Tuesday with Another Voice

Today's voice belongs to
Contributing Editor
Ken Marks

Reviewing the landscape

Now that the election is behind us, it's a good time to review the landscape, take a fresh look at what ails us, and decide what the remedies might be. To facilitate this task, I'd like to propose a question that never fails to arouse contention: "What is the main problem facing America today?" My hope is to arrive at a satisfying answer by offering up a number of popular answers and evaluating each one, according to my perceptions and biases.
In doing this, I'll try hard to identify a root problem; that is, a problem that begets other problems that seem to be the main one but aren't. To help me in this process, I'm calling on my able assistant, Maurice (no relation to Morris), to pose the popular answers. Please begin when ready, Maurice.

Righto…We have a staggering national debt and yearly add huge budget deficits to it. We're bankrupting ourselves, becoming a steadily weaker nation, and passing on a crushing burden to our children…Yes, indeed. Most Teabaggers think that's the top problem.
    But it isn't. Contrary to popular mythology, our national debt and yearly deficits are not crippling us, nor are they a particular burden to future generations. This is so because we chiefly owe our debt to ourselves: the U.S. Treasury borrows mostly from Americans and pays the money back to Americans, though not necessarily the same people. Of course, debts are often passed on to successive generations, but so are assets. So when you hear someone say that the Chinese are financing our government programs, you're hearing nonsense. That's not to say that foreigners don't hold any of our debt. They do indeed hold a part of it, but that part, as a percentage of our Gross Domestic Product, is growing very slowly.
    If we actually had a severe debt problem, interest rates would be very high, as they are in some European countries that really do face bankruptcy. However, our interest rates are at record lows, so when the government borrows money these days, it's the closest thing to free money that we've seen in our lifetimes. Anything the government spends to stimulate our weak economy can be done on the cheap. And any spending that goes toward education and research will lead to greater productivity and new products that create demand. That is the sensible way to gradually turn deficits into surpluses.
    How have nine-tenths of the country been duped into thinking that radical austerity is the only thing that can save us? By listening to the propaganda of "the 1%" and their political flunkies. They want to "starve the beast," as Grover Norquist says, or "drown it in the bathtub." And what is the effect of hobbling government? Deregulation, or more accurately, the inability to regulate. We would return to the Gilded Age, the era of the robber barons.

Ken, you dope! You've given the game away! You've revealed that our main problem is living in an oligarchy that poses as a democracy. It's the oligarchs that have created the paralysis in Washington by buying the Republicans and a piece of the Democrats. They are to blame for the government's failure to solve pressing problems and inventing unnecessary new ones, like the nonsense over the debt ceiling.
    Maurice, take a breath and try to calm yourself! It's sadly true that we have class warfare in America and, as Warren Buffett says, "The rich are winning." However, that isn't our main problem. We live in a democracy in which the poor and middle class far outnumber the rich. With their power of numbers, they could elect representatives that do a much better job of tending to the interests of the majority. But they don't. A great many vote as if they were rich as well! Why is this so? The answer lies in a still deeper problem.

Well, now I'm completely confused. Maybe it's best to look elsewhere for the main problem…Our politicians seem pretty much unanimous on one point, the scope and power of our military. The fear of national bankruptcy notwithstanding, we outspend all the major powers combined when it comes to military hardware and bases for our army, navy, and air force. The mere possession of such might entices us to use it or have it continually "on the table" in our foreign relations. We have maneuvered ourselves and the rest of the world into a state of perpetual belligerence.
    Very true. The accumulation of military might—with more breadth and destructive power than we'll ever need, and even more than the Pentagon asks for—is not rational. We're like the guy who adds a room to his home just to hold his collection of firearms and semi-automatic weapons. However, this neurosis is again not the root problem that I have in mind.

Wait, I think I see a pattern here. The oligarchs act against the interest of the majority, yet we continually empower them. The size of our military is beyond anything we might need for self-defense, yet we keep pouring money into it. We're crazy! The problem is we're crazy!
    Good, Maurice, you're on the right track, but let's say "irrational" rather than "crazy." You're one step away from the answer. You need to say what it is that's making us irrational.

Well, when people behave irrationally it's because they hold beliefs that are inconsistent with reality. So that suggests Americans hold such beliefs about themselves and our country's place in the world.
    Yes. We hold irrational beliefs about all that, and the country's place in history, too. This set of beliefs has been given a name in recent years. Do you know what it is?

I think I do. It's called American Exceptionalism. Is this concept the root problem you have in mind?
    Yes. You've called the root problem by its name, Maurice. To believe in American Exceptionalism is to believe all sorts of astonishing things about America. It means believing, for example, that America is "the last, best hope of mankind," as Abraham Lincoln said. A country whose "whole history appears like a last effort of divine providence on behalf of the human race," as Ralph Waldo Emerson said. "A shining city on a hill," as Ronald Reagan said. A nation that can "make the world safe for democracy," as Woodrow Wilson said. A land that has "God on its side," as Bob Dylan said, mockingly. In the course of two World Wars and the Red Scare, these grandiose notions assumed enormous power. Is it any wonder that we became the enforcers of a Pax Americana?
    But our delusion of exceptionalism goes well beyond military grandeur. God apparently arranged for our nation to be founded by the greatest political geniuses ever assembled on one continent. They allegedly gave us a governing document that is the consummate blueprint for a society that wants to establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, and attain other noble goals. (See the Preamble to the Constitution.) Most Americans believe that no other country has been similarly blessed, even though we've endured as much social injustice as any other Western nation and, for most of our history, enjoyed considerably fewer social protections. No matter. In gratitude for God's favor, we put His name on our money, and we remember our subservience to Him in our Pledge of Allegiance.
    In addition to our superior political system, we are blessed with more freedom than anywhere on earth. There are practically no constraints on our self-expression. Where else can people make that claim—other than in dozens of other countries? And, of course, where else are we granted such power to defend ourselves from our relatives, neighbors, and the felons that surround us? In many states, we can even go outdoors with weapons concealed in our clothing. Woe unto anyone who threatens us.
    Last, and crucially, we believe we are exceptional in the opportunity to make our fortunes. We are steeped in the lore of impoverished newcomers who have hope in their hearts and a willingness to work hard. In this land of free-market capitalism, their simple virtues are all they need to acquire wealth and comfort. Further, their new wealth begets more new wealth in a continuous cycle of prosperity. This illusion is what sustains the oligarchs and feeds their political power! Never mind that a free market has never existed and never will. Every time we approach one, a crescendo of greed wrecks the wealth that's been accumulated. The illusion, however, endures.
    This, Maurice, is the package of irrationality that we carry around in our heads. It has not only made us jingoists but created a mindset of national narcissism. If we hear another nation praised, we are warmed by the thought that we live in "the land of the free and the home of the brave." We are richer, stronger, more virtuous, and ultimately in control of the world's destiny. We've become so full of ourselves that we must stop using the image of Uncle Sam to represent us. We need the image of Donald Trump!

That's quite an indictment, Ken. I hope you escape a tar-and-feathering when this is published. Maybe you can temper it a little by saying what we can do to remedy our narcissism. You did mention "remedies" in your opening sentence.
    Yes, I did, but I think it would be best for me to save that for another time. For now, I'll merely try to encapsulate my advice in a single thought: America, get over yourself!
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Copyright © 2012 by Ken Marks