to believe would be the case. Things have taken some odd turns since the days when as a child I recited the pledge of allegiance in the classroom. It isn't difficult to transport myself in the mind's eye and see me along with the other children, pledging ourselves to "liberty and justice for all" and sometimes singing about those spacious skies and purple mountains majesties. It's a difficult reverie, if I dwell too long on it my eyes well up, followed by anger and then disbelief. I no longer recite the pledge, I no longer sing about the spacious skies. That little boy has grown into a man who feels that criminals have taken over the government.

America will be around for longer than a century; geophysically speaking it will be here long after humankind is gone. But a particular America, a particular dream that gave birth to a nation and carried it along now is in peril of never materializing in the way we imagined it would. To those that fancied themselves leaders rather than representatives it was 'Manifest Destiny', to the rest, it was their chance at the 'American Dream'. Those two are connected in a complicated premise of expectations.

Individually or collectively a dream, in this instance the dream of an ideal, usually indicates something better, something to be attained both personally and for society at large. On both counts the U.S. and the world are having problems in that the idealizations are not matching the realities encountered. This in itself is nothing new since history shows many civilizations have encountered this dilemma. Their fate will be our fate if nothing is done to honestly address the situation. For all of us the question is can we be different than those who preceded us, can we prevail where others have failed?

Then again, maybe it is the fate of all human organization that the old must make way for the new no matter how distressing it may appear. Even with all the dire evidence coming to light there are many who with optimistic persistence will contest that if anything all these difficulties will make the dream we all harbored much better, much stronger. Yes, there is the possibility of that but not if the better and stronger is the same as before - decisive words fronting for suspicious propositions. A better dream for all necessitates that honesty for all but unfortunately it is not in the best interests of some who are of the opinion that if power can be secured through dishonest means, then so be it. Securing power, securing the sand castle a little longer till the inevitable tide rolls in.

The past several years, in fact the past century, have shown us the effects of selfishness on the part of those few who ironically enough were supposed to be selfless in their positions of guiding the country. To many what has occurred and is occurring in the highest offices in the land is criminal and yet the perpetrators of the crime continue under the mantle of "government". Personally, the biggest disillusionment was in how the citizenry not only allowed this to happen but how they let it proceed unquestioned by the manipulation of their own fears. I thought that as a country we were stronger, that we wouldn't allow such offensiveness to be mingled with our ideals. But the sad truth is that our ideals had already been long-compromised to an extent, it is only now that we are very slowly beginning to wake up from the slumber of that compromising.

How then as an individual do I deal with this? Should I expect the worse and start stocking up on provisions, firearms and of course a well fortified bunker somewhere? That may sound extreme but the government for one has many bunkers in waiting should the situation get out of hand. That isn't reassuring especially for the millions upon millions that do not even have the wherewithal to avail themselves of a bunker. It is odd to say the least that a bunker would have to be factored into the 'dream'. How sensible can a dream be if we had to burrow into the ground while an enemy was blowing away the territory where the dream is to be constructed? In the Broadway musical 'The Music Man' one of the songs alerts the townsfolk of troubles in 'River City'. But there is a big difference should River City be obliterated by a nuclear device. No more troubles, no more people, no more individuals left to worry about dealing with the situation. No more singing.

I think billions of others are like myself in that we don't fancy seeing nuclear mushroom clouds sprouting all over the place, the little mushrooms that we put on the dinner plate will suffice just fine. But some have darker fancies, they still seem to live in a 'duck and cover' world and when they happen to be the ones with control of nuclear bombs and other mass destruction ignorance then for the citizenry of any country it's a constant worry as what tomorrow may bring. Oh, don't forget the children: "Come here little one, here's the torch, it's fake, just like the one that was handed to me as a child. Yes, I love you very much."

There are many explanations as to why we as a nation have arrived at where we are today. I think one of the principal elements in this has been who we are in reality versus who we have been led to believe we are. Generations of beliefs being cultivated and much of that cultivation by manipulative means has created social dysfunction in many areas. I often think that this new century, this new millennium, will see the end of many of those deceptions. How they will end is yet to be seen and when I ponder this I think of the phrase, "it will get worse before it gets better".

I know that the reader could ask of me which "reality" is it that I am referring to. For example, in the case of the war in Iraq and the problems in the Middle East they could say that the reality is that extreme groups want to carry out their agenda to fruition and one aspect of that bitter harvest is the destruction of the American way of life. But considering what we know now and are continuing to learn about history is that the U.S. government is reaping what it has sowed. Make no mistake, the U.S. has created a bitter harvest for many others - even for its own - for longer than the recent 6 years. Empire building is a two-way street.

But it's not just the war, the problem permeates society at the individual and collective levels. No one has to go too far in their own sphere of relatives or acquaintances to see problematic situations and conditions. Increasingly at many levels it has become the 'law of the jungle' rather than a civilized state of affairs in the handling of life. Hardships are plentiful with homelessness; health care; unemployment; education and so on. Of course, the government makes a lot of promises regarding this but repeatedly the promises are used to continue their self-serving sham upon the populace. Their arrogance in these matters is such that if you question and criticize them you are regarded as ungrateful. My hope is that such arrogance will also end - by any means necessary.

The old America is leaving the station and those who gripe and criticize about its departure still don't realize that it leaves because of whom they allowed to set the schedule. If the implication is that the passengers also had a hand in America's fading, then the reader has read correctly.

No, there will be no bunker for me. Despite what has occurred and all the criminality I figure that there is still some hope. Maybe the new America whatever its demographic, wherever its borders will be the one that brings the true dream home. Perhaps we all have to go through the nightmare before the sunny dream becomes real.

Interesting, isn't it? After all this time on the planet it's still an issue of light and dark. Maybe it's time we start considering some independence even from that.