We Are Not the Nation We Thought We Were

We must see through our myths about ourselves if we are ever to aspire again to greatness

One of the most important jobs we face in life is distinguishing between what is real and what is not. Discernment between the two ought to be a constant effort. For many of us, of course, it is not.

It is not however, a simple matter of digging deeply enough into an idea or a representation of fact or a story to determine whether it is based in reality or not. Often the lines are blurred, even in our own minds. As I have written here before, I am a big believer in the theory that much of what we know—perhaps most of what we know—is not true.

Much of what we are taught as history never took place or did unfold as represented in the books or stories handed down to us. Much of what we know as science is untrue. Pluto is a planet. Salt is bad for you. Or maybe not. When what is true shifts back and forth over the years, it ought to teach us a bit of humility about the reliability of our “knowledge.”

Many among us are taught to believe in certain things unquestioningly. Faith is considered a virtue. But how much of the picture of our past, present and future that faith paints is actually an accurate depiction of life in this universe of ours.

Even our own memories are suspect. Stories handed down as gospel in families are fabrications or twisted.

Understanding this produces useful intellectual humility.

Myths Can Lead to Misunderstanding

Understanding it about the biggest issues in our lives should really be an imperative. Yes, it may be more comfortable to float among clouds of myth adrift in a fictional sky. But, while myths can elevate and enthrall and even drown out the dark existential yawps of our anxiety ridden souls, they can also lead us to misunderstand what is important here on earth, what our priorities should be, how we should conduct ourselves.

That is true on a personal level if people, for example, allow themselves to be exploited today or justify their exploitation of others based on the assumption that the brief lives that we are all that we “know” will surely be followed by some eternal sequel or another. Who needs a good life on this earth if a better one awaits in heaven? Such thinking can produce a kind of a shrug about matters which deserve more attention and time.

Within society of course, other myths exist which may distort reality in dangerous ways. Many of these were conjured up by those in power to maintain their control of society—from the divine right of kings to the secret communing with God of priests, from the idea that our identities are shaped by the work we do for others to how we view our governments or nations.

Throughout my life, I have found myself chafing at some of the big ideas that have been spoon fed to us. Upon reflection, I have rejected many of them. I do not believe it is glorious to die in battle. I do not believe that one ethnic group or nationality is superior to another. I have come to deeply distrust ideas and systems of belief that begin with the proposition that simply questioning them is somehow sacrilegious.

Other such notions, perhaps because they are so widely taught, perhaps because they were comforting, have taken longer for me to reach conclusions about them. A set of these have to do with the United States of America and our role in the world.

It took time to realize that the idea of the United States my generation were taught as school children is grossly incomplete and in many respects a lie. Ours is a country built on the theft of land from indigenous peoples who were later the victims of a hideous genocide overseen by our “heroic” forefathers. It was also built on the back of slaves and the systematic repression of women. It may have been a land of opportunity for many including my ancestors who came here from more hostile environments but it is also a country in which a rich, superempowered few have exploited the vast majority of people…and indeed, do so more egregiously today than ever before.

Many Americans sacrificed much for what is good about this country or, more properly perhaps, in the hopes that we might still become better. But many of military endeavors were far from noble and indeed some were crimes—from the Indian wars to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We have great complicated explanations for what we have done. But in my view, after grappling with these acts and learning as much as possible about them, I cannot help but think that we did horrible things and whitewashed them. Other nations do it. That does not make it right. Indeed, when you know more of the history of the world, it suggests what is fundamentally wrong about it.

The Dangers of American Exceptionalism

Further, when you buy into the myths and ignore the reality, it can lead to dangerous ideas. One of these was “manifest destiny.” Another, still popular, even among many “enlightened” folks here in the U.S. is “American exceptionalism.” This idea that we have been graced by Higher Powers with a special role to play in the world that exempts us from the rules we apply to other nations is repulsive, narcissistic, and has led to great harm to many around the world.

Another such pernicious idea is that somehow our system should be viewed as sacred as opposed to rules established by those in power to enable them to maintain their power. One reason our system is better is because it has given more power to average people—at least in theory. But part of that is central to the deal struck by all ruling elites in every society. They seek stability and achieve it in part through applied power or law-making and in part by giving something to the masses to placate them, a whiff of power, a shimmering promise of opportunity.

