Wednesday 19 March 2003

Pic of the day: Crusaders ... or perhaps not. This beautiful piece of medieval artistry brought to you courtesy of Civ2, in which I once again played the Americans and awed the world. Go me.

Thoughts on America

One fellow journaler wrote that she considered making a shirt with the text "Ashamed to be American". I wrote to recommend she add a word first: "TEMPORARILY ashamed to be American." I don't think it will last long.

Overall in history, I think anyone in mainstream civilization will agree that the USA has been a force for good. It did in the end fight against Nazism and Fascism during WW2, although it took a direct attack to rouse the nation to active duty. It spent considerable resources to contain the perverted version of communism that ruthlessly tried to take over the world through war and guile. Yes, the USA did some less than ethical things in the process. So what do you expect? The future of the whole concept of liberty was at stake. Humans make errors, and with such stakes the errors are sometimes pretty big too.

The military aspect is not the only, and perhaps not the most important, contribution to peace and prosperity. The USA has been a leading light in free trade and in the free exchange of ideas. It has been quick to absorb ideas and make them useful, as well as building new ideas from them. A society that rewards initiative and talent, it has brought achievements in science and technology out of proportion to the education level of its populace.

The most sincere vote is to vote with one's feet; and the millions of people who have moved to the USA are living proof of its success. As a friend told me this day, the Americans are not really a people; they are all immigrants. (Well, not all, and the treatment of the indigenous population is not a reason for pride. Then again, it rarely is in any nation, including my native Norway.) The fact that each year a million people still attempt to move to the USA is a pretty good sign that it is not exactly Hell on Earth, to put it mildly. (Although, unbeknown to some Americans, most of this million come from third-world countries. The few who come from Europe or Canada these days largely come because of love for a person rather than the nation.)

***

To be honest, the USA is not a place I would prefer to live, especially not lately. The crime rate is comparable to third world countries on the brink of civil war. A shockingly large part of the population is in prison at any one time, especially from some of the ethnic minorities. Poverty is rampant, and we are talking about starving children rather than the "poverty" of some people in the Nordic countries, who are worried because their children cannot afford to attend class trips to France and Italy or wear the same expensive clothes as their classmates.

The poverty becomes all the more stark and cruel in the face of the riches hoarded by the upper classes. The wealthy are wealthier than we are used to from other free countries, and many of them are not at all ashamed to show it. At times this seems to be the American dream, to display one's affluence, not the freedom from tyranny and oppression on which the nation first was founded.

Also in the educational system there are huge differences, starting already with small children. The quality of the school often depends on property taxes (and thus property values) in the area where they live. It continues into higher education, which is more likely to be paid by parents instead of through long-term student loans like we are used to in Europe. So the children of the rich are more likely to get higher education, regardless of whether they can use it. (In all fairness, there are scholarships which allow some geniuses to bypass this hurdle.)

Despite an official separation between religion and government, religions (and especially Christianity) play a more heavy-handed role in society. Going to the right church can be instrumental to your success in business and politics. Lawmakers will cite God's will as a reason to legislate against victimless crimes, such as unusual but harmless sexual practices or the private use of mild pleasure drugs.

Once you are arrested, your financial strength has much bearing on how your case is treated. A good lawyer is expensive, and a poor defense can mean that you are sentenced even though you are innocent, especially if you belong to a minority group often associated with crime. As one of the few democratic nations on Earth, the USA (or rather some of its states) has death penalty. I will not argue against death penalty, there are days when I wish it was liberally applied around here; but in conjunction with a judiciary skewed with regard to race and wealth, it is a dangerous thing indeed.

***

So although the USA is not Hell on Earth, it is certainly not Heaven either. It is, by and large, a quite normal democratic nation with lower taxes and less economic re-distribution than the average. And it bears mention that all the problems with America have been told me mainly by Americans. The citizens of the USA are harsh critics of its government and of its more absurd traditions. This is a good thing, and Americans are grateful for this opportunity, as well they should be.

True, we are equally harsh with our leaders here in Norway, probably slightly more so. And talking back to the government is not just legal but socially acceptable across Europe as well as most European-speaking countries around the world, and then a few more. It is however quite uncommon in the very same countries that the USA tends to get into conflict with. This is one reason I am not overly upset about the current war against Iraq, or rather against the current Iraqi leadership. Frankly, I don't think it was America's job to remove them, but I'm not sorry to see them go, and in the long run neither will the oppressed people of Iraq. Of this I am pretty sure.

Even when led by a barely mediocre president through a time of turmoil, the USA still has a pretty good idea who its friends are. And so should we. Take a look at Germany or Japan today, a few decades after becoming an American "colony". Would it really be so bad if other insane dictatorships went the same way? I think not. Although the current president of the USA has the diplomatic finesse of a schoolyard bully, there are much worse enemies to lose to.