The Long Road

Is the United States experiencing an inexorable decline? Is there nothing to do but sit back and watch? Since 2000, the answer seems to be an undeniable yes. Where to even begin? First, the problems we face are the result of choices made by Americans, from the supreme court edict allowing gwb to take the presidency, to stock market and housing market crashes. Even 9/11 was the result of a choice, in this case the choice of our "leaders" to ignore warnings and take appropriate measures. All the problems in America today resulted from bad decisions, at least, "bad" from the point of view of the majority of Americans. The point being, American decline is largely man-made and not the result of acts of God or even foreign malice. The disaster following Hurricane Katrina could have been minimized by competent leaders acting in the public interest, the same goes for the BP oil spill and the numerous mine accidents. American decline, therefore, is not inexorable, it is the result of decisions made by bad people looking out for their own interest and not the public's.

Does it follow that many problems facing our nation and our people could be solved by replacing the bad people with good leaders who would work in the public's interest? It really remains to be seen. We first need to believe there are good people out there. Then, that they can defeat the bad. Finally, that good leaders can reverse the previous decisions of bad ones. While the problems we face, from corruption and exploitation, to insecurity in all its forms, and the host of environmental issues, were man made and the result of decisions, once made they become part of the real world. It is easy to look the other way while business pollutes, exploits, and steals; it is much harder to punish, rebalance, and clean up the results. As Yoda said, the dark side is not stronger but it is easier, quicker, and more seductive than the light. And as the American Yoda, Ben Franklin, said "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." The hole dug by decades of malice by greedy Americans will take much more work to fill in as it was to dig. But what is the alternative?

All the manifestations of decline are symptoms of a larger problem, lack of trust. This is not some grand revelation entrusted to the GH's of the world, it is apparent everywhere. But lack of trust is the cause of everything else that follows. Why can't good people get elected? People do not trust them. Why don't people believe in the Enlightenment principle that all people are basically good? Lack of trust. This is the age of the anti-hero, the great con, the belief that no one can possibly have any motive other than self-interest. Why do people mistrust unions? Because business has spent countless years and countless dollars implanting the idea that "union bosses" are by definition corrupt, leaders cannot possibly have anyone's interest at heart apart from their own. By contrast, why do people not recognize how badly they are being screwed by rich, greedy businessmen? Because, subconsciously at least, they understand that business may lie about everything else but at its heart they are doing exactly what they are supposed to do, make money by any means necessary. That a salesman or a boss or the smiling actor in a commercial is deceiving you is as natural as the lion stalking the gazelle, and for the same reason.

Capitalism in the American sense simply is not possible without dishonesty, and the backstabbing ways of the capitalist trickles down to every other aspect of life. Why do so many possibly otherwise decent people get so insanely bent out of shape over abortion? Because anti-abortion people mistrust the motives of women, the values of self-interest have been so internalized that they are projected onto others without any reasoned articulation or oftentimes even evidence. The only reason a woman would want an abortion is she is selfish and incapable of loving another life, the immorality of speculators screwing each other over transplanted into "the other." Evidence to the contrary just bounces off the frame. All others must by definition be as selfish as we are, shallow and superficial as the dingbats on Jersey Shore or other "reality" show. This is just one example but apply the projection of immorality and lack of trust frame to almost any contentious issue and the process comes out almost the same way.

The Long Road back to a decent society starts with rebuilding some sense of trust in others. Not everyone is out to screw you over. Many are for certain, and those are the bad people at all levels that got us into this mess in the first place. We, the good people, have to figure out some way to reach out to those who have been screwed over, who have been victimized and build bridges of trust. No, certainly not all people can overcome their programming, and far too many are the con artists and selfish, immoral monsters who are parts of the underlying problem. The latter are the true enemy, the behavior that must be stigmatized, the source of the decline and must be fought tooth and nail if there is any hope. We the good people have allowed the immoral speculators and businessmen to poison society too long. Building a durable trust between well-meaning people with different ideas and different experiences in the spirit of tolerance, respect, and pluralism is the only way to get on that Long Road back.