At this point in my life, trying to be as objective as I can be, I cannot help but conclude that the deal, while perhaps better for the masses here than in many places, remains hugely one-sided. Further, during the past forty years, it has grown worse and worse as the few have grabbed more power and more wealth and driven the divisions in our society wider and wider out of greed.

We are currently seeing an effort to impose a cult of personality on America, to deify our president, to literally make his personal standing a foundation of our economic system.

Criticize our system of course, and you will be condemned. Capitalism is our religion. Dare question any of the tenets of how it is practiced here and you are condemned as a godless communist or, more often, as a socialist.

The reality is, of course, that as exploitation in our society has grown more egregious, as billionaires and centi-millionaires have come to dominate it, we have become less of a democracy, less responsive to the needs of our people—much as forbears have warned might happen since the founding of the nation. It is not capitalism that is responsible for the slow death of our democracy.

It is American capitalism, as it is practiced here in all its Darwinian law of the jungle brutality, that is killing American democracy. Our current government is the most extreme manifestation of this we have ever seen. And yet, we are denied even among our friends to speak the truth about what is happening. Even as far more successful societies have emerged in countries embracing “social democracy” and even “socialism” across Europe, in Canada, in Australia, in New Zealand, in Japan and elsewhere worldwide.

American Capitalism Is Killing American Democracy

But it is not just the myths of American goodness or exceptionalism or the virtues of our system (the idea that capitalism was somehow an economic form of democracy…which, unregulated, ungoverned by laws that place the interests of society ahead of the interests of its richest individuals or corporations, it is not)…it is not just these myths that we must see through and reject, others have over time proven to be inaccurate as well.

Think of what you were taught about America as a kid. We were the leader of the free world. We were the land of opportunity. We were a beacon of democracy and justice. We were a nation of laws not of men. We were the land of the free and the home of the brave. We were the greatest nation on earth.

Look around you. Look at the world today.

None of these things are true any more. We are not only no longer the leader of the free world, our government is aligned with despots and autocrats and it rejects our former allies, most of whom were democracies. We are not the land of opportunity as we close our door to immigrants and cast out those who have come here and begun to improve our nation. We are not a land of opportunity if there is less social mobility within our society than before, if the best predictor of who goes to a good college is the zip code in which they grew up. We are hardly a beacon of democracy and justice when our government shreds the Constitution, chips away at our fundamental rights, rejects due process, sends masked thugs into the street to round up people without explanation, is actively working to strip away the ability of many of us to vote, has courts that reject precedent and legal rigor in favor of politically motivated service to the biggest donors in their party. Our president is now above the law. By virtue of his ability to pardon, so too are his cronies and henchmen. Who is free in such a land? Where are the brave to stand up to the daily scandals, corruption and shame our current government is bringing upon us.

Further, we have lost the trust of the world, we are giving up the alliances that made us strong, we are forsaking crucial advantages we had (like attracting the best and brightest to work here and innovate here and help us grow).

Many other societies offer a better quality of life. Many other countries provide more generously and wisely for their people. Many other countries are better democracies. Many other places are home to innovation that rivals and in many ways exceeds our own.

Our political vacillation from administration to administration—from the unilateralism of Bush to the feckless leading from behind of Obama, from the gated community of Trump to morally-compromised, indecisive internationalism of Biden—means that no matter what happens next we will not “snap back” to the role we once played or the identity we once saw for ourselves.

We Remain Great…So Does the Job of Work Ahead of Us

We remain a great nation. There is much good about this country. But we must disabuse ourselves of old, outdated, insupportable myths if we are to understand the scope of the job ahead of us.

It will take many decades to recover what we have lost…but before that we are certain to lose even more as this administration does its worst and weakens us daily.

Perhaps we will never again be able to see ourselves as the greatest nation on earth—and honestly, that’s not such a bad thing. It is time we set aside the arrogance of the past century or more. It is time we accept that we one nation among many, richer and more powerful in some ways, with much to learn from other nations and much to change about ourselves if we are once again to be a nation in which our aspirations are more defining than is our resignation about what we have lost.

It is possible to stop the spiral of decline we have been in for decades that has accelerated greatly in the era of this terrible, misguided, corrupt, ignorant, dangerous president. It is possible to regain stature. It is possible to lead again.

But not soon. And not without great effort. And not without, first and foremost, recognizing which of the myths that have fogged our own view of who we are are stripped away. It is time to see ourselves for who we truly are, for who we are not, for what we have become. Because until we do, we can never again approach who we once hoped we might become